Contested Homelands

AS FRESH VIOLENCE ERUPTED in Manipur, Chief Minister N Biren Singh flew to New Delhi along with his four seniormost ministers on the evening of May 14. He had been summoned by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to see what could be done to defuse the crisis in the state after violent clash­es broke out between two ethnic communities on May 3. The clashes have severely threatened the fragile peace brought about with much effort in the last few years in a state which has seen decades of insurgency and long-drawn battles between various ethnic communities.

The current crisis was precipitated by clashes between the Meiteis, a community dominant in the Imphal Valley, and Kukis, a tribal community that mostly lives in the hill dis­tricts. So far, over 70 people have been killed. But it has created very little impact in Delhi. The irony is that there has been far more coverage of developments in Pakistan than those in Ma­nipur. Besides what has been called the “tyranny of distance”, there is also the tyranny of ignorance when it comes to India’s Northeast. That factor has also played a role in obfuscating facts and the gravity of the situation.

On the face of it, there are several immediate reasons that brought about the recent bout of violence. The Meitei commu­nity (largely Hindu) constitutes about 53 per cent of the state’s population but is mostly confined to the valley, which is about 10 per cent of the territory. Tribal communities (mostly Christians), including Kukis, constitute less than 50 per cent of Manipur’s popu­lation but occupy 90 per cent of territory in hill districts like Chura­chandpur. The Meiteis are seen as the dominant community, as its members provide about two-thirds of MLAs in the Assembly. Tribal communities like Kukis and Nagas feel that Meiteis run the state politically. On the other hand, Meiteis feel cornered because any Indian can settle in the valley, including the tribal communities liv­ing in the hill districts, but the hill districts remain protected. They have been asking for a Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, a demand that got a boost from a recent Manipur High Court order that asked the state government to recommend that the Centre consider granting it. The ST status will enable them to buy land in the hill districts. This prompted a tribal solidarity rally by Kukis and Nagas opposing it.

On the afternoon of May 3, as rumours ran amok, speeded up by the internet, that a Kuki war memorial had been burnt down, a mob went on a rampage in Meitei settlements in a vil­lage in Churachandpur. As the government failed to act on time, the violence spread quickly, with Meiteis being attacked in hill districts and Kukis in the Meitei-dominated valley. Thousands of people had to flee from their homes, in some cases, taking refuge in neighbouring states like Mizoram and Assam. More than 1,700 houses have been damaged; there is a possibility that some of them may not be able to return now to their homes.

But this just became an immediate cause. Why the clashes happened has multiple layers to it. “There is an old history of distrust that has accumulated for long,” says Phairembam Newton Singh, who teaches political science at Sikkim University. This distrust, this enmity, is not only between Kukis and Meiteis but even between Kukis and Nagas (and Nagas and Meiteis). According to scholars, Kukis are late migrants, who originally belonged to the northern parts of Myanmar and came to settle in Manipur in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. As Manipur journalist Pradip Phanjoubam wrote in a recent article, this is often used to humiliate the community by calling them “refugees” or “foreigners”. A nomadic tribe, Kukis were recruited by Manipuri kings for their superior fighting skills. From 1840 onwards, the British allowed Kukis to settle in Naga settlements so they could act as a buffer between them and the Burmese and the Nagas. This created distrust between Kukis and Nagas, with the latter feeling threatened by the sudden change in demography.

The issue of land ownership and who will call the shots has led to serious clashes in the past. The Kuki-Naga clashes of 1992-93 that started from Moreh, soon spread to other districts. It stemmed from the same contention of ownership of certain parts of Manipur. Kukis claimed the hill districts as their home­land that Nagas consider a part of “Nagalim”, or Greater Naga­land. It includes not only parts of Manipur but also Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. In the early 1990s, as Kukis became more vociferous about their demand, Nagas retaliated. In September 1993, the Naga insurgent group NSCN-IM attacked Kuki villages, killing more than 100 civilians. In the Kuki memory, it is referred to as the Joupi massacre, after a village where most killings took place.

