A Canada based Manipur tribal leader’s speech over the ethnic-violence in the state has generated a stir in India.
The speech was made by the leader of a Canada-based Kuki-Zo tribes group from Manipur in August.
The event was held at the same gurdwara in Canada's Surrey, whose chief and Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead by unidentified people in June, the reports said.
Lien Gangte, the Canada chapter chief of the North American Manipur Tribal Association (NAMTA), in his address condemned what he called "attacks on minorities in India" and asked Canada for "all possible help", reported NDTV.
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NAMTA had posted a video of the event on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) on August 7, the report mentioned.
It also said the videos were deleted much later when the row between India and Canada surfaced following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's claim last week that "Indian government agents" were involved in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Nijjar.
“Gangte, on behalf of the Kuki-Zo tribes to which he belongs, spoke at length about the ethnic violence between the hill-majority tribes and the valley-majority Meiteis,” the report said.
It said: "On May 4, a mob attacked our house and tried to kill my father. He is 80 years old... They looted our house and set it on fire. My elder brother and his family ran with only the clothes they were wearing. Manipur has been burning since May 3. Over 120 of our people have died, over 7,000 homes looted and burnt, hundreds of churches burnt and 200 villages in the valley razed,” he said, as per the report.
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"The authorities did not do anything to control the violence. The Manipur Police instead encouraged the rioters. We were removed from Imphal valley viciously, so we consider this ethnic cleansing. They burnt alive a seven-year-old boy, his mother and a relative in an ambulance... And they say we should talk about peace and normalcy," Gangte alleged, the report mentioned.
"... When all this was happening in India, where was Prime Minister Narendra Modi... He went to the US, France, Egypt, except the place that needed his attention the most," the NAMTA Canada leader said. "No minority is safe in India. Whether Muslim, Sikh, Christians. We condemn attacks on minorities in India. We request all possible help from Canada," Gangte said, the report added.
The report also said after Gangte's speech, NAMTA members and supporters of the Khalistani terrorist Nijjar also sat for a meeting.
Over 180 have died in the ethnic violence in Manipur that began on May 3 between the Kuki tribes and the Meiteis over the Meiteis' demand for Scheduled Tribes category status.
