In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Rongmei body said that, after abducting women and minor kids including an eight-month-old kid they were “mercilessly” killed and dumped at Barak and Jiri rivers.

The dead bodies were found floating in the rivers and they were picked up by Assam Police on November 16, 17 and 18 and deposited at the Silchar Medical College, Assam, said the RNPO. It also strongly condemned the brutal killing of a Hmar woman (mother of 3 kids) namely Zosangkim Hmar, wife of Ngurthansang Hmar of Zairawn Hmar village in Jiribam district and her body was burnt beyond recognition while seven houses were set ablaze by the suspected valley militants on November 7, 2024.

The RNPO statement then said, “It is also noteworthy that even during war time women and children are protected from killing and atrocities by international laws like International Red Cross Society (IRCS), Human Rights Law, Geneva Convention etc.”. These laws strongly prohibit cruelty against women and children, the RNPO also said.

The recent killings of a Hmar woman by suspected valley militants, six Meiteis including three minor kids (with an eight-month-old baby) and three women by suspected Kuki-Zo militants in Jiribam district are highly condemnable by all right-thinking people, the RNPO added. It also condemned all forms of violence whether by Kuki-Zomi-Hmar, Meitei or by Nagas.

Therefore, the RNPO appealed to both the conflicting parties to shun violence and come to a dialogue table and resolve their conflict in order to restore normalcy in plural society like Manipur. The RNPO also urged both Government of India and the Government of Manipur to intervene into this “protracted ongoing ethnic conflict between the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar and Meitei communities with political will in order to restore normalcy at the earliest in this strife torn state of Manipur”.