Manipur is a crucible of defiance and despair today, where ordinary men and women are trying to breathe life into the smouldering ruins of what was once a tapestry of lives interwoven with hope and laughter, and shared spaces of several ethnic communities.
The tiny northeastern state had been stringing together more than a dozen tribes like the Hmar, Kuki, Zomi in the hills and the dominant Meitei community in the valley until May 2, 2023, when their houses were set ablaze during large-scale violence by armed groups.
For the homeless and grieving families, Biren Singh’s resignation as chief minister almost two years later is disturbingly delayed. And, the Centre’s assurance of bridging the ethnic divide and promises of dialogue are being seen as mere band-aids to structures that were broken by targeted aggression on innocent villagers who have been thrown into a cycle of violence. When will it end? No one has an answer.
The state machinery’s failure has prompted civil society to step in. “The government calls it an ethnic conflict, but there are no historical records to show that the people of Manipur wanted division or could not coexist peacefully,” says Khuraijam Athouba, convener of the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity, an umbrella body of Meitei civil society organisations. “Both sides fell victim to the cycle of revenge and now we are calling it an ethnic divide.”
Worrying civil society are the missteps by successive administrations, the collapse of a credible governance model and its failure to keep inimical elements at bay. The outcome: looted police armouries and armed civilians. As per official estimates, 5,800 weapons were looted and an approximate 2,200 weapons have been recovered. “The remaining 3,600 are still floating in the state besides locally manufactured arms or those smuggled from across the [Indo-Myanmar] border,” a senior security officer told THE WEEK. There are various armed sections in Manipur now―village volunteers, criminals, members of proscribed armed outfits and overground groups with alleged political affiliations who are not owned up by any known organisation, the officer explained.
The first challenge is to disarm the civilians. In Churachandpur, the epicentre of the violence, families living in camps send their boys back home to stand guard at night to ensure there is no further damage or encroachment. Senior security officers admit that law and order will remain a challenge till village volunteers on both sides are disarmed. The failure of the state is also evident in the volunteers who inspect vehicles going between the hills and the valley with country-made weapons. The lawlessness makes a fertile ground for criminal gangs to operate, police sources admit.
Apart from loot and kidnap, land encroachment is emerging as a huge concern. “We want the government to furnish a list of houses that were not only burnt, looted and damaged, but also encroached in the last two years,” says Kaimlo Hangzo, a retired civil servant who moved to Delhi during the violence. Encroachment of Kuki land has been a bone of contention in the tribal and hill areas. The problem has become more complex with nearly 60,000 people being displaced in the last two years. While the hill population is unable to return to their homes in the valley, the Meitei families who had houses in the hills are unsure about the fate of the abandoned homes.
The third layer of armed threats in Manipur come from insurgent groups active both in the hills and the valley. Security forces have listed out 15 valley-based insurgent groups that need to be reined in to stop them from taking advantage of the political disarray. The uncertainty mandates keeping a close watch on groups like the United National Liberation Front (Koireng), the People’s Liberation Army of Manipur, the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup, the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak and the Coordination Committee (an alliance of six groups), which are suspected of having links in Myanmar. Intelligence agencies tracking the valley-based insurgent groups (VBIGs) found them consolidating in Myothit, Myanmar, in the last 22 months with logistical support from National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) cadre. Consolidation, security officers warned, strengthened the capabilities of the groups and opened routes of smuggling of arms into India. Officers did not deny that these arms could be reaching the VBIG recruits in the valley.
High alert: Patrolling along the India-Mynamar border. Security forces are keeping a close watch on insurgent groups that are suspected of having links in Myanmar | Salil Bera
The hills host 18 insurgent groups including the NSCN(IM), the NSCN (Khaplang), the Zeilangrong United Front and the Manipur Naga Revolutionary Front, apart from Kuki insurgent groups like the Kuki National Front-Nehlun, the Kuki National Army and the Kuki Independent Army.
The insurgent groups active in the hills are those which entered the suspension of operations (SoO) agreements with the Centre (SoO is now in limbo). Athouba criticised the Centre for signing the SoO with these groups, who were led by foreign nationals. He claimed that inviting outfits like Zomi Revolutionary Army and United People’s Front (consisting of seven groups) led by Thanglianpau Guite, for peace talks was a misstep given his Myanmarese background. Similarly, peace talks with Kuki National Army president P.S. Haokip was being cited as allowing a free pass to insurgent groups that did not adhere to the rules and indulged in smuggling of arms and narcotics.
There is a sentiment within civil society and security circles that armed groups took advantage of the peace initiatives by the government to fuel unrest. It is the entry of such inimical forces that has kept the pot boiling in Manipur, security officers admit, as they fished for overground support during the violence. Athouba said a series of administrative mistakes caused the slide of an otherwise peaceful society into violence.
“Both communities are psychologically and geographically separated and it will take at least a generation to heal the scars,” says Hangzo. “I am displaced. My house was burnt and looted in Imphal. How can I forget that?”
Buffer zones have been created between the valley and hill districts by the Central armed police. Once in a while, flare-ups in fringe districts―kidnaps, killings, looting―create panic and fear. The divide has made travel difficult for daily wagers and led to suspension of transport of goods, thereby bringing several economic activities to a standstill. Development initiatives have taken a back seat, too, with the focus on maintaining the buffer zones, deployment of police personnel, night patrols and building government shelters for the displaced.
Whether Manipur gets a new chief minister or falls under president’s rule, the state cannot be left in limbo and there is a realisation within the administrative set-up of the same. But the task at hand is tough.
While the official figure of internally displaced people has remained at 60,000, it is a different matter that people are rehabilitated to other regions within Manipur, Hangzo says. “The valley is already congested,” he says. “How is it possible to accommodate all Meitei families there? Similar problems will be there in hill districts. Unless people are able to return home, can we expect peace?”
The dominant Meitei community is equally sceptical about normalcy returning soon. “The unrest won’t go away immediately,” says Nabakishore Yumnam, spokesperson of the World Meitei Council. “The government may claim normalcy because national highways are open, but unless the common man can travel without fear, I won’t agree that normalcy has set in. High food prices, poor living conditions in camps and the threat of insurgency need to be addressed immediately.”