PROTESTERS in Birmingham have called for an end to Indian state-sponsored violence and horrific attacks on women in Manipur.

Demonstrators handed a joint statement with their demands to the Consul General of India after ethnic clashes in the north-eastern state left more than 150 people dead and tens of thousands have been displaced since early May.

The violence between the majority Meitei group and the tribal Kuki minority was only publicly addressed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after a video that showed two women being paraded naked by a mob sparked global outrage.

The United Front Alliance UK, which organised the protest on Wednesday, said that reports citing the victims’ families revealed the complicity of the state police, and that members of Modi’s political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), were identified in the attack.

Bhagwant Singh of United Front Alliance UK said: “The comments made by the chief minister Biren Singh that ‘rapes and violence happen every day’ were insensitive and an outrage to the victims of Manipur – especially when it was BJP members who were identified in the attack on the women.”

Lotika Singha of Indian Labour Solidarity UK said: “The fact that killings continue to happen even over three months after the first day of rioting, shows an absolute failure or complicity of the state and central governance in the unravelling of Manipur’s multi-ethnic society.

“We demand an immediate resignation of the state chief minister, institution of president’s rule and an end to the violence as first steps to restitution of peace in Manipur and also clarity on the underlying causes of this conflict.”

Lekh Pall of the Coalition for Justice in India-UK accused the British government of “turning a blind eye” to human suffering.