Churachandpur: A rickety car rushed to K. Kotlian village in Manipur’s violence-hit Churachandpur district at dusk in search of first-aid last week. Sokhohao Kipgen, a 36-year-old farmer from the Kuki community, had been shot in his right arm, his yellow t-shirt stained with mud and blood. He had been fighting near Mamang Lawng village where Meitei houses had allegedly been set on fire by Kukis on 26 May. Meanwhile, villagers in K. Kotlian claimed that the Meiteis started shooting first and they, Kukis, were only defending their village.
A day later, 41-year-old Jacob Zamkhothang Touthang’s body was rolled into the Churachandpur Medical College with a gunshot wound. The bullet had passed through his chest and exited from the back. The doctor at the hospital told ThePrint that Jacob, a Kuki, was possibly shot by a sniper.
On the morning of 28 May, Sugnu town in Churachandpur district, which had remained peaceful till then, saw similar fights between the two communities. The hospital in Churachandpur that morning saw nine injured and two dead.
Across the district, Kuki men fighting on the front had the same narrative to share with ThePrint — that Manipur Commandos are leading the fight for Meiteis, followed by men in black clothes, who, they believe, are members of Arambai Tenggol, a Meitei armed group.
However, both the state government and the Meitei leadership deny the allegation. Meitei leaders claim the ongoing violence is being inflicted by the Kukis who are colluding with illegal immigrants and narco mafia from Myanmar.
ThePrint reached the former state DGP P. Doungel and state security advisor Kuldiep Singh via calls and messages. Doungel refused to comment while Singh did not respond. The story will be updated if he does. Doungel was Thursday replaced by Rajiv Singh, who was the Inspector General (IG), CRPF, Tripura.
Recently, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh also made a statement on 21 May that the ongoing clashes are not between the two communities but between the security forces and the Kuki “militants”. He also said that 40 Kuki militants have been killed, but did not disclose either their identities or when the deaths occurred.
Violence erupted early last month between Manipur’s ethnic Kuki tribals and the non-tribal Meitei community over the latter’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. The clashes started 3 May following a solidarity march called by the All Tribal Students’ Union of Manipur to oppose the Meitei demand.
The violence has reportedly claimed at least 87 lives so far, and the situation remains tense.
Meanwhile, with a series of eyewitness accounts of commandos leading the attacks on the tribals, Kuki organisations in Churachandpur are attempting to collect evidence in the form of photos and videos from the sites of shooting.
These images and videos are being collected from volunteers on the frontlines of the firing, from villagers who escaped their homes at the time of attack and from drones which they are deploying at the sites.
ThePrint managed to view some of this footage, but cannot independently verify it. So far, though the videos show the presence of commandos at the site of the burning villages, they are not shooting or torching houses.
As the victims kept pouring in from the border areas, they all admitted to ThePrint that in the battlefield, they are fighting the commandos, and not Meitei civilians.
“We can’t fight them. They are the state police. We don’t want to fight anyone. We all have to live here,” Kipgen told ThePrint.
However, he added that when the attacks happen from the Meiteis’ side, they have no option but to defend themselves.
Now recovering at home, Kipgen said, “I have seen with my own eyes that the commandos first shot at us with their automatic weapons.”
The Kukis have been denying that they have access to sophisticated weapons or that those fighting on the front are Kuki armed groups.
“Those who are fighting are Kuki villagers. They are using licenced guns to save their villages. Why can’t we take our licensed guns to defend our own people and our own village?” said Pagin Haokip, chairman, Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF).
Two Kuki insurgent groups — Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and the United People’s Front (UPF) — have been suspended since 2005 and no other armed groups were formed after the Suspension of Operations (SoO), Haokip claimed, adding that the state is using the commandos against its own people.
The SoO was an agreement signed by the central government and the state government with Kuki rebel groups in 2008. Under it, the cadre of 25 Kuki groups under KNO and the UPF are housed in 13 designated camps, with the government periodically extending the SoO. As of now, it has been extended till 29 February, 2024.
“Everywhere (that) the fighting is taking place, the commandos come first. They come with other underground (armed) groups, opening the way for them. They are supposed to maintain neutrality but they are against the Kukis. They are protecting one side and are firing at the Kukis defending their villages,” added Haokip.
Imphal-based Meitei leader M. Manihar Singh, though, said to ThePrint, “The Manipur government has been destroying the poppy fields of the Kukis, that is why they are agitated and are attacking innocent Meiteis. It’s a militant nexus created by militant groups who are immigrants from Myanmar. They are now openly fighting with the police commandos as well as the central forces.”
He also claimed that the Kukis’ allegation that the commandos are siding with the Meiteis in these clashes is a fabricated lie.
However, a central forces officer, who spoke to ThePrint on condition of anonymity, confirmed Kipgen’s claims. “Most of the soldiers in Manipur (police) commandos are Meiteis. It is true that some of them are fighting on Meiteis’ side. Meitei civilians don’t have weapons. Most of the casualties in this fight are also of the Kukis and not of Meitei civilians,” the officer said.
He added that the commandos are giving cover to the Meiteis because the Kukis have sophisticated weapons with which they can easily crush the civilian Meiteis.
Also read: IDs checked, skull cracked, ‘dumped alive’ in mortuary — 3 Kuki survivors recount Manipur mob horror
Villages on fire
Fighting near K. Kotlian village started at 4 pm on 26 May. According to the villagers, Manipur commandos started shooting from Mamang Leikai, a Meitei village. As soon as Kuki villagers learnt that the forces were advancing towards their village, they were ready with their weapons, they said.
