Authorities in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur have suspended internet and mobile services and imposed an indefinite curfew in areas where protesters have been besieging politicians' homes due to deadly ethnic violence.
Security forces discovered three bodies believed to be members of the majority Meitei community in a river on Friday. Meitei representatives claim they were from a family of six captured by men from the Kuki ethnic group. Since May last year, at least 250 people have died and 60,000 have been displaced in Manipur due to inter-communal clashes over government grants and quotas in jobs and education.
A senior state police official reported that large numbers of protesters gathered and demanded to meet lawmakers in the state capital Imphal on Saturday. When their demands were ignored, they stormed residences, set fire to vehicles, and vandalised properties, according to the official who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Mobs besieged the homes of at least nine lawmakers, with four residences being vandalised. BJP lawmaker L Sushindro Meitei stated, 'My house is currently under attack,' adding that a crowd had surrounded his home. 'There has been some damage to my house, glasses (windowpanes) broken, but the security forces were able to disperse the mobs before they could enter,' he said.
The six family members were reported missing following violence on Monday when 10 armed Kuki men died in a gunfight with security forces. Last week, a 31-year-old woman of the Hmar group within the Kuki tribal community was burned alive in the state's Jiribam district. Kuki groups blamed Meitei militants for the incident.
The government has deployed additional security forces and promised firm action against violent members of both communities in the state, which has a population of 3.2 million. Manipur is now divided into two ethnic enclaves: a valley controlled by the Meiteis and hills dominated by the Kukis, separated by a stretch of no-man's land monitored by federal paramilitary forces.
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