Describing ongoing violence in Manipur as India’s ‘internal problem’, Eric Garcetti says ‘our’ hearts are broken whenever humans suffer
Post Date – 11:40 PM, Thursday – July 20
Washington: Eric Garcetti, the top US diplomat in New Delhi, described the ongoing violence in Manipur on Thursday as an “internal problem” for India and said “our” hearts break every time someone suffers.
Garcetti, who is currently in Washington for consultations with U.S. government officials, was responding to a question about a video of two stripped women being brutalized by mobs in Manipur state.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the incident had dishonored 1.4 billion Indians and vowed that no criminal would be spared and that the law would take action “with all its might”.
“I haven’t seen the video. This is the first time I’ve heard of it. But as I said before, whenever human beings suffer, whether it’s in our neighbourhood, across the globe or in the country we live in, our hearts break,” the US ambassador said in response to a question.
“Our hearts continue to go out to the people of India. As I said, this is an Indian problem and an internal problem, but of course we as fellow human beings are always here to empathize with this pain and suffering,” Garcetti told the Press Trust of India.
The 26-second video of the incident in a village in Kampopie district sparked national outrage, a day after racial violence erupted in India’s northeastern state on May 3, but the gruesome footage didn’t surface until Wednesday and quickly went viral after an internet ban was lifted.
More than 160 people have been killed and many more injured since racial violence erupted in the state on May 3, when the “Tribal Unity March” was organized in the mountains to protest the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
