Nine killed in renewed violence in India’s Manipur state

At least nine people were killed in India’s north-eastern state of Manipur late on Tuesday night in a violent gunfight, a top police official said.

“The gun battle started around 10 p.m. (IST) on Tuesday and continued for a long time. We have reports of at least nine deaths and 10 injured so far,” Police Superintendent K Shivakanta Singh told reporters in the state capital of Imphal.

The violence in Manipur erupted on May 3, after thousands of people from tribal groups protested plans to give the majority Meitei community protected status as a Scheduled Tribe, asserting that the community already enjoys advantages in the state.

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The classification, a form of affirmative action to correct historical and structural inequity and discrimination, provides quotas in government jobs and college admissions.

The Manipur High Court had directed the state government in April to consider including the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes list.

Meitei representatives say that they are not able to buy land in areas occupied by tribal groups, and told the court that the Scheduled Tribe status would help preserve their community and “save the ancestral land, tradition, culture and language.”

The protest, which included Kukis, one of the larger tribal communities in Manipur, who live primarily in hill areas, turned violent with clashes between various ethnic and religious groups. Some looted weapons and ammunition from police stations, which made the clashes even more deadly.