Officials in Manipur, India’s north-eastern state, have recovered the bodies of six women and children who apparently made up the majority of the Meitei area.
Meitei parties have alleged that members of the majority Kuki group kidnapped them. The officers, however, have no confirmed this.
Authorities in some areas of the state were forced to suspend online services as a result of the media, which sparked a new wave of violent demonstrations over the weekend.
Since May, when 200 people have been killed and thousands have been displaced, the two ethnic groups have engaged in a dangerous cultural conflict.
On Saturday, protesters ransacked and torched the houses and offices of at least a dozen lawmakers, mostly from the state’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP).
In connection with the murder, police made 23 arrests in the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley and Bishnupur city, and authorities imposed an endless curfew and suspended internet access.
The condition has been visited by the federal government in response to the turmoil. A high-level safety meeting on the subject was presided over by the state on Sunday, but Amit Shah, the state’s leader, is still in the dark.
In the flare-ups that have erupted between the two ethnic groups this quarter, there have been at least 20 fatalities, Kukis and Meities included.
Tensions began on 7 November, after members of an armed party allegedly raped a lady, who apparently belonged to the Kuki society, and set her on fire in the country’s Jiribam area.
A policeman stop and Meitei refugee camp were attacked four days later. The assault was attributed to Kuki groups by the majority of the area.
Authorities on the same day shot dead 10 suspected extremists in what they said was a shoot-out, also known as an “encounter” in India.
The military men were allegedly Kuki militants, according to the police, but Kuki organizations refute this and say that they were “village volunteers” or military civilians guarding the neighborhood.
Following the attack on the reduction station, six inhabitants- a mother, her two sons and three grandkids- went missing. When they had attacked the place, Meteitei parties claimed that military Kuki men had abducted them.
Police reported finding six bodies on Friday, though some American media reports claim they were the remains of the missing.
Officials in the area are requesting a swift stop to the violence and take immediate action against armed groups, according to activists and civil society organizations in the area.
In May of last year, Kuki protests erupted, sparking conflicts between the Kukis and Meiteis, which would allow them to seek affirmative action and different perks.
The state has seen only occasional calm and months of violent and unrest since then.
Meiteis live in the Imphal Valley and Kukis live in the nearby hills regions, with Kukis living there as well. The two parts are separated by border boundaries and security-guarded buffer zones.
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