Kwakta: For the last two months, 16-year-old Rozi Sheikh has been sleeping uneasily, waking up at the faintest sound and frantically looking for a bag she has standing by, ready to run if necessary. She’s becoming paranoid, she tells ThePrint.
She isn’t the only one. As darkness descends on Kwakta, a Muslim village perched between Bishnupur and Churachandpur, dominated respectively by the conflicting Meitei and Kuki communities, fear hangs thick and heavy.
It’s been over two months since the ongoing violence first erupted in Manipur following a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ taken out to oppose the Meitei demand for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category.
The epicentre of the clashes — which, according to police data, has claimed over 157 lives since 3 May and displaced more than 50,000 — is Phougakchao Ikhai near the Bishnupur-Churachandpur border.
Villages on both sides — Phougakchao, dominated by the non-tribal Meiteis, and Ikhai, inhabited mostly by tribal Kukis — stand ravaged by violence. The stretch leading to Churachandpur now resembles a no-man’s land, heavily guarded by security forces who have created a buffer zone to keep the two communities apart.
Standing between the two, Kwakta has felt the violence acutely, having frequently been caught in the crossfire between the two sides. Bullets and petrol bombs have found their way to homes here, leaving several residents severely injured — mainly innocent bystanders.
As a result, villagers have become more vigilant, sensitive to even the slightest of sounds. Nights are especially long and sleepless, since many attacks occur then.
Like Rozi, many have a bag ready, packed with essentials in case they have to flee at the first sound of gunshots. And when it comes, they leave their homes behind, returning only in the morning.
“Stuck in the middle between Kukis and Meiteis, we’re suffering… Every night, there is gunfire, bombs are thrown, and we are forced to flee our homes. Bullets hit our tin roofs, producing a deafening noise. What if one pierces through and strikes us? No one can predict when a petrol bomb will land on our house,” Rozi says.
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‘How do we earn our livelihood, what is our fault?’
On 21 June, a vehicle parked on the main road leading to Churachandpur — merely 50 metres away from the village — exploded. It had been packed full of explosives. Although no fatalities were reported, over 20 villagers suffered grievous injuries.
Rozi’s 17-year-old cousin was one of the wounded.
“He’s still at the hospital. He lost an eye; his arm was broken. We are all collecting money for his treatment. What was his fault? He just happened to be standing on the road at that time,” she says.
Also among those who were wounded in the explosion was Ibila Khatoon’s 16-year-old year-old son.
It’s been five years since her husband died and Ibila has been raising her three children by selling artificial jewelry on the Bishnupur-Churachandpur road. Since the conflict began, however, that source of income has been cut off.
“I don’t have a husband to run the house. My children rely on me and I make only a small amount, barely enough money to sustain my family,” she tells ThePrint. “For the last two months, not a single rupee has come. On top of that, my son is in the hospital because he got injured in these clashes. How am I to arrange money for his treatment?”
With no money to buy food, Ibila must depend on the goodwill of relatives and friends to sustain herself. Seeing her condition, Kwakta residents have come together to help her.
“Is this a dignified life? No. I now have to rely on others for money because I can’t go out to earn. How long can they continue supporting me? They themselves are suffering due to the lack of income,” she says.
Her son, she says, was returning home when the bomb explosion occurred.
“This violence needs to end. The government must find a solution as soon,” she says.
‘Don’t drag us into this conflict’
According to Md. Rafijuddin Shah, an assistant professor at the department of political science, at Manipur’s Moirang College, Kwakta village has 40,000 Muslims and 12,000 registered voters.
On Monday, the villagers held a peaceful protest seeking a resolution to the conflict on the road to Churachandpur Monday.
As protesters held up signs that read ‘We want peace’, Shah took the stage at the event organised by the Meitei Pangal Intellectual Forum, a platform of Manipuri Muslims, Bishnupur. The term ‘Meitei Pangal’ refers to a community of Meitei-speaking Manipuri Muslims.
“The problem did not begin in this village, we’re not even a part of this conflict, why should we flee our homes,” he asked the gathered crowd. “We’ve been living harmoniously here for ages and we are a neutral force. Why should we suffer like this?”
He also appealed to both communities — Kukis and Meities — to not drag them into the conflict.
“We’re sandwiched in between. We, a community of 3 lakh people, are living a nightmare, when we have nothing to do with this conflict. We are all poor people living in fear in this epicenter of conflict for the last 67 days. This must stop now,” he said.
It’s a thought that young Rozi echoes in the village.
“All we yearn for now is peace. Please put an end to this. We’ve been through enough,” she says.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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