Washington: The United States Tuesday said it has been shocked and horrified by what is happening in Manipur, especially seen in a viral video of two women being paraded naked and later gangraped.
"We are shocked and horrified by the video of this extreme attack on two women in Manipur”, Vedant Patel, Deputy Spokesperson of the State Department, told reporters in response to a question at his daily news conference Tuesday.
Patel however added that Washington supports the Indian Government's efforts to seek justice for the victims.
“We convey our profound sympathies to the survivors of this act of gender-based violence and support the Indian Government's efforts to seek justice for them," he said. “…as we have previously stated, we encourage a peaceful and inclusive resolution to the violence in Manipur and encourage authorities to respond to the humanitarian needs and protect the lives and property of all groups," he added.
“We convey our profound sympathies to the survivors of this act of gender-based violence and support the Indian Government's efforts to seek justice for them," he said.
“…as we have previously stated, we encourage a peaceful and inclusive resolution to the violence in Manipur and encourage authorities to respond to the humanitarian needs and protect the lives and property of all groups," he added.
Patel’s comments on the ethnic violence in Manipur comes barely two days after a US State Department spokesperson said that the incident was “brutal” and “terrible”.
The incident that sparked nationwide outrage happened about two months ago. It was however reported only after a video surfaced on the social media on July 19, 2023.
In the video, two naked women from the minority Kuki community are seen being dragged to a nearby field where they were later gang-raped.
One of the victims was wife of Kargil war veteran.
Police have identified about 12 people and have so far arrested six including the main accused who has been identified as Huirem Herodas Meitei.
More than 160 people have lost their lives, and several injured since ethnic violence broke out in the state on May 3, when a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
Meanwhile, India’s Ministry of External Affairs Ministry (MEA) which has always been very quick with “mind your own business” response whenever OIC or any other country raises questions on atrocities against Indian Muslims, is maintaining silence over US repeatedly commenting on Manipur violence.
In a related debelopment, Congress has filed a no-trust motion against the Narendra Modi-led government amid the impasse in the Parliament over the violence in Manipur.
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