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GUWAHATI/SILCHAR: Strife-ridden Manipur is getting 70 additional companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), bulking up deployment to nearly 39,000 personnel with the focus on safeguarding civilians from armed militant groups that the state govt blames for fuelling the ethnic divide, report Prabin Kalita & BB Goswami. The announcement by security adviser Kuldiep Singh coincided with the funerals of nine people - including three women and as many children - at Jiribam's Ningsingkhul Biodiversity Park. Eight of the deceased were inmates of a shelter for displaced Meitei people, near which security forces killed 10 Hmar "militants" on Nov 11.
Singh said officially, the toll in the ethnic conflict over the past 19 months stand at 258. Friday's funerals were arranged by a joint action committee of Jiribam's Meitei community after the bodies arrived from Silchar Medical College in Assam's Cachar district, 48km away. Black flags fluttered atop the cavalcade of cars and bikes ferrying mourners.
"We are appealing to the Union and state govts for justice for these innocent victims. We regard those responsible for these killings as terrorists, not as village defence volunteers," a committee spokesperson said. Kuki-Zo groups say those killed by CRPF and police on Nov 11 were Hmar "volunteers" tasked with protecting their tribal villages rather than "militants".
Maharashtra Jharkhand Maharashtra Alliance View i Party View Seats: 288 L + W Majority: 145 BJP+ 2 MVA 1 OTH 0 Leads + Wins : 3 / 288 BJP+ LEADING Jharkhand Alliance View i Party View Seats: 81 L + W Majority: 41 NDA 1 INDIA 0 OTH 0 Leads + Wins : 1 / 81 NDA LEADING Source: PValue.
