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Union Minister House set on fire

Manipur violence: Residence of Union Minister R K Ranjan torched in Imphal
R K Ranjan, who is the Union Minister of State for External Affairs, was in Kerala during the incident, and appealed to the people of Manipur to maintain peace.

Amid a resurgence of violence in Manipur, the residence of Union Minister R K Ranjan at Kongba in Imphal was torched by a mob on Thursday night. The Union Minister was not at home at the time of the incident.

“I am currently in Kerala for official work. Thankfully, nobody got injured last night at my Imphal home. The miscreants came with petrol bombs and damage has been done to the ground floor and first floor of my home,” Ranjan, Union Minister of State for External Affairs, told the news agency ANI.

Manipur has been witnessing violent clashes between two groups — Meiteis and Kukis — over the demand for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category since May 3, leaving more than 100 people dead.

The Union Minister appealed to the people of Manipur to maintain peace. “It is very sad to see what is happening in my home state. I will still continue to appeal for peace. Those indulging in this kind of violence are absolutely inhuman,” he told ANI.

This was not the only instance of a house being set on fire by a violent mob last day. According to the news agency PTI, at least two abandoned houses were torched on Thursday afternoon, a day after an attack in the Khamenlok area left nine people dead and injured ten others.

No casualties were reported in the incidents as the houses that were torched were abandoned. The occupants had left after the ethnic violence started in the northeastern state early last month.

The incidents took place as the army and the Assam Rifles intensified their “area domination” operations in the aftermath of the recent spurt in violence in the strife-torn state. Army and Assam Rifles columns intensified patrolling, taking down barriers wherever they had been created.

(With PTI, ANI inputs)

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