Imphal, March 18 Two tribal organisations in Manipur -- the Hmar Inpui and the Zomi Council – on Tuesday withdrew the indefinite shutdown in Churachandpur district after the two settled the row over the severe assault of a senior Hmar tribal leader on March 16.
The leaders of Hmar Inpui and the Zomi Council held a meeting with the families of the victim and attackers and settled the dispute as per local customary law and practices.
The indefinite shutdown in Churachandpur district was called after Hmar Inpui General Secretary, Richard Laltanpuia Hmar, who was on his way home, was stopped, blindfolded, and severely beaten inside the campus of V.K. Montessori School on March 16 by the "local miscreants".
Laltanpuia Hmar is now undergoing medical treatment at a hospital due to excessive bleeding and injuries.
Tuesday's meeting between the two tribal bodies and the families of the victim and the attackers decided that "culprit family would handover Rs 50,000 to the victim's family in lieu of traditional and customary peace feast".
"The culprit family will make an initial payment of Rs 2 lakh for medical treatment expenses of Richard Laltanpuia Hmar and also pay any additional cost involved beyond the Rs 2 lakh which will be intimated later to the culprit's families. In case, any serious case arises due to the brutal attack, both parties should meet again to solve the matter. Both the parties agreed that such perpetration of violence against one another should not occur in the future," the resolution adopted in the meeting said.
After the March 16 incident, indefinite curfew was clamped in Churachandpur by the district administration following tension triggered by the vicious attack on the Hmar tribal leader.
Churachandpur Deputy Commissioner, Dharun Kumar S., in an appeal, urged all community leaders to come together to engage in peaceful dialogue. "Violence and unrest will not lead to a solution, and it is in all our best interests to find common ground through peaceful discussions and dialogues," he had said.
Various other tribal organisations strongly condemned the “heinous and cowardly assault” on Richard Hmar, who is also a member of the Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF).
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