Four shot dead in continuing violence in Manipur
Imphal, Jan 18: Four people were shot dead in Manipur's Bishnupur district on Thursday evening as ethnic violence continued in the northeastern state, police said.
The incident occurred at Ningthoukhong Kha Khunou and the victims included a man and his 60-year-old father.
Police said they are investigating the case.
Quoting one person who escaped the shooting, an official said, "Five-six armed miscreants came when the labourers were tiling the farmland and shot them from point-blank range."
After shooting them down, the miscreants fled to the hill ranges from where they had come, the official added.
With these four, at least seven people including two police commandos were killed in separate districts of the state since Wednesday.
Manipur has been rocked by ethnic violence since May last year and over 180 people were killed.
The violence erupted on May 3 after a Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mostly in the hill districts.
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Future does not lie in war, but in Buddha: PM Modi
Bhubaneswar (PTI): Asserting that the world today listens to India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that due to the country's heritage, it is able to tell the international community that the future does not lie in war but in Buddha.
Addressing the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention in Bhubaneswar, Modi said India is not only the mother of democracy, but democracy is a part of people's lives here.
He said the world today listens to India, which not only presents its own views strongly but also those of the Global South.
"Due to the strength of its heritage, India is able to tell the world that the future does not lie in war, but in Buddha (peace)," he said.
Modi said he has always considered the diaspora as India's ambassador to the countries they live in.
"We consider it our responsibility to help our diaspora during crisis situations no matter where they are," he said.
The PM said the diaspora played a major role in Independence in 1947, and sought their help to make India a developed country by 2047.
He said India is not only a young country but also a country of skilled youths.
"The government is trying to ensure that whenever Indian youths go abroad, they go with skills," Modi said, noting the demand for skilled workers across the world.
He said G20 meetings were organised in various parts of the country to give the world a first-hand experience of India's diversity.
"We don't need to learn diversity because our lives run through diversity," he added.
