IT is sixteen months since the ethnic conflict erupted in Manipur.  Over 250 people have been killed and many more injured during the violence and 60,000 people remained displaced and living as refugees. 

The central government and the BJP state government have abjectly failed to address the basic issues, which led to the conflict and allowed the situation to develop where there has been a hardening of the ethnic divide. There are nearly 60,000 central police forces deployed mainly to create a buffer zone between the Kuki-dominated hill areas and the valley where Meiteis dominate. 

There has been a significant deterioration in the situation in the last fortnight.  On September 1, two persons were killed and nine injured in a drone attack in Koutruk in Imphal West district, which is Meitei-dominated.  It is believed that some Kuki militants were behind this attack, as also a rocket attack in another area. On September 6, five people were killed in Jiribam district, including three armed militants. Two days later, a retired army personnel of Kuki origin was beaten to death when he crossed the buffer zone to a Meitei area in Imphal West.  The reality is that one community cannot enter into the other’s territory. 

This latest eruption of violence has led to large-scale protests by students in Imphal and other districts. The students are demanding the removal of the security advisor and the director general of police.  They want the Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with Kuki militants annulled and transfer of the Unified Command control to the state government.  The clashes with the police have led to the imposition of curfew in Imphal East and Imphal West districts and a ban on internet and mobile data services.

The failure to deal with the political issues through negotiations and dialogue with both sides has led to an undue reliance on the security forces to maintain law and order and a divided peace. This has placed the central police forces, particularly the Assam Rifles, in an unenviable position. With the Meitei politicians and groups demanding the withdrawal of the Assam Rifles and other central forces, the use of drones and rockets by Kuki militants has heightened fears that external forces are getting involved in the conflict which will affect national security. The demand for scrapping the Suspension of Operation agreement with the Kuki militant groups, which is also demanded by chief minister, N Biren Singh, will open the way for a renewed insurgency in the hill areas which can lead to the army having to be deployed to combat the insurgency.

What began with the demand of ST status for the Meitei community and the backslash from the Kuki-Zo community was exacerbated by the partisan role of chief minister Biren Singh, who is patronising certain extremist Meitei organisations. Recently, there was an expose of an audio file, which was submitted to the judicial commission enquiring into the riots.  The audio file shows the chief minister at his official residence making remarks which are partisan and talks how he has shielded those who looted thousands of arms from the state police armory.  It is Biren Singh’s refusal to adopt an impartial approach as chief minister, which is the root cause for the problem.   

The Modi government and the central BJP leadership, despite knowing fully well the divisive role of the chief minister, has chosen to stick with him. At the political level, the BJP and the RSS prefer to stoke the flames of Meitei extremist chauvinism as seen by the fact that the founder of the extremist outfit Arambai Tenggol, L Sanajaoba, was made a Rajya Sabha MP. The long impasse has only strengthened the hands of extremists in both communities. 

The abandonment of the centre’s responsibility towards Manipur is made all the more stark by the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not thought it fit to visit Manipur even once in the past sixteen months.  What is required is for central government to directly intervene and start the process of political negotiations with major ethnic groups and to create conditions for peace and normalcy, where the rights of citizens of all communities are safeguarded.  If the festering sore in Manipur is not excised, it will have wide ranging repercussions for the North-East.

(September 11, 2024)