Manipur: Villagers protest against withdrawal of BSF at Kwatha
Imphal: A sit-in was staged protesting against the central government’s decision to withdraw Border Security Forces (BSF) from the last Indian Meitei village, at Kwatha bordering Myanmar on the southeast on Monday.
Several Meitei women holding placards that read, “Save us, not to leave us” and “Protect the Kwatha villagers,” staged a sit-in on the lane blocking the BSF vehicles.
Tucked along the Indo-Myanmar border and tracing its history back to the 1819 Burmese (now Myanamrese) invasion, this small hamlet is surrounded by seven Kuki villages but they are persistently living in fear amidst the ongoing communal violence between the Meities and Kukis that cost the lives of over 233 individuals since eruption of violence on May 3, 2023.
The Kwatha village secretary Sanjoy Meitei said that on March 11, 2024, suspected Kuki militants allegedly set on fire a school building at Kwatha Khunou, the last Indian village having installed border pillar number 81 with Kondong village of Myanmar on the southeast.
Since then villagers residing at Kwatha Khunou fled from their homestead and took shelter at Kwatha village, a distance of around 3-4 km.
The secretary also appealed to the state government to take effective steps to protect the lives and property of helpless villagers.
Meanwhile, reports stated that the government is preparing to withdraw the BSF stationed in the Kwatha area before the deployment of the India Reserve Battalion (IRB) to protect the area along the porous Manipur-Myanmar border.