After seven months, 64 bodies airlifted to various Manipur districts for last rites
Sixty-four dead bodies were airlifted from morgues in Churachandpur and Imphal amid tight security on Thursday, over seven months after ethnic clashes first broke out in the northeastern state on May 3.
The bodies of people from the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities were taken to their respective districts in Churachandpur, Kangpokpi and Imphal. They had been lying in limbo at the morgues in Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal and RIMS.
The arrangement for airlifting their bodies was made after proper identification.
According to the government official, a total of 19 bodies were airlifted in two round trips at Motbung in Kangpokpi district and were handed over to members of the Committee on Tribal Unity, representing the victims’ families. A mass burial is scheduled to be held at Phaijang village, 20 kilometres from Kangpokpi district headquarters, on December 15.
The organisation called for a 12-hour total shutdown within Sadar Hills Kangpokpi from 5 am to 5 pm for the funeral services on Friday and appealed to the general public to cooperate, news agency PTI reported. Emergency services and funeral parties will be exempted from the purview of the shutdown.
Besides, 41 bodies were airlifted and taken to the Assam Rifles helipad in Churachandpur in four trips.
Four dead bodies of Meitei community members were airlifted from a morgue in Churachandpur and their last rites will be performed by their families at their places.
For the unidentified bodies, the court had allowed the state to carry out burial or cremation with due observance of religious rites.