Guwahati: The recent incidents of gun fights between security forces and “unidentified groups”, as well as the use of firearms in the 3 May clashes in Manipur has led to fears of renewed fighting with the armed Kuki groups and a deepening apprehension over the security situation.
CM Biren N. Singh asserted that the Centre assured him of taking up steps to make the Kuki armed insurgents under Suspension of Operations (SoO) return to their designated camps.
A Joint Monitoring Committee, comprising the state and central forces, is checking whether groups possessing guns other than those under ceasefire are involved in the 3 May violence.
Following the clashes, questions were raised about the possession of weapons by a section of people, the involvement of the Kuki armed groups under SoO, and the implementation of the agreement that was signed by the Centre and the state. Some also questioned the state government’s directive in February asking for submission of armed licenses along with arms at nearest police stations.
On Monday, a day after a meeting of the state leadership with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi, CM Biren Singh told media persons in Imphal, that “there is no such situation that will affect or alter the integrity of the state”.
Clashes took place in Manipur between the Kukis and the Meiteis om 3 May in a way the Northeast state never saw before. Life may be slowly approaching towards normalcy in the hills and valley areas of the state, but harder to fix is the breach of trust between the two communities.
The Delhi meeting was initiated two days after 10 Kuki legislators, including seven from the BJP, jointly announced to seek a “separate administration under Constitution of India,” stating that they are representing the sentiments of the Chin-Kuki-Mizo-Zomi hill tribals, and endorsing their political aspirations of “separation from Manipur.”
However, in doing so, they said they want to “live peacefully as neighbours” with the state, the statement released Friday read.
“The Union of India is the authority to sanction this demand — whether it’s a state or Union Territory is up to the government of India to decide,” one of the legislators said Friday at an ‘undisclosed location’.
“No resignations have been announced yet, but we are ready, if that’s what it takes,” another legislator told ThePrint.
On 13 May, a joint statement by All Manipur Students’ Union, Manipuri Students’ Federation, Democratic Students’ Alliance of Manipur, Kangleipak Students’ Association, Students’ Union of Kangleipak and the Apunba Ireipakki Maheiroi Sinpanglup blamed the Centre and the state government for failing to prevent the “unfortunate incident” on 3 May.
Calling out the “divide-and-rule policy of the Indian Government”, the students’ organisations added that “until and unless the Kuki militants under SoO with the government are controlled, it will be hard to bring back normalcy”.
Leaders of Kuki armed groups under ceasefire, meanwhile, are in Delhi for discussions with the Centre.
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‘Government failure’
On 3 May, thousands of Kukis and their various sub-tribes attended rallies called by the All Tribal Students’ Union Manipur (ATSUM) in the hill districts to protest the demand of Scheduled Tribe (ST) status by a section of the Meiteis in the valley areas.
When the clashes broke out, videos were circulated showing armed groups marching in the streets, which led to a “fear psychosis” among people. As news spread, it became difficult for the hill people to stay in the valley areas and vice-versa. Wide scale violence and incidents of arson and looting were reported from different parts of the state.
“It’s a total failure of the government, and the head of the state should be answerable for it. It’s an intelligence failure from top to bottom. Where could rallyists find weapons? Somebody was orchestrating from somewhere,” Colonel Laishram Lokendra Singh (retired), also the working president of the Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee of Manipur, told ThePrint.
Refugees arriving from Myanmar, many of whom belong to the same ethnic group of the Kuki-Chin-Zomi-Mizo tribe that live in the hill areas, are also being blamed for fuelling the crisis.
“I am fortunate to be alive. But what about people who have lost their lives? I do not even blame the Kukis — it is the mishandling of things at the government level,” said a retired Meitei government servant from Khuga Tampak village in Churachandpur district.
“Kukis are good people. This time, it’s the outsiders, the foreign nationals, who are responsible for this situation. I can speak for the innocent ones. In Manipur, we have self-styled leaders who are terming all Kukis as ‘refugees’. There may be refugees from both communities who entered Manipur illegally,” he said.
Recalling the night of May 3 when the situation worsened and civilians were trapped in besieged villages, the former government official narrated: “Four persons defended our village that evening with licensed barrel guns when a large group of people marched in. They had automatic weapons, we came to know later. More joined in batches… It was around 7:30pm. Our volunteers warned them, but they wouldn’t back off. There was some pushing and shoving, and it led to blank firing from both sides. In midst of the chaos, some of them approached from behind and torched our houses.”
