Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday directed strict action against the perpetrators of violence in Manipur and assured the state complete support from the Centre in ensuring lasting peace.
'Today, the biggest challenge is the large number of weapons that are out within both communities. Related to this, is the minds of both communities. Today, there's so much (hatred) against each other. '
The incident occurred at Kwakeithel Mayai Koibi under Lamphel police station a day after classes 1 to 8 began in the state after two months because of the violence.
'Everyone's voice must be heard. We will be talking to both Kukis and Meiteis'
For the most battle-hardened, specialised and successful counter-insurgency army in the world, this is an unfamiliar, first-time experience of dealing with the north east's deepest complexities, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The video of the burning man was shot on May 4, the same day when two women were paraded naked by a mob, the footage of which sparked nationwide outrage after it surfaced in July. The ethnic strife in Manipur began on May 3.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday protected four members of the Editors Guild of India against any coercive action till Monday in connection with two FIRs lodged against them in the state for offences, including promoting enmity between two communities.
Chowdhury said that the visiting MPs will present their observations on Manipur in Parliament.
Manipur Police have so far arrested five persons in connection with the May 4 parading of two tribal women in Kangpokpi district of the state, officials said on Saturday.
It said there is anger among Mizo youths, who are deeply anguished over the "barbaric and atrocious act of Meiteis" against Zo or Kuki ethnic people in Manipur.
Protest rallies erupted in Imphal with thousands of students marching towards the centre of the city, sloganeering against the kidnapping and killing of two youths for the second consecutive day on Wednesday.
'The opposition parties didn't want voting as it would have exposed the cracks in their alliance. They ran away from the House'
The ITLF alleged that thousands of weapons looted from state armouries in capital Imphal are being used in the "ethnic cleansing campaign".
Around 800 people, including children and the elderly, are living in pitiable conditions in relief shelters near Thangjing temple and Moirang Lamkhai which are being run by three organisations.
Following the violence, the authorities clamped curfew for 24 hours in the area and reduced the curfew relaxation hours in several other districts.
The incident took place in Khoijumantabi village late on Saturday night when the 'village volunteers' were guarding the area in a makeshift bunker, a police officer said.
During the meeting, it was decided to hold consultations on a wider scale so as to arrive at a common political agenda with other groups, it said.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday reviewed the situation in Manipur with Chief Minister N Biren Singh and top officials, even as the Centre dispatched additional security forces and anti-riot vehicles to maintain peace there, sources said.
The Supreme Court on Monday extended till September 15 its order asking the Manipur police not to take any coercive steps against four members of the Editors Guild of India (EGI) in connection with two FIRs lodged against them for alleged offences, including promoting enmity between two communities.
Firing between security forces and armed men has been reported from Pallel area of Manipur's Tengnoupal district since early hours of Friday, officials said.
The death toll from clashes a day before rose to five on Monday as three more people, who were undergoing treatment in hospitals, succumbed to their injuries, they said.
Demanding the resignation of Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal on Tuesday questioned why the CM could not meet the women who were stripped and paraded, when she could do so.
Manipur witness more violence on Tuesday when unidentified armed men, suspected to be cadres of banned terror groups, attacked people from the tribal community in the morning killing three of them in Kangpokpi district, officials said.
Post-mortem examination reports of 10 Kuki-Zo youths killed in an alleged gunfight with CRPF in Manipur have revealed that they sustained multiple fatal bullet injuries, with most of them fired from behind. The reports also noted that the youths were in camouflage and khaki dresses when they were brought for autopsy. The incident has raised concerns about the circumstances surrounding the deaths and the ongoing ethnic violence in the state.
At least eight persons have been killed and 18 injured, including two security personnel, in Manipur's Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts following continuous gunbattle between Kukis and Meiteis over the last 72 hours, officials said on Thursday.
Unconfirmed reports said that the CM had typed out a resignation letter but was persuaded by his supporters to tear it up.
The union home minister is reportedly concerned over the shifting of violence and civil unrest from peripheral areas to districts in the Imphal valley.
More than a month before the horrific video of two women being assaulted publicly in Manipur went viral, activists had informed the National Commission for Women about not only this case but other brutal instances of rape as well, besides incidents of kidnapping, lynching, immolation and even murder in the strife-torn state.
A vacation bench of justices Aniruddha Bose and Rajesh Bindal said the high court is already seized of a similar issue.
The assault and humiliation of two women paraded naked in a Manipur village in May sparked nationwide outrage on Thursday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the incident had shamed 140 crore Indians and the Supreme Court terming it 'simply unacceptable'.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in strife-torn Manipur on Monday night to try restore peace by hammering out a solution between the warring communities.
"I fear I won't perform well in the class 10 board examination next year, which might affect my dreams of enrolling in a good school in Imphal," Karam said.
Tension mounted in the hills of Manipur after the May 4 video surfaced on Wednesday showing two women from one of the warring communities being paraded naked by a group of men from the other side.
The Army and Assam Rifles were requisitioned in the night, and along with the state police, the forces arrested the violence by the morning, the spokesperson said.
The mother of one of the girls who was stripped naked and paraded by a mob in Manipur wants capital punishment for the culprits and to see the remains of her son and husband who too died on that day.
The house of Manipur PWD Minister Konthoujam Govindas in Bishnupur district was vandalised on Wednesday by a group of people claiming that the government in the strife-torn state is not doing enough to protect locals from militants belonging to another community, officials said.
Khaplang died following a cardiac arrest.
A senior bishop of the influential Syro-Malabar Catholic Church on Thursday said instead of saying in the US that there is no discrimination in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should try to convince the Christians in Manipur about that.
In a memorandum submitted to Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey, the 21 opposition MPs who signed the document demanded urgent rehabilitation and resettlement of the affected people to bring peace and harmony to the state.
The mob tried to storm the camp of 3rd IRB batallion in the Khangabok area to loot arms and ammunition, they said.
