UKHRUL, Dec 5: Amidst a total shutdown in Churachandpur district, thousands of mourners on Thursday paid final tribute to 12 Kuki-Zo men who were recently killed in the Jiribam violence.
The last rites of the 12 deceased Kuki-Zo men, including the 10 killed in a gunfight with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Jiribam district on November 11, were performed at Peace Ground, Tuibuong. The mass burial ceremony was organized by Joint Philanthropic Organisation (JPO).
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Mizoram Chief Minister’s adviser Ginzalal Hauzel, leaders from the Young Mizo Association (CYMA), and several prominent figures from various tribal organizations and churches attended the mass burial program. The leaders paid homage to the “martyrs” by placing traditional shawls over their coffins.
Moreover, the village volunteers gave a gun salute as a sign of respect to the “martyrs” before the bodies were laid to rest at Martyrs Cemetery, Sehken in the presence of family, friends, and well-wishers.
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According to the Indigenous Tribal Forum (ITLF), the bodies of the village volunteers, which were taken from the morgue to their respective homes on Wednesday evening, were brought to the funeral program at Peace Ground, Tuibuong, Lamka.
It may be recalled that the post-mortem examinations of all the victims were conducted at Silchar Medical College in Assam on November 16 before being airlifted to Churachandpur. The lifeless bodies were kept in the district hospital’s morgue ever since.
Meanwhile, the ITLF has submitted a memorandum to the Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking justice for the victims and a political solution as a means to end the prevailing violence in Manipur.
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It may be mentioned that the Manipur Police and the Kuki Zo civil organizations have maintained contrasting accounts of the killings of the ten Kuki-Zo individuals. The former has asserted that the victims were armed militants killed in an exchange of fire when they attacked the CRPF camp and the adjoining Jakuradhor police station. However, the ITLF and other Kuki-Zo organizations have refuted this claim and insisted on them being Hmar Village Volunteers killed while guarding their village.
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