New ethnic violence erupted in India’s volatile northeastern state of Manipur on Thursday, officials reported. One person was shot dead and residences were set on fire.
Manipur’s interethnic violence this month killed at least 70 people and displaced tens of others.
Approximately 2,000 homes were also destroyed in the province that borders Myanmar.
As a form of affirmative action, the Kuki tribal group was angered by the prospect of the majority Meitei community receiving guaranteed quotas of government employment and other perks.
This increased the Kuki’s worry that the Meitei may get land earmarked for them and other ethnic groups.
For weeks, curfews and internet outages have been enforced in the state by thousands of military personnel.
After suspected militants killed one in Bishnupur, an indefinite curfew was restored Wednesday.
“During the firing by the militants, two people who were living in a relief camp were injured, and one of them later died in a hospital,” an unidentified local police officer told AFP.
The officer reported militants burned abandoned homes near a humanitarian camp before the shooting.
During the family’s absence, the home of local minister Govindas Konthoujam was also assaulted and ransacked.
Since the 1950s, at least 50,000 people have been killed in Manipur as a result of decades of conflict between ethnic and separatist factions seeking greater autonomy or even secession from India.
Such conflicts had diminished over the years, with numerous factions reaching agreements with New Delhi for increased authority.
