Imphal: Ten days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Manipur on 13 September, the Centre announced free movement of commuters on National Highway 2, which connects Imphal to Dimapur in Nagaland, and is considered one of the lifelines of the state. The decision had come after a meeting in Delhi with leaders of the Kuki-Zo Council, the apex body of tribal communities.
But after the prime minister’s visit—the first since violence erupted between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities in May 2023—not much seems to have changed on the ground. Both the non-tribal Meiteis, who live in the valley districts, and the tribal Kuki-Zos inhabiting the hills, continue to keep off the highway over security concerns.
However, commuters from other communities, including Nagas and Nepalese, are travelling regularly on NH-2, which starts from its junction with NH-15 near Dibrugarh in Assam, and passes through Nagaland and Manipur before terminating in Mizoram.
Even commercial and goods vehicles that are driven by people from outside the two communities are plying regularly.
Since the ethnic conflict started in 2023, Meiteis have stopped using the NH-2 stretch passing through the hill district of Kangpokpi, en route to Dimapur. This has left them no option, but to travel by air whenever they have to go out of Manipur, which many find unaffordable.
Similarly, no Kuki-Zo travels on the stretch of NH-2, starting from the Kangpokpi border up to Imphal, out of safety concerns. If they have to travel outside Manipur, instead of the 40-minute drive to Imphal airport, they have to undertake a backbreaking seven-eight hour-long road journey on the potholed highway to reach Dimapur.
This is the third time since May 2023 that the Centre has tried to reopen NH-2 and allow free movement of people from both the communities. The first attempt was made in December 2023, which was not successful. “The situation was not conducive at that point and the plan to allow free movement did not take off,” said a senior police officer in Imphal, who did not wish to be named.
Another attempt was made on 8 March, when the state administration tried to ply a bus from Imphal to Kangpokpi. But the move backfired. “The situation got bad and we had to use force. One person was killed,” the officer said.
Since then, both the communities have avoided travelling through each other’s territories.
An unofficial “buffer zone” manned by security forces was set up at the Imphal-Kangpokpi border following the ethnic clashes, demarcating the boundaries of the two communities. While the Meiteis do not cross the buffer zone to enter the area where the Kuki-Zo people live, the latter do not cross over to the Meitei areas.
The security presence at the buffer zone has reduced considerably now, but the unwritten rule that a Meitei will not go into a Kuki-Zo area, and vice versa, continues, a police officer in Kangpokpi district told ThePrint, requesting anonymity. “There is a fear psychosis among people of both communities. It will take time to get over the trust deficit.”
The ethnic conflict, which has claimed over 200 lives and displaced over 60,000 people, has led to a complete segregation of the two main communities in the state—the predominantly Hindu Meiteis and the tribal Kuki-Zos. While the Kuki-Zo people have fled the valley districts where the Meiteis live, the latter have fled from the hills.
Currently, while goods and commercial vehicles driven by people from outside the two communities ply freely, private buses and vehicles carrying Meitei or Kuki-Zo passengers remain restricted to their respective areas.
“It has been like this for over two years now. Despite security, there is no way I will ply my bus to the other side of the buffer zone and enter Gamgiphai, from where the Kuki-Zo area starts. I will be killed, so will be my passengers,” said Somen Singh, a Meitei bus driver at Kanglatombi town in west Imphal, just before Kangpokpi district begins.
On Sunday, a dozen private passenger buses transported Meitei passengers from Kanglatombi to Imphal, a 20-km ride that costs Rs 50.
“If someone has to travel outside Manipur, they have to take a flight from Imphal airport. There is no other way. Before the violence started, one could travel by road to Dimapur via Kangpokpi. But that is out of the question now,” says Bijeshor Singh, another Meitei driver at Kanglatombi.
It is not just the Meiteis who have stopped crossing into the hill districts.
It’s a similar story for the tribal communities living in the hill district of Kangpokpi. “Even if there is a medical emergency, none of us will dare to go to a hospital in Imphal, which is just 20 km away. We will have to travel by road to Dimapur,” said Lun Kipgen, spokesperson, Committee on Tribal Unity.
Depending on the condition of the road, the travel time from Kangpoki to Dimapur takes anywhere between six to eight hours, he added. “Our houses and properties were razed to ashes after looting. Our women and sisters were gangraped. After all this you expect us to cross to the Meitei area,” he said.
Even Kuki-Zos, travelling from Churachandpur to Kangpokpi for work, have to take a long and expensive detour to avoid entering Meitei-dominated areas.
Lhaineilam Baite, an assistant professor at Presidency College in Motbung, Kangpokpi, said that it has become impossible for her to go to college from Churachandpur, where she lives.
“From Churachandpur to Kangpokpi via Imphal, it took me a little over two hours by road. But since May 2023, that has no longer been an option. I have to take a long alternative route, which takes close to eight hours to reach my college in Motbung,” she said.
The travel, Baite said, is also expensive. “No private buses ply on the route. I have to travel on a Bolero, which charges Rs 3,000 one way. It is just not possible to travel like this every day,” she said.
A Meitei civil society activist, who did not want to be named, told ThePrint, “The PM spoke about bridging the gap between the Meiteis and Kuki-Zos during his address in Imphal, and left. But the hard reality of our lives on the ground continues to be the same as before. The divide is deep. Unless you address this, things will continue to be the same.”
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)