Raped, burnt alive, shot dead: Women continuously targeted in Manipur's Meitei-Kuki conflict
Imphal: Violence in conflict-ridden Manipur has escalated once again with the killing of two women—one from the Hmar community and the other from the Meitei community—within 24 hours on Friday and Saturday. These incidents have once again highlighted the ongoing atrocities against women, who have increasingly become targets of attacks and counter-attacks in the Meitei-Kuki conflict that has plagued the region since last year.
A 31-year-old school teacher and mother of three children belonging to the Hmar community was allegedly targeted by Meitei armed men in ethnic strife-torn Jiribam district. The FIR registered by the woman's husband, who managed to flee along with the children, alleged that she was caught by the armed members of Arambai Tenggol, a Meitei radical group, raped and set on fire on Friday night. Her charred body was recovered from the burnt houses hours later. Hmars are ethnically linked to the Kukis.
Hours later, a 27-year-old Meitei woman farmer, Ongbi Sofia Devi was murdered by suspected Kuki insurgents while she was harvesting paddy in her field in the Saiton area in Meitei-dominated Bishnupur district on Saturday morning.
Eyewitnesses told police that Kuki insurgents fired from a nearby hill targeting the woman and killing her on the spot, as reported by Deccan Herald on Monday. According to security forces, this reportedly could be a "revenge attack" and a "counter" to the Jiribam incident.
Protests were held by both communities calling for action against those responsible for the killings. Two women’s organisation leaders, one from the Meitei community and one from the Kuki community, told the publication that these incidents are not isolated, emphasising that women, bearing the brunt of the violence, have been targeted since the conflict erupted in May last year.
Ngaineikim, president of Kuki Women Organisation for Human Rights told DH that Meiteis have been carrying out ethnic cleansing of the Kuki-Zo communities, adding that women have been raped, paraded naked in public and even set on fire in the most barbaric way. She alleged that no strict action has been taken against the perpetrators.
She suggested another possible reason, noting that women enjoy the highest honour in their tribal society, and the radical Meitei armed groups are repeatedly targeting them to demonstrate their power.
Meanwhile, Lourembam Ngangbi, president of the All Manipur Kanba Ima Lup, a Meitei women's organisation, emphasised that women and children should never be targeted in conflict, but the Kukis are not sparing them, possibly acting under the influence of drugs.
According to government records, nearly 250 people from both communities have died, and over 60,000 others have been displaced due to the ongoing conflict.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
