Peace eludes India’s Manipur even after defeating BJP over ethnic violence
Al Jazeera
In riot-hit state, hopes of change following the governing party’s defeat are shortlived as deadly clashes continue.
Jiribam/Chennai, India – Thangman Guite had just finished her dinner on the night of June 6 when she received a phone call.
“They are coming, hide,” is all the 26-year-old school teacher heard.
Several other residents of Vengnuam, a village in Manipur state’s Jiribam district bordering Assam in India’s northeast, received a similar phone call.
Within minutes, Guite switched off the lights of her house and instructed about 15 villagers assembled before her home to run towards the house closest to the nearby forest. She also asked everyone to switch off their phones.
As they huddled in one of the rooms in that house, not even daring to approach the window to have a look outside, they heard voices and gunshots as at least two vehicles, allegedly carrying armed men belonging to Arambai Tenggol, a local militia, began to enter the village.
