Why Manipur ethnic conflict is a unique episode in India

Violence and inter-community strife are not uncommon to India’s northeast. But what was witnessed in Manipur since early May have created a record of sorts with several episodes unfolding for the first time in the country. The conflict that erupted on 3 May saw the two communities of the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zo training their guns on each other with the result that more than 180 people have been killed and more than 60,000 people displaced so far in the unrest that has not yet subsided completely. Director General of Assam Rifles Lt Gen PC Nair said that the state’s situation was ‘unprecedented’.  He was quoted by the media as saying “We have never faced anything of this kind in history. It is new to us, it is new to Manipur too.” That the violence in Manipur would engulf the disturbed state for so long with huge casualties came as a shock not only to government officials and agencies but also to many observers stationed in Imphal. I was in Moreh-Tamu and the neighbouring areas between 22-30 March to gather information on some Myanmarese resistance groups battling the Junta. We could sense the undercurrents of tension but could not envisage an eruption of this kind in the border state. Plundered police armouries, bunkers and drones There is no dearth of incidents in the country when weapons were snatched from police personnel as happened three years ago in Uttar Pradesh. Insurgents have decamped with weapons after ambushing patrolling squads and raiding police stations. Several episodes are found in the Maoist-affected states such as Chhattisgarh where the Communist Party of India (CPI-Maoist) is active.  But nowhere in India had irate mobs looted sophisticated weapons and ammunition from the police armoury so many times as in Manipur. Former Manipur governor Gurbachan Jagat wrote, “This did not happen in the worst of times in J&K, Punjab, Delhi, Gujarat, etc.” In Manipur, one such incident was on 4 August in Bishnupur district when a mob looted automatic weapons from an Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) at Naransena. A complaint filed by police stated that armed miscreants and individuals who came by some 40-45 light vehicles and on foot numbering around 500 overpowered the sentry at the main gate and other police personnel. It is estimated that more than 4,000 weapons and lakhs of ammunition have been looted from police stations and armouries since the beginning of the ethnic violence only about 1,600 weapons have been recovered. In desperation, the government was prompted to paste hilarious posters never seen before that urged the looters to return the weapons in a ‘drop box’! A functionary of a civil society organsation in Imphal Valley who hails from the Meitei community claimed on condition of anonymity that the police armouries were targeted by mobs ‘only out of desperation’ as weapons were necessary to counter the militant groups among the Kuki-Zo who were armed with sophisticated weapons. Incidentally, as many as 25 rebel outfits among the Kuki-Zo have ceasefire agreements with the governments. They have designated camps authorised by the government where the weapons are supposed to be kept under ‘ double lock-and-key.’ The failure to recover the looted weapons from the armouries has sparked rumours over the possibility of a partisan role by the Manipur Police that allegedly allowed a section of the populace among the Meitei to equip themselves with arms to checkmate the militants among the Kuki-Zo. Assault rifles such as the AK-47, AK-56 and M-16 were noticed by this correspondent while visiting the camps of the United Kuki Liberation Front (UKLF) and Kuki Liberation Army (KLA) in 