A political solution will emerge only through a sustained dialogue process in which all communities understand and empathise with each other’s needs and reconcile their ‘no compromise’ stand
Irfan Engineer
DURING our recent visit to Manipur as a team of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism to study the conflict in the state, it was not very difficult to conclude that the people of the state were living under the shadow of guns. They have long waited for an elusive peace. The Meitei-Kuki conflict, which escalated on 3rd May 2023, has brought forth wider issues faced by Manipuris, including the fragile rule of law, and failure of the state in managing inter-ethnic conflicts. Peace, ‘rule of law’ and the effective functioning of democratic institutions seem to be very remote in this ethnically polarised state.
The state has failed miserably in instilling confidence in the citizens regarding their security. Guns of the militants that are supposed to protect the ethnic community to which they belong, end up having a chilling effect on the moderates and dissenting voices within the community. Take, for example, Arambai Tenggol – a Meitei militant group – which started in 2020 as a cultural organisation but has been radicalised, and according to the Kuki groups, was allegedly involved in the Meitei-Kuki riots in May 2023. The organisation ‘issued summons’ to the Meitei MPs and MLAs representing valley areas of the state in Manipur, to assemble at Kangla Fort on 24th January 2024. The ‘summons’ of Arambai Tenggol were honoured by the elected representatives from the valley districts as the organisation has armed itself. All the elected representatives were made to take an oath that they would fight for the demands of the Meitei community, which included delisting of Kukis from the Scheduled Tribes list, deportation of Kuki refugees to camps in Mizoram, border fencing, replacement of Assam Rifles with other paramilitary force and revoking Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement between the Centre and Kuki militant groups. If the elected representatives and ministers of the state government can be pressurised to sign the demands of the organisation, then no Meitei would feel free to hold an independent opinion if he/she wants to stay in the valley.
On September 23, 2024, following a press conference held by Meitei Leepun (ML), another radical organisation, approximately 50 individuals, identifying themselves as ML members, went to Babloo Loitongbam’s house in Imphal West district, and verbally threatened him and his family of severe consequences if he (Babloo Loitongbam) appeared in public. Earlier, on October 5, 2023, his house was attacked by approximately 30 unidentified individuals. The attack was after Babloo criticised certain groups within the Meitei community, particularly the ML, suggesting that radical right-wing ideology was becoming prevalent among them. Babloo is forced to stay outside Manipur.
Arambai Tenggol attacked not only the Kukis, it also attacked the Naga community leaders. In June 2023, a 57-year-old Naga woman was allegedly shot dead by the group in Imphal East district. On 31st October 2024, members of Arambai Tenggol allegedly assaulted two Naga men in Imphal when they were returning after purchasing livestock in Imphal Valley’s Thoubal district. After torturing them, they allegedly seized Rs 61,400. The Naga men were threatened and assaulted with automatic rifles, according to Naga People’s Organisation, Senapati District Students’ Association and Senapati District Women’s Association.
Arambai Tenggol has not spared even the Manipuri police, even though they are known to be partial towards the Meiteis and Meitei radical organisations. On 27th February 2024, members of Arambai Tenggol allegedly assaulted and briefly abducted the additional superintendent of police (ASP) Moirangthem Amit Singh along with one of his security escorts from his home in Manipur’s Imphal East district. According to the state police, at least 200 armed miscreants stormed Singh’s home and vandalised the property. This action was in response to the ASP arresting six members of the radical outfit for their alleged involvement in vehicle theft. No Meitei, who is critical of the ideology and violent acts of Meitei radical organisations, can feel safe if the radical organisations continue to have lethal capabilities and wield automatic assault rifles.