Both these villages fall in the Torbung and Kangvai regions at the border of Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts, where the fight between the two communities first began on 3 May and has been the most fierce since.
“The firing started from the Meiteis’ side first and they brought commandos to fight for them. Behind them were Arambai Tenggol (men) in black T-shirts. We retaliated and pushed them back. But they came again, and two Kuki men were shot,” said Kipgen, one of the injured. The other person was shot in the leg. “We are only defending our villages. Each man from the village volunteers for three to four days,” Kipgen said to ThePrint.
The next day, Jacob Zamkhothang Touthang, a Kuki from T. Chavangphai village in Churachandpur, was volunteering as a fighter. As he hid in a paddy field, a bullet passed through his chest. He collapsed and died almost instantly.
Two men who fought alongside him on the front confirmed to ThePrint that Manipur commandos were shooting from the other side, along with Arambai Tenggol men.
“I saw men in commando uniforms. They first threw three bombs at us and when we started chasing them, they shot at us from the front. Another group came very close to us from the right and shot at us. Jacob was preparing a hand bomb in the paddy field. Bullet from a sniper hit him then,” said George Khongsai, who was with Jacob in the paddy field.
Jacob’s brother also told ThePrint that commandos were firing at them. The three injured were brought in the same night and all of them had bullet injuries.
Sunday morning, two more dead bodies reached the Churachandpur district hospital. This time from Sugnu, a region in Chandel district which was peaceful till then. The Meiteis and the Kukis had signed a peace agreement at the beginning of the clashes, saying that they would not attack each other.
Kukis from different villages in Sugnu town, who escaped to Churachandpur, told ThePrint that commandos were stationed in their village since 4 May and there was no conflict between the communities.
But without warning, on 28 May, the commandos started shooting from behind a Nepali-medium school near V. Haipijang village, they alleged. While the women, children and the elderly escaped to the forest, the men stayed back to fight with their single-barrel shotguns.
“We saw the crowd advancing with commandos. Then we saw some Kuki houses being burnt. That’s when we ran to hide in the forest,” said Neingialam, a resident of the village, who is now in Rengkai relief camp, Churachandpur.
Paosei and his wife Chinneihoi, currently at the Sielmat relief camp, claim to have seen commandos shooting when they returned to their Sokom village to collect some belongings.
“People in the village saw the commandos and men in black T-shirts together…They have the government behind them. We are not safe anywhere. We can be attacked anytime,” Chinneihoi said.
Robert Thangkhanlal from Aigejang village, who was helping provide ambulance services for the injured, also confirmed the presence of commandos at the time of shooting.
“The fight was happening on the border of Meitei village of Serou and Kuki village of Thingkangphai. The shooting happened at a paddy field separating the two villages. I saw them use snipers. There were no civilians. They were commandos and Meitei armed groups shooting at us village boys,” Thangkhanlal said.
Two days after the clashes erupted in Manipur, near Siden and Changpikot villages of Churachandpur, a bloody attack started early morning on 5 May on Kuki villagers, said eye witnesses.
Seven Kuki men, with their guns, were spread out in a field near a drain which separates Kuki and Meitei villages. The men were guarding their own village when they saw heavily armed commandos, and sought more volunteers. Thangkhanlal was one of the seven men who joined later.
“Those of us who joined later did not have any weapons, just catapults. There was no shooting happening at the time. But suddenly, we saw commandos driving towards us in two bullet-proof vehicles, shooting at us. Those of us who did not have weapons ran while others stayed back. The commandos got really close to where the Kuki men were and shot them,” said Thangkhanlal.
Three Kuki men died in that fight. According to Thangkhanlal, one man was shot at point blank range at the back of his head and the bullet exited from the forehead. When the villagers recovered his body, they found his arm, too, was broken. The second one was shot in the chest and the third one was shot in the back and in the leg. One of them was alive on the way to the hospital but succumbed later.
Attacks on Christian school
Eyewitnesses claim that the commandos have also been at the forefront of destroying churches and Christian schools.
Sei Kholien, founder and owner of Hands of God, a residential higher secondary school in Gwaltabi village in Kankopki district, told ThePrint how there have been four attempts to burn his school. Each time, the commandos were leading the attack, he said.
The first attempt was made on 5 May when an army officer posted in the area advised him to escape to safety as commandos and police were looking for him.
“About 40 men of Arambai Tenggol, Meitei Lipul (another Meitei armed organisation), and commandos came in three vehicles with guns and petrol and tried to burn my school,” Kholien said to ThePrint on the phone.
Though Kholien escaped from the school, he said his neighbours, brothers and the village chief saw the commandos leading the attack.
His is a big Christian school in the foothills, which is predominantly a Meitei locality in the north-east of Imphal. That is why, he explained, his school was under attack.
Two days later, there was a second attempt to destroy the school, he said. This time, a smaller team of 10 people came in one commando vehicle. Both times, the army prevented the attack.
A week later, on 14 May, a third attempt was made. The commandos came with the local police and vandalised the school, destroying books, office files, mattresses, blankets and even the door in the students’ hostel. They also looted equipment such as the projector, TV and a computer from the smart classroom, said Kholien.
“My life is at risk so I was not present when they came. But my family including my mother, uncle, and brother were in the school when this happened and they saw the destruction by the state police and the commandos,” said Kholien.
On 29 May, according to Kholien, clashes with the army on one side and the commandos and the local police on the other took place close to his school when around 300 Meitei women tried to stop the army from entering the region. “The army is now guarding my school,” said Kholien.
This is part of ThePrint’s ground coverage in Manipur. More stories on how different sides have suffered will be published as this reporter travels to different parts of the violence-hit state.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)