Imphal: The minority Kom community, which has been maintaining neutrality ever since the ethnic conflict broke out on May 3 in Manipur, has condemned the life threat by suspected Kuki militants to the Kom Union Manipur (KUM) president Serto Ahao Kom.
A case has been filed with the police in this connection.
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The Kom is one of the smaller ethnic tribes in the state. Internationally acclaimed women boxer, Mary Kom, belongs to this community.
Kom Union Manipur advisor Boyes Kom, speaking to the media at Manipur Press Club, Imphal on Wednesday, said Serto was attacked by cadres of the Kuki Independent Army (KIA) on his way to visit his ailing father in Khoirentak Khunou village in Churachandpur district on Tuesday.
The KUM president Serto Ahao Kom was beaten black and blue by Kuki militants on the charge of having a connection with the Meiteis in the ongoing communal violence that erupted on May 3 between the Kukis and Meiteis.
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According to the medical report, Serto Ahao Kom suffered a fractured left hand.
Speaking to reporters at the RIMS hospital, the KUM president said that he was stopped by around 30 armed Kuki militants near Chingphei village as he was on his way to his Khoirentak residence in Churachandpur from Langol Tarung at around 8:30 pm on Tuesday.
After beating him severely and interrogating him for several questions, a few armed men brought the KUM president to the edge of Chingphei Kuki village in a Gypsy and released him there.
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The ugly incident happened at a time when the KUM has been striving for the restoration of peace without siding with any of the warring communities in the state.
The KUM has been in touch with the civil bodies of all the communities in the state to facilitate the restoration of peace and normalcy in the state.
The Kom Union Manipur Women Wing general secretary Kim Serto and Union advisor T. Achung were present during the press briefing.