GUWAHATI
More than a year after the ethnic conflict in Manipur drove some 12,000 people to Mizoram, hundreds of victims of renewed violence have taken refuge in Assam.
Officials in southern Assam’s Barak Valley said more than 600 people, including women and children, have fled the troubled Jiribam district of Manipur to seek shelter in the Cachar district.
“Most of the displaced people have taken refuge in the Lakhipur area over the past four days,” Cachar’s Superintendent of Police, Numal Mahatta told journalists. “There are no reports of any untoward incident in Cachar so far. Police patrolling in Jirighat on the border as well as along the national highway and nearby villages is being conducted,” he said.
Cachar adjoins Jiribam. He also said the security has been tightened along the Assam-Manipur border to prevent the violence from spilling over.
Local MLA, Kaushik Rai said no formal camps have been set up for the Manipur-displaced and efforts were on to hold peace meetings with diverse communities in the area to offset any violence in the area.
“The people who have come from Manipur are being allowed to stay here safely. The local administration is taking all steps to ensure no spread of any violence here,” Mr. Rai said.
Residents of the bordering areas said Meitei and Kuki-Zo people are among the displaced staying with their relatives and friends in the Cachar district. They claimed that about 600 people have taken shelter in various parts of Lakhipur in Cachar district, entering the State by crossing the Jiri river over the last four days.
The discovery of a body on June 6 rekindled the Meitei-Kuki-Zo conflict but away from Manipur’s central Imphal Valley and the adjoining foothills in an area bordering the neighbouring State.
Two police outposts, a forest beat office and at least 70 houses were torched in Jiribam by unidentified miscreants on Saturday, leading to fresh tension in the neighbouring State which has been witnessing ethnic violence since May last year.
(with PTI inputs)