THE SAME IDEA of homeland has led to trouble between Meiteis and Nagas as well. In January 2003, Naga insurgent leaders Thuingaleng Muivah and Isak Chishi Swu landed in Delhi from Amsterdam for the first time in decades to initiate talks with the then Vajpayee government. The next day, after their talks with Atal Bihari Vajpayee, this writer had asked Muivah outside the prime minister’s residence if there had been any conversation about Greater Nagaland. Muivah had replied that there was no greater or smaller Nagaland but Nagaland. On being asked if he considered Ukhrul (part of Manipur, dominated by Nagas; Muivah was born there) a part of Nagaland, Muivah re­plied: “Yes, of course!” Earlier, in June 2001, Meitei protesters had burnt down the Manipur Assembly after the Centre extended a ceasefire with NSCN-IM outside Nagaland that triggered fears that the territorial integrity of Manipur might be tampered with. At least 13 people were killed after the police had to open fire. As veteran journalist Patricia Mukhim wrote in a recent article, “Boundaries drawn by a colonial power are therefore problem­atic and every now and again thorny problems crop up.”

The other factor is how Churachandpur, where Kukis are in majority, has remained a transit route for illegal drugs. It shares a long boundary with Myanmar and is thus a thriving centre for the opium trade. Very little of the Manipur-Myanmar border is fenced, making it a preferred route for illegal drugs from what is called the Golden Triangle: the region between Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. Manipur government figures reveal that between 2017 and 2021, more than 14,000 acres of illicit poppy, cultivated mostly in the hill regions, were destroyed. According to the Coalition Against Drugs & Alcohol (CADA), an NGO in Manipur, poppy cultivation in Manipur has increased signifi­cantly with the patronage of drug smugglers based in Myanmar.

Since it assumed power, the Biren Singh government has pushed a “war on drugs” campaign, destroying poppy cultivation on a large scale in the hill districts. In January, the police destroyed a huge poppy cultivation area in the Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi district. Several arrests were made, in­cluding those of village chiefs, in connection with the poppy plantation. The government has been trying to wean people off cultivation, asking them to take up farming of other crops instead. Singh even advocated other forms of livelihood, like cattle rearing. But poppy cultivation has advantages. As Ngamjahao Kipgen of IIT Guwahati writes, “It [poppy] can be cultivated almost everywhere and is a relatively high-value prod­uct that has an assured market. Further, due to inadequate trans­portation infrastructure in rural areas, poppy is less cumbersome and can be easily managed, unlike other yields. Third, poor rural families are dependent on poppy cultivation for their economic needs.” In this light, it is viable and convenient for people, includ­ing Kukis, to keep on with poppy cultivation.

The other problem began in February this year when the gov­ernment began to evict tribals living in the forest area. It became problematic in the case of Kukis who were evicted as the govern­ment said they were encroaching upon protected forest. Kukis, as Mukhim and others have pointed out, have different kinship patterns. Traditionally, Kuki villages are owned by their chiefs and sometimes these settlements spill into forest land as Kukis believe it belongs to their ancestors. The government’s evic­tion drive, many felt, was abrupt and did not take into account the tribal sentiment and their tradition. As Kham Khan Suan Hausing, who is the head of the department of political science at the University of Hyderabad wrote, the manner in which these evictions took place was seen as “lawless law enforce­ment”. In March, an umbrella body of tribal groups along with a Kuki student body held protests at several places in Mani­pur and also brought it to Delhi. But nothing came of it. With the same abruptness, the government also ended its tripartite ceasefire agreement signed in 2008 with two Kuki insurgent groups. After violence broke out, the Centre had to clarify that the agreement—Delhi was also a party to it—was very much in place.

After returning from Delhi, Biren Singh has made it clear that there will be no separate administration for the Kuki-dominated districts. This was a demand put up by the Kuki MLAs of the state who met Home Minister Shah earlier. For its part, the Centre has pressed in forces, including the Army, to stabilise the situa­tion. Sources in the Army told Open that the Army, along with paramilitary forces, was now involved in area domination of the troubled areas and a close watch was also being kept on the Myanmar border so that insurgent groups did not take advantage of the prevailing situation. The Army has also started interact­ing with community elders, urging them to keep things under control at their end.

But things are far from normal. In Imphal, most Kuki government officials have returned to their places. The violence has affected Manipur’s education system badly. There is more apprehension of violence in hill districts and in several places, civilians have taken it upon themselves to guard their localities. Bunkers have been built at the entrance of some villages to thwart attacks. There have been reports of armed militants continuing to roam, forcing some villages to be pre­pared for attacks.

“The government went missing from hill districts in the beginning,” says Newton Singh. He was stuck at his home for days as violence continued unabated around him. It was only later that he could return to his workplace. As old wounds continue to fester, a reconciliation in Manipur seems hard to come by.

Churachandpurethnic violenceImphalKukisManipurMeiteisNagalandunrestviolence