He was recently united with 10 of his family members, who were evacuated to a relief camp in Churachandpur that evening.
“We had a big house. Whenever there was a problem, we used to sit together and discuss. I was born and brought up in Churachandpur, and I have close Kuki friends. I can talk to them, but not with the people holding guns.”
‘Lenient SoO system’
On 10 March, the Biren Singh government announced its withdrawal from the Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with two Kuki rebel groups — the Kuki National Army (KNA) and the Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA) — arguing that their leadership hail from outside the state. Both the KNA and ZRA, however, denied the allegations.
The Kuki rebel groups seeking greater self-determination within Manipur under the Sixth Schedule, had signed the SoO agreement with the Centre and the state in August 2008.
The cadres of 25 Kuki groups under the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and the United People’s Front (UPF) are housed in 13 designated camps, with the government periodically extending the SoO with the two umbrella organisations.
A leader of a civil society organisation told ThePrint the fallout is not the failure of the government, but because of mismanagement of SoO arrangements, for which arms have moved about openly, and that extortion in the hills is an accepted norm.
“They (the government) are using these groups to tackle the Meitei militants or the Valley-Based Insurgent Groups (VBIGs). It has been poor SoO management since 2008 and the system has been lenient over the years. In ground rules, it is clearly mentioned that all weapons have to be deposited in the designated camps, and they have to remain inside the camp,” he said.
“Kuki insurgents don’t have any apprehensions of being arrested or encountered by security forces. So they freely operate in civilian areas and engage in extortions and all sorts of interference — in construction, developmental works, and even in government administrative affairs, and during elections. Taxes are collected from non-locals and from people of their own tribe,” he alleged.
‘Biased government’
Countering the allegations, a member of a Kuki group under ceasefire told ThePrint that the Biren Singh-led state government is “overtly biased” and that the weapons of the Kuki armed groups are “present inside the SoO designated camps”.
“More important than SoO is the government’s accountability in the conflict. The SoO groups are small groups, and we are trying to defend ourselves, but the government is using its entire machinery to persecute a particular community,” he alleged.
“Why bring up SoO violations when the state has completely violated its own accountability, which is supposed to be legitimate — what about the state’s mammoth failure in all aspects — financially, politically, security wise?” the Kuki insurgent leader questioned, adding that the government had withdrawn Assam Rifles from the hills and also taken away the licences of weapons.
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Restricting licensed gun holders
In a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister on 10 March, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), a conglomerate of recognised tribes in Manipur, voiced their displeasure against the government directive to submit arm licenses along with arms at the nearest police station.
The ITLF stated that notifications were issued by district magistrates of various districts “without providing any valid reason”, and are “illegal and arbitrary” as per Section 15 of the Arms Act, 1959.
According to a column in The Sangai Express on 5 March, nearly 25,000 citizens in Manipur procured gun licences “on basis of their strength and connections”.
On 1 March, Biren Singh reportedly said that the government ordered for verification
of licensed guns in an effort “to streamline and restrict licensed gun holders from threatening, killing and harming innocent people.”
This was after MLAs Vungzagin Valte — who was attacked by a mob in Imphal on 4 May — and Paolienlal Haokip had moved a motion in the Manipur Assembly after the notification issued by the Churachandpur magistrate.
KIA loots arms from camp
In related developments, the Manipur Police is on the lookout for the Kuki Independent Army (KIA) self-styled commander-in-chief Thangkhongam Haokip alias Davidson and his men for “looting weapons” from the Horeb camp in Churachandpur on 8 April.
The Horeb camp houses cadres of Kuki rebel groups under the KNO umbrella, namely the United Socialist Revolutionary Army (USRA), the United Tribal Liberation Army (UTLA), and the Kuki National Front-Zougam (KNF-Z).
Formed in July 2019, the KIA operates mostly from the Thangjing hill range in Churachandpur and other Kuki-inhabited areas, from Henglep to Jiribam. The outfit is not a signatory to the ceasefire.
On 16 April, security forces seized weapons from KIA cadres following a brief exchange of fire during a search operation, but they managed to flee. The KIA cadres are believed to be armed with pistols, AK rifles and Heckler & Koch rifles, apart from the weapons they looted from the camp.
“The weapons are supposed to be kept locked inside the SoO camp. They were supposedly looted, whether looted or shifted is not known. Everything that is seen didn’t happen in a day. There is some normalcy now, but what can happen in the next couple of days, we don’t know,” Col. Singh (retd.) said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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