Manipur: Tribals hold ‘coffin rally’ in tribute to 10 slain youths

way2barak, Nov 19 : Thousands of men and women on Tuesday took part in a ‘coffin rally’ in Manipur’s Churachandpur in solidarity with the 10 Kuki-Zo-Hmar tribal ‘Village Volunteers’, who were killed in a reported encounter with CRPF in Jiribam district on November 11.

Jointly organised by Zomi Students’ Federation, Kuki Students’ Organisation and Hmar Students’ Association, thousands of men and women wearing black attire symbolically carried 10 dummy coffins to pay homage to the 10 slain Village Volunteers as all the 10 bodies are still kept in the morgue of a local hospital.

The three tribal organisations on Monday urged the authorities of all schools and colleges in Churachandpur district and adjoining areas to close down their educational institutions and to send students from Class X and above to participate in Tuesday’s rally.

The three organisations also urged people from all walks of life to participate in the ‘coffin rally’ in large numbers.

After the post-mortem of all ten bodies was conducted in Assam’s Silchar Medical College and Hospital, the bodies were airlifted on November 16 to Churachandpur, a Kuki-Zo-Hmar inhabited district.

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), an apex body of the Kuki-Zo community in Manipur, earlier said that they have decided that the last rites of 10 Village Volunteers, would not be performed till their postmortem examination reports are handed over to the families.

“We have not yet received the post-mortem reports. We would wait for autopsy reports of all the martyrs’ bodies. We would not bury the martyrs before that,” senior ITLF leader Ginza Vualzong told the media after Sunday’s meeting.

He said: “Our martyrs’ bodies would be placed in the district hospital morgue until post-mortem reports are available.”

Vualzong said that after receiving the post-mortem reports of all 10 of them, an expert in this field would carefully review the autopsy reports for any irregularity.

The ITLF legal cell would pursue all legal options in this regard, he said, adding that a Joint Philanthropic Organisation (JPO) would collaborate with the Hmar Inpui to plan the burial programme for 10 ‘martyrs’.

The police claimed that all 10 ‘militants’ were killed in retaliatory firing by the CRPF after the militants attacked the CRPF camp and the adjoining police station at Jakuradhor village in Jiribam district’s Borobekra sub-division.

All tribal organisations in Manipur including the ITLF, Kuki-Zo Council and Hmar Students’ Association have been claiming that all 10 ‘Hmar Village Volunteers’ were engaged to protect the villagers.