Guwahati/Imphal: The ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur has entered its third month, with reports of violence and casualties continuing to trickle in over the past few weeks. Amid this, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh’s announcement Monday of a government decision to destroy bunkers set up by the people across the state’s hill and valley areas, has drawn mixed reactions from the public.
The CM has said that the operation to dismantle the bunkers — to be led by the army, and aided by paramilitary forces and the state police — will begin Wednesday.
Ethnic clashes between the state’s tribal Kuki and non-tribal Meitei communities erupted on 3 May, following a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ taken out to oppose the demand for inclusion of Meiteis in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category and for what was described as an effort to secure the rights and constitutional safeguards of the ethnic Kuki and their sub-tribes. The violence has so far reportedly claimed almost 140 lives, injures hundreds and displaced over 50,000 people.
Over 4000 weapons have been looted from state police armouries and efforts to retrieve those have not yielded successful results.
In the wake of the violence, bunkers made of tin and sandbags were set up across the state by both the Kukis and Meiteis, and especially in areas where the two communities live in close proximity.
The decision to dismantle the bunkers was taken at a meeting of the Unified Command, chaired by the Chief Minister in Imphal. In the same meeting, it was also decided that school, for classes 1-8, will reopen Wednesday.
The announcement was met with stiff opposition from the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), a civil society organisation in Churachandpur that now defines itself as a “conglomerate of recognised tribes in Lamka (Outer Manipur)”.
In a statement released Tuesday, the ITLF stated that the bunkers are essential in protecting the Kuki-Zo tribal villages from “unending raids”.
“Despite the deployment of a massive number of security forces and setting up of military buffer zones, tribal villages are attacked almost everyday, leading to deaths and destruction of houses and properties,” alleged the ITLF statement.
On the other hand, the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an umbrella organisation of valley-based Civil Society Organisations (CSO) has termed the decision a “good move”. Speaking to ThePrint, COCOMI spokesperson, Khuraijam Athouba, said it is “something [that is] supposed to be done” at this juncture.
“If bunkers are still standing, it serves as a psychological threat for both communities. The monsoon is midway through, and if we don’t do the paddy works [cultivation], we will not have a good harvest. But after dismantling the bunkers, sufficient security personnel have to be deployed for the safety and security of people, which the Chief Minister has assured,” the COCOMI leader said.
Meanwhile, a day after an economic blockade by Kuki organisations along the Imphal-Dimapur National Highway (NH-2 via Nagaland) was lifted Sunday, following a decision of the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and the United People’s Front (UPF) — two umbrella bodies of Kuki rebel outfits — unknown miscreants allegedly set ablaze the residence of KNO leader, Seilen Haokip, Monday.
However, even as the KNO and UPF stated in a joint statement that the decision to lift the highway blockade was taken after consultations with civil society organisations, village chiefs, youth and women leaders on several occasions, the ITLF has stated that its representatives were not consulted and it “does not endorse the move”.
Also read: In Manipur, it’s Kuki vs Meitei cops — how unrest exposed ‘ethnic’ faultlines within state police
Dismantling bunkers
Speaking to the media in Imphal Monday, CM Biren Singh said Manipur is “one administrative unit and setting up of bunkers [by] both sides, as if between two hostile countries, is unfortunate”.
Amid the continuing violence in the state, the CM’s inability to broker peace between the two communities — Kukis and Meiteis — has been questioned, more so after his recent “resignation drama”.
News of the Chief Minister’s probable resignation started doing the rounds last Friday, but was finally put to rest after Biren Singh took to social media to announce that he would not be resigning from office.
A retired Meitei government official who spoke on condition of anonymity stated he no longer trusts the Chief Minister.
“It is not the first time the Chief Minister’s talking about bunkers — but we don’t think he can do it. We have been hearing gunshots now and then. Firing goes on at different places. We have sympathy with Biren Singh for calling out [alleged] drug mafias and for his ‘War on Drugs’ campaign, but after his resignation drama, he has lost my support,” said the retired official.
KNO leader Seilen Haokip too questioned the Chief Minister’s decision to dismantle bunkers, echoing similar concerns as the ITLF on the issue.
“Why is the Chief Minister worried about the bunkers? Contain the state forces, their commandos and IRB [India Reserve Battalion] personnel from coming and attacking us. Whether it’s an elderly, minor or female — none have been spared,” Haokip alleged.
He added: “They talk about Kuki groups under Suspension of Operations (SoO) violating ground rules, but these rules are for both sides. The CM goes and pays homage to the Meiteis, but has he paid homage to any of our dead? A seven-year-old boy and his mother burned to death, a young man beheaded — does the CM not feel for them?”
The KNO and UPF have long been demanding a Kukiland Territorial Council and greater self-determination within Manipur under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, which includes provisions for the administration of tribal areas in northeastern states like Manipur, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
The SoO is a tripartite ceasefire pact signed between the central government, Manipur government and Kuki insurgent groups in 2008, to end hostilities and initiate a political dialogue.
The pact mandates that security forces — both central and state — and the 25 insurgent groups who signed the agreement will desist from launching any operations against each other. Cadres of the 25 Kuki groups, under the KNO and UPF umbrella, are housed in 13 designated camps, with the government periodically extending the SoO with the two umbrella organisations.
NH-2 reopens
Following the eruption of violence on 3 May, Village Defence Parties (VDP) of both Kuki and Meitei communities have been on alert.
Recognised by the government as the first line of defence, VDPs were initially formed in the ’90s to arm villagers with basic weapons against insurgent groups. However, since the ethnic clashes broke out, allegations have been levelled against the civilian defence groups for using unauthorised weapons.
In June, combing operations were launched in hills and valley areas, including ‘denotified’ locations from where the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) had been withdrawn, “to recover snatched weapons and ammunition” in presence of magistrates.
However, the search operations were met with stiff resistance from the locals. Of the large cache of weapons reportedly looted from the state police armouries on 4-5 May, only about 1125-1150 weapons have been recovered, so far, while thousands are still missing, defence sources told ThePrint.
Lakhs of ammunition also remain unaccounted for, the sources added.
In the midst of this, the decision to open the NH-2 highway was taken to “extend the olive branch”, considering Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s concern to restore peace, said Haokip.
“People are suffering, grieving and expressing their anger on how could the NH2 be reopened — when the other side does not stop killing. But we have to contain the situation from escalating,” he said.
Taking about the alleged attack on his house, the KNO leader said, “Unfortunately, my house was burned down by miscreants around 11:30 pm Monday, but it is good that it happened to mine, because it is in an isolated area, about 5km out of town. It was not a mob attack.”
He added, however, “We are fully convinced — emotionally, mentally, physically — that we cannot return to Manipur, we have every reason to demand separation.”
Since the NH-2 blockade was imposed early last month, Manipur had been fully dependent on the Imphal-Jiribam National Highway (NH-37) through southern Assam for transporting fuel, food grains and essentials from other states.
COCOMI spokesperson Athouba, criticised the Union government’s indifference in solving Manipur’s decades-old “highway problems”.
“Highway is the lifeline. Blocking the highway is a culture over here for quite some time, and there’s a limit of tolerance. The Union government has not been serious and taken enough measures to free the highways from such blockades,” he said.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
Also read: ‘Peacekeeping’ forces, mistrust, lack of political will — why Manipur has failed to disarm rioters