Hope Abandoned

ON OCTOBER 3, a group of people stood outside Manipur University in traditional white dress, a sign of mourning. They placed candles by a small shrine of sorts and prayed for two students from their Meitei community who were confirmed dead on September 25. In an image that went viral that day, Phijam Hemjit (20) and Hijam Linthoin­gambi (17) can be seen in a little forest clearing sitting next to each other, fearful, not looking into the camera. Behind them loom large a few men armed with sophisticated weapons. It is most likely a makeshift camp of an insurgent group run by Kukis, a community with whom Meiteis, who mostly live in Manipur’s Imphal Valley, are at loggerheads. The violence that began in May has consumed the lives of over 175 people to date. On September 25, along with this photograph, another also surfaced in which the two students can be seen dead in a gory way.

The two had gone missing on July 6 when they were travelling on a bike. CCTV footage shows them in Bishnupur district. One of their mobiles was later traced to an area in the district close to Churachandpur, a hill district dominated by Kukis. Police inves­tigation revealed that this phone may have been used by some­one else in Churachandpur, presumably one of the individuals involved in their abduction.

The killings evoked a sharp response in Imphal, leading to a fresh spate of violence in a state where peace after years of insur­gency is fragile in any case. While many felt that extraordinary force (including pellet guns) was used to quell angry protests, the Manipur government soon afterwards announced the arrest of four Kuki suspects (including two women) in the case. They were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from the hill district of Churachandpur. One more person belonging to the Kuki tribe has been arrested separately on charges of what the National Investigation Agency (NIA) called “a transnational conspiracy by Myanmar and Bangladesh-based leadership of ter­ror outfits to wage war” against the Indian state. The motive, NIA said, was to exploit the current unrest between Meiteis and Kukis in Manipur to foment violence. For this, funds and weapons were being provided from across the border as well, the agency claimed. The accused, Seiminlun Gangte, claims NIA is involved in an SUV blast case in Bishnupur district on June 21. Earlier, he had been working as a teacher of English since the beginning of 2018. As violence broke out in May, his family shifted to Churachandpur where they felt safe among the Kuki majority. His family claimed that he had started working in a hardware store there and was on his way to pick up some equipment when he was arrested.

These arrests have now prompted Kuki groups to launch an indefinite shutdown in protest against what they called the “se­lective haste of Central investigating agencies.” The shutdown has forced closure of the crucial National Highway 37 connect­ing Imphal to Silchar in Assam. The groups say if those arrested are not released they will shut down other crucial routes as well.

In the longer run, both sides are now angry with how the government has handled the situation. As news of excess by paramilitary forces on Meitei protesters spread, houses of several politicians, including Manipur BJP president A Sharda Devi’s, were vandalised. Devi told the media later that this was the sixth attack on her house that left her niece injured. For their part, the families of the two students were distraught as well and blamed the government for inaction. One parent said the government ought to have known better about the whereabouts of their ab­ducted children since it was in an agreement with Kuki groups for the suspension of operations. On the other hand, the Kuki groups threatened to take action against people moving with arms but in plainclothes, alluding to officials of investigating agencies who picked up Kuki suspects.

Meanwhile, a farmer’s organisation in the state has estimated that because the five-month old violence kept famers away from their fields, the state may face farming losses of over `266 crore (and this just in Meitei-dominated areas because the body could not survey the hill districts where Kukis are in a majority). It said that almost 10,000 hectares of arable land falls in the current con­flict zone. It warned that over 30,000 paddy farms in the areas it surveyed may be unable to produce any rice due to the crisis.

The other problem is the struggle for the recovery of arms looted at the beginning of the conflict. A few days into the con­flict, Chief Minister N Biren Singh had said that miscreants had looted over 1,000 weapons and several thousand rounds of am­munition from security forces. About 500 guns were looted from a gunhouse alone. There are estimates that a few thousand more have been looted since. Beyond that, because of an influx of insur­gent groups, the various communities in Manipur have access to weapons used during the current conflict as well. In June itself, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had issued an appeal for the surrender of weapons. Last month, the state government told the Supreme Court that it had filed a recovery status report that the court was to examine. The deadline given by the state to its people to surrender illegal weapons is also very near. But journalists in Manipur say that it is unlikely to evoke any response just like previous such appeals. The desperation to recover the weapons is so acute that one of the state’s ministers in Imphal East got a giant drop box installed outside his residence urging people to return illegal weapons, especially those snatched from the police.

The biggest tragedy perhaps is what seems to be the perma­nent fallout between Meiteis and Kukis that also makes the situ­ation very complex. As the conflict began, Kukis working in Imphal Valley chose to shift to hill districts like Churachandpur while Meiteis living in those parts chose to make the reverse journey. In the absence of any tangible solution, it seems un­likely that these groups will return to their former homes. This is what has prompted Kuki groups to tell the Union government that it would be prudent to create a separate administrative unit for them. But given the complex geographical equations in the state—a feature that has led to much violence in the past—it is easier said than done. That is because several areas to which Kukis lay their claim, Nagas also lay theirs. The 10 hill districts of Manipur are equally dominated (five each) by Kukis and Nagas. The two communities have their own points of conflict. As New Delhi struggles to make sense of it, the crisis in Manipur seems to be far from even a short-term solution.

Churachandpurethnic conflictKukisManipurMeiteisSeiminlun Gangteunrest