(Worthy News) - Amid the ongoing deadly and destructive tribal conflict in India’s Manipur state, a local Christian leader has pleaded for help saying Hindu extremist members of the Meitei tribe are committing “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide” against Christians from the Kuki and Zo tribes, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
The Christian leader, whose name is withheld for security reasons, said India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has not only done nothing to stop the violence against Christians but has even sided with rampaging Hindu Meitei members.
A native of Manipur, the Christian leader told ICC that Hindu members of the Meitei tribe “are killing innocent women, children, pastors, and even civil servants” among the Kuki and Zo tribes.
Concerning government inaction and even sympathy for the attackers, the Christian leaders said: “the State Chief Ministry, N. Biren Singh, and MP Sapam, a member of Parliament, are heading the Meitei Leepun and Aramba Tenggol,” while the State Police and the Meitei Army join forces to “rape, kill, and burn the minority Kukies.”
“The Christian community is suffering from ethnic cleansing and genocide,” the leader said.
“Churches and Villages are burned down by these Meitei Hindus along with Manipur State Police and even India Army, which are led by Meitei officers [who] join hands with them to kill and burn,” the Christian leader added.
At least 147 Christians have been killed since the violence broke out in early May, and a further 220 have been wounded, ICC reports. The Christian leader also documented 170 villages and 17 churches that his organization had planted as having been burned. The leader said an additional 4,581 houses and 93 Christian offices have also been destroyed.