New Delhi: With violence flaring up again in Manipur, 15 civil society organisations (CSOs) with members from various ethnic communities have written to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) seeking “urgent intervention” over “human rights violations and the humanitarian crisis” in the state.
Nine people were killed and 10 others injured in a fresh flare-up in Manipur late Tuesday night. Incidents were also reported from Imphal East over the last 2-3 days.
Violence in the northeastern state — which first broke out 3 May after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was taken out by a student body to oppose the demand for inclusion of non-tribal Meiteis in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category — has claimed over a hundred lives and left around a thousand people injured. Thousands have also been displaced. An MLA who was almost lynched by a mob but escaped with grievous injuries is still in a coma.
While the Meiteis’ demand for ST status is said to be the immediate trigger of the violence, old resentments — Meiteis’ suspicions about “demographic changes” in the Hills and their potential consequences, and a perception among Kukis that they are being targeted by the government of Chief Minister Biren Singh, a Meitei — fuelled tensions.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah had visited Manipur at the beginning of this month, and announced that the central government had constituted a probe committee to be headed by a retired judge to investigate the violence. During the trip, he had also appealed for 15 days of peace so that a solution can be worked on.
Last week, the central government constituted a peace committee to initiate dialogue with the two communities involved in the ethnic conflict, in an attempt to restore normalcy. But members of both communities have refused to participate, expressing a lack of faith in the leadership of CM Biren Singh.
The CSOs which have signed the joint memorandum include the All Manipur United Clubs’ Organisation, Committee on Human Rights, All Manipur Meitei Pangal Clubs’ Organisation, Indigenous People’s forum, All Manipur Women’s Voluntary Association among others.
In their joint memorandum to the UN secretary general, they have sought “unbiased international attention” and “intervention” to stop the ongoing tension.
“The conflict situation has resulted in the loss of more than 100 lives and displacement of more than 70,000 civilians. The gory aspect of the ethnic tension is the abduction, forced disappearance, blockades of lifelines like national highways, unrestrained burning of habitats and false propagandist literature circulated worldwide in the name of ‘religion’ and ‘minority’,” the memorandum, accessed by ThePrint, reads.
The CSOs have petitioned the UN for application of “established protocols and standards mandated by the International Humanitarian Laws so that the armed Chin-Kuki groups involved in inciting civilians to indulge in violence be brought to justice”.
“It is also equally crucial that the State(s) which is a party to IHL be instructed and held accountable for safeguarding lives and property of citizens,” the memorandum adds.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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