The militant radical outfits can set the dominant social narrative of the conflict by instilling fear and silencing alternative narratives. The dominant and influential media is in the valley. We scanned the English print media and found only pro-Meitei news and narratives, which exclusively blame the Kukis for the conflict. Kukis are depicted as illegal immigrants from Myanmar, involved in narco-terrorism. These illegal immigrants encroach into the reserved forests, grow poppy, and establish new villages. They are armed with sophisticated weapons, or are overground supporters or the underground militants, and all their illegal activities are protected by the Assam Rifles. The tone and tenor of these narratives may differ. Unfortunately, as we do not know the Manipuri language, we could not personally scan the print media and the social media. It was therefore not surprising that even human rights activists and civil society had more or less the same opinion.
We interacted with a journalist who differed with the dominant pro-Meitei narrative but had to moderate himself to be in the profession. According to him, the BJP is unpopular but there is fear of the state and the deep state (militant organisations like the Meitei Leepun and Arambai Tenggol). More than 5,000 firearms of the state security forces were looted in the valley by Meitei organisations and the state has not been able to recover most of them. Some say, according to the journalist, that the arms were handed over to the deep state. The journalist further said that the looted firearms are now used to extort money from the Meiteis as well as Nagas living in the valley.
According to a report in The Hindustan Times, mobs had looted around 4,000 weapons and 50,000 rounds of ammunition from police stations and armouries since the conflict began. In a separate incident, around 500 people in more than 40 vehicles looted arms and ammunition from the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) camp at Naraseina in Bishnupur district on 4th August, 2023. According to a report a couple of days later, 1,057 arms and 14,201 ammunitions had been recovered in the valley districts and 138 arms and 121 ammunitions had been recovered in the hill districts.
Selective Protection by State Armed Forces
The commandos of the Manipur police, largely from the Meitei community, are perceived by the Kukis as a ‘partisan armed force of the Meiteis’. Meitei politicians and armed militants in turn consider the Assam Rifles as partisan towards the Kukis. They guard the buffer zones separating the Meiteis and Kukis to ensure that members of the two communities do not cross over to each other’s areas. There is very little traffic on the highways joining the valley and the hill districts. Every vehicle and all individuals are checked as if they were crossing an international border. Only Meitei Pangals (Muslims) are allowed to drive across the buffer zones by both sides transporting essential goods and non-Meitei, non-Kuki passengers like us. There are no Kuki police officers left in the valley. However, the state is refusing to withdraw the Meitei police commandos from Moreh, a Kuki-dominated strategic town in Tengnoupal district with prospering trade due to its borders with Myanmar. The volume of trade in Moreh was worth Rs 350 crore in the pre-pandemic year. It is also a gateway to the drug trade.
The Kuki Women’s Union and Human Rights told us that on 3rd May 2023, three Kukis were killed by the commandos, although no Meitei was killed in Moreh town. The homes of Meiteis were vandalised to scare them to leave the town and partly as a reaction to what was happening to the Kukis in the valley. According to the Kuki women, the Meitei police commandos used excessive force being inimical to the Kukis. Kukis feel that the Meitei commandos have been imposed to control them and maintain Meitei hegemony over this border town. A Kuki InpiTengnoupal (apex body of Kuki tribes) leader told us that they are at risk if the Meitei police posted in Moreh town join the Meitei underground militants based in Myanmar and if they decide to cross the border and attack them. More than 150 elite Manipur police commandos from the Meitei community were flown into Moreh by the Manipur government by the second week of January 2024.
There was intermittent fighting between the Meitei commandos and the Kuki militants that resulted in the death of a SDPO and two commandos. The casualties on the Kuki side are not known. The commandos have shifted out of the police station and are functioning from another building. On 26th July 2023, the Kuki women blockaded the highway to demand the withdrawal of Meitei commandos from Moreh town. They have been agitating since July 2023 with their demand that the Meitei commandos be transferred. The Kuki women allegedly pillaged the remaining Meitei properties in the town. The Meitei commando officers stepped out of their self-imposed confinement and fired 4,000 to 5,000 rounds on the agitating women.
The Meitei commandos were engaged in constructing a helipad in Moreh, which would enable the Meitei police officers to be flown in and out of the town without having to cross the buffer zone. A Kuki delegation met the police head of the Moreh town to stop the construction of the helipad. As it did not have any effect, the Kuki militants killed the Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) on 31st October 2023. This led to more Meitei commandos being flown in. On 15th January 2024, the Manipur Rifles arrested two Kuki protestors – Philip Khaikholai Khongsai and Hemkholai Mate. The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum claimed that they were arrested merely for protesting, while the police claimed that they were involved in the murder of SDPO Chingtham Anand Kumar. This triggered a fierce battle between the Kuki militants who started firing in the wee hours of 17th January and the Manipur Rifles, dominated by Meitei officers, retaliated. The battle raged for 15 hours, leading to the death of two police commandos on 17th January 2024, one of them being Wangkhem Somorjit Meetei. Assam Rifles had to intervene to bring about a ceasefire between the two warring sides. The Manipur police were moved to another location within Moreh. During the long ‘battle’, the Meitei police burnt three schools and 17 Kuki homes. Ironically enough, the Meitei commandos, who are supposed to protect the people, had to be protected by the Assam Rifles.
An Assam Rifle commandant, who was not authorised to speak, told us that the Meitei commandos and police in Moreh burnt down three schools and 11 houses. These properties, according to him, were burnt in revenge. The principal of one of the schools told us that the police commandos must have targeted the educational institutions with the intention to deprive the community of the ability to acquire knowledge.
According to the Assam Rifles commandant, the Kukis did attack Meiteis on 3rd May 2023 out of a feeling of revenge for what had happened in the valley, which they learned from social media. However, they were not as brutal as the Meitei extremists were.
The security apparatus of the state is sharply divided. Manipur Rifles are perceived as partisan towards the Meiteis, while the Assam Rifles are perceived by the Meiteis to be protecting the Kukis militants. The Assam Rifles do engage with the Kuki chiefs and community leaders and are familiar with their issues. Most of the time they can get them to comply with their legal orders and security needs. However, when they need to, they use force. The Assam Rifles commandant told us that during the conflict, not a single Meitei has died because of bullets fired by them, although Kukis have been killed by their bullets. They have not recovered more arms from the Kuki militants and arrested more Kukis than the Meiteis. Even then they are unfairly accused of being partial to the Kukis. One reason may be that the Assam Rifles is not as brutal, and using excessive force as the Meiteis and the Manipuri Rifles may want them to.
Peace cannot be established by the security forces, no matter how brutal, repressive and lethal they turn to silence communities and force them into abject submission. People seemed determined to fight perceived injustice and give their life for the honour of their community. The ceasefire in Moreh appears to be only temporary. The Manipur Rifles too cannot be ejected from Moreh by force, and the Kuki militants have plenty of firepower, grit and determination left to fight another battle another day. The use of excessive force by the Manipur Rifles only ensures that the Kuki militants keep getting fresh recruits. Both Kukis and Meiteis have lost faith in the ability of the state to protect them, leading to their militarisation.
Chief Minister N. Biren Singh demonised the Kukis even before 3rd May 2023 calling them encroachers into reserve forests, poppy growers, illegal immigrants from Myanmar and narco-terrorists. He demonised them on the one hand and patronised the deep state – militant Meitei outfits on the other to consolidate his base amongst the Meiteis, who form 53% of Manipur’s population and unite them into a permanent majority. However, such an approach will only escalate the conflict.
The casualty in the conflict is not the Kuki and Meitei communities. The greater casualty is democracy, democratic institutions and the rule of law and development of Manipur, particularly of the hill areas. This is leading to the growing militarisation of all ethnic communities and the dependence of members of the community on its underground armed fighters. The underground fighters are not accountable to any law, norms or body. There is often fratricidal internecine struggle within the armed groups. Manipur needs a political solution to the conflict. The political solution will emerge only through a sustained dialogue process in which all communities understand and empathise with each other’s needs and reconcile their “no compromise” stand.
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The writer is the Director of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism. The views expressed here are his personal and Clarion India does not necessarily share or subscribe to them.
