GUWAHATI An organisation of Meitei Muslims, also called Pangals, has decided to accept the bodies of four people gunned down by armed extremists for the last rites after the Manipur government agreed to its demands.
The outlawed People’s Liberation Army claimed responsibility for gunning down four members of the Pangal community on January 1. The outfit said its members had fired in self-defence after the residents of Lilong Chingjao in Thoubal district attacked them for trying to take away a drug trafficker.
To avert a crisis over the refusal of the Pangals to accept the four bodies for burial, Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh held a meeting with members of the community’s Joint Action Committee (JAC) in the State’s capital Imphal on January 3.
Taking to X, the Chief Minister said he met the leaders of the Pangal civil society organisations in the presence of Rajya Sabha member Sanajaoba Leisemba, Minister K. Govindas, and Lilong MLA Abdul Nasir. Expressing his deep sorrow for the firing incident, he said the government agreed to all the demands put forth by the JAC.
“The community has agreed to accept the bodies of the individuals killed in the armed militant attack,” the Chief Minister said.
“Our charter of demands included handing over the killing of four of our people to the National Investigation Agency and not allowing any members of independent organisations other than Central and State forces and agencies to enter the Meitei Pangal-inhabited areas of Manipur,” a JAC member said.
The JAC also sought the formation of a village protection force in each Meitei Pangal-inhabited area, ex-gratia payment of ₹10 lakh to each of the victims of the January 1 incident, and a suitable government job to the next of kin of these victims.
