Leaders of a group involved in ethnic-violence in India’s strife-torn Manipur state have criticized the federal government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for its inability to find a solution to the unrest, two years after it broke out. Ahead of the second anniversary of the outbreak of violence on May 3, the Hindu Meitei groups jointly said that New Delhi seems to lack interest in finding an amicable solution to the violence between them and the Kuki-Zo, a Christian majority tribal group. “The Indian government seems to differ in dealing with its citizens in different parts of the country,” said Athouba Khuraijam, convener of the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an influential body of Meitei civil society organizations. The Modi government in October last year imposed federal rule after the state government failed to end violence that has claimed 260 lives and displaced more than 60,000 people, mostly Kuki-Zo Christians. “Our fundamental rights and constitutional rights have been violated and suspended for two years,” Khuraijam told the media on April 29 in Imphal state. He said that federal rule has become “ineffective and symbolic.” People expected federal rule to bring law and order, “but instead, we have seen continued chaos.” The violence began on May 3, 2023, when Meitei people attacked a Kuki-Zo march protesting a Meitei demand for indigenous status. Indigenous status would allow the Meiteis, a politically and socially powerful group, to access benefits from the government’s affirmative action plans, including reserva-tions in government jobs and education, among other things, for the disadvantaged.
Spanish bishops speak out after leaks of their meeting with Leo XIV
The executive committee of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, (CEE, by its Spanish acronym) meeting in Madrid this week, issued an official statement regarding the leaks
