Retired officer’s residence targeted in arson attack

Police in Manipur reported a new case of arson in Jiribam district where a group of suspected ‘Tribal village volunteers’ allegedly set a house on fire in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The home was owned by a retired police officer and was situated in the district’s Jakuradhor neighborhood. The family had previously left the three-room property because of the previous violent episodes in the neighborhood. “The family was living elsewhere for quite some time for safety reasons since earlier unrest in the region,” police authorities stated.

It happened around 3:30 am. The early morning darkness was exploited by the suspected armed criminals to carry out their arson. The house was reduced to rubble. The location is adjacent to the Pherzawl district, which is home to a sizable Hmar population, and is about 28 kilometers from the Jiribam district headquarters. According to police, there is still tension and violence in the region. They made this statement to PTI.

A new arson case was recorded early on Wednesday morning in Manipur’s Jiribam district, despite a peace deal between members of the Meitei and Hmar communities to secure the restoration of normalcy and to prevent further violence. At a conference held on August 1 at a CRPF facility in the Cachar district of Assam, agreements were made to restore normalcy by both communities and to refrain from committing arson in the future.

To stop the rioting, the Jiribam district administration called it together with members of the CRPF and the Assam Rifles. The summit, which was attended by members of many communities in their separate strongholds, including the Hmar, Meitei, Thadou, Paite, and Mizo, demonstrated the necessity for peace and stability in the region as a whole. Nevertheless, despite these attempts, on Wednesday early in the morning, a group of suspected “tribal village volunteers” set fire to a three-room house in the Jakuradhor area of the Jiribam district.