Kuki-Zomi outfits take out silent march in Manipur; civil society groups protest in Delhi

Nearly two months after ethnic clashes broke out between the dominant Meitei and Scheduled Tribe Kuki-Zomi people in Manipur, tribal student bodies on June 24 held a silent ‘coffin march’ in the State’s Churachandpur district to honour those killed in the violence. 

Nearly two months after ethnic clashes broke out between the dominant Meitei and Scheduled Tribe Kuki-Zomi people in Manipur, tribal student bodies on June 24 held a silent ‘coffin march’ in the State’s Churachandpur district to honour those killed in the violence. 

Thousands of protesters marched a distance of about three km along the highway from the district hospital in the town to the Peace Ground in Tuibong, where the district’s mini-secretariat is housed.

Dressed in black, the protesters carried 100 empty black coffins throughout the march, symbolic of the tribals who died in the violence. Villagers lined the highway to pay their respects. 

After reaching the temporary protest site created near the mini-secretariat, the coffins were laid down and families of those killed placed wreaths on them. 

Tensions began in Manipur after a High Court order directed the State to recommend Meiteis for inclusion on the ST list. Protests from existing STs - both Kukis and Nagas - grew and after one such protest in Churachandpur district on May 3, the violence broke out. 

It was quick to spread to the rest of the State, in the process, stoking old ethnic tensions between the Kuki-Zomi and Meitei peoples.

A peace committee formed by Home Minister Amit Shah in the end of May after his visit, failed immediately with the chosen members refusing to participate in the process.