Aizawl: L. Singson knows the odds are stacked against him. But he is determined to return and “defend” his village.
The 30-year-old Kuki, a resident of L.Janglenphai village in Manipur’s strife-torn Kangpokpi district, will join the ‘village volunteers’ armed with “single-barrel guns” to take on the Meitei combatants.
“I left my village to bring my parents to safety. My father is a patient with high blood pressure. The divide is so complete that the Meitei clinic in our area cannot even think of selling us medicines anymore. Now that my parents are safe, I am returning,” Singson told ThePrint at a temporary relief centre in Aizawl.
Singson is not alone. According to state officials and Central Young Mizo Association (CYMA) functionaries, among the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Manipur to have taken shelter in Mizoram, most are women, children and the aged.
“Very few young men have crossed over to Mizoram. In one case, we received three youths hit by bullets. We sent them to Shillong’s North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences. Largely, it’s women and children who have come over,” CYMA general secretary Tluanga said.
Over three months down the ethnic flare up in Manipur, these men betray signs of a deep-seated anger against the non-tribal Meiteis. At the heart of the ongoing violent unrest in Manipur is a widening chasm between the Meiteis, who account for nearly 53 per cent of Manipur’s population, and the tribal Kukis.
The clashes have led to the deaths of more than 157 people, while over 50,000 people rendered homeless, forced to take shelter in relief camps set up across Manipur, and in neighbouring Mizoram among others.
The violence began following a judicial order of the Manipur High Court in March suggesting that the state grant Scheduled Tribe status to the Meiteis.
The order enraged the Kukis who feel that the Meiteis have cornered social and political power. The Meiteis, on the other hand, accuse the Kukis of encouraging illegal infiltration from Myanmar and indulging in narcotics trade in the hill districts.
“I am definitely returning. When they burnt down our village, we watched helplessly from a distance since they outmaneuvered us with the help of state police and commandos,” said Edward, a resident of Chandel district’s Sugnu village.
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Shadow of violence, uncertain future
Since they share the same ancestry with the Mizos, thousands of Kukis — at least 12,300 according to official records — have taken shelter in Mizoram, mostly with their families and friends, while some like Singson and Edward are in temporary relief camps.
According to Mizoram government records, around 3,000 IDPs are in 35 relief camps set up in Aizawl, Kolasib and Saitual districts.
“The displaced persons are entering Mizoram primarily through these three districts. A large majority are in Kolasib district as there are a lot of families belonging to the Hmar ethnic tribes that belong to the Kuki-Chin group,” Tluanga of CYMA said.
Across the relief camps, the displaced families are struggling to put behind the chain of events that have upended their lives. Perhaps “forever”, some of them fear.
Tongchinmang Zou, a 70-year-old who once served in the Assam Rifles, has taken shelter at a camp in western Aizawl, with his daughter-in-law and two granddaughters.
“I don’t know what the future has in store for us. But I served 22 years in the Assam Rifles. After having served the nation all my life, one cursed evening, I stood watching helplessly from behind a thick foliage in the forest, as my house went up in flames,” he said, struggling to hold back tears.
Recounting the 28 May night of horror, when their village Sugnu in Chandel district was attacked, Chingnei Kim, Zou’s daughter-in-law, alleged that the police had come the previous evening, asking the residents to submit their licensed weapons.
“We took it as a signal that they were coming for us and refused to obey the police order. Even though violence had broken out nearly a month ago, our village was safe. But after police left that evening, women, along with children, fled the place and took shelter in a nearby army camp. As expected, they came at night leading to a pitched gun battle between our men and them. But since they had superior weapons, we had to beat a retreat,” Kim said.
As the gunfight raged, Kim locked her daughters — Christina (10) and Angel (7) — in a room inside the camp. “I didn’t want them to witness their house getting reduced to ashes.” While the Mizoram government has allowed children of displaced families to resume education here, Kim’s two daughters are yet to be covered under that initiative.
Some displaced children, though, have joined schools in Mizoram and Momoy, a student of class 6 who belongs to Churachandpur district’s Songdo village, is among them. But for these kids, the transition has been understandably difficult.
“I find the context of the subjects are easier here. But language is a barrier as the teachers often slip into Mizo which I don’t understand fully. They try to speak in English too. But I miss my old school and friends,” said Momoy, who is currently living with her mother Boinu at a camp in Aizawl’s Vaivakawn neighbourhood.
Boinu said while the men stayed back to defend their village — echoing the words of many other displaced women — living away from home, in makeshift shelters which have come up in parking lots, community halls, volleyball courts, is a constant struggle.
“Try to understand, we had a family like you. A house, furniture, vehicles, water, power. Now we are in a parking lot, sleeping on mattresses strewn on the floor, dependent on donations, having to use common toilets. This isn’t easy,” said Boinu.
Funds running short
Meanwhile, in the absence of any significant government assistance, even the influential CYMA, the largest students’ organisation in Mizoram, is struggling to run the relief drive. The Mizoram government has sought Rs 10 crore, in the first installment, from the Centre to support the displaced families, but haven’t received any sum so far.
“The state finance department has sanctioned Rs 5 crore. But the state’s economic health is in a precarious state. Over 80 per cent of our revenue receipts come from the Centre. The situation is such that the state is struggling to sanction Rs 80 crore due to the beneficiaries of a government health scheme,” an official of Mizoram Home Department said.
The CYMA is struggling, the official said, because the buildings which are doubling up as relief camps are usually rented out to the local communities for social events, sports activities. So the government has now started identifying vacant government buildings to shift these families, he said.
Singson and Edward, meanwhile, are making arrangements for their return journey to home. The two men seem consumed by a sense of deep anguish and rage over what they witnessed.
“Do you know in every village targeted by them (the Meteis), the church was attacked first?” claimed Singson, lending credence to mounting evidence that alongside the ethnic, communal fault lines also lie behind the violence that has descended Manipur into a state of anarchy.
“I will never forget those images of young men attacking the church, breaking into wild celebrations using the church bell to mark their victory and superiority,” said Simson.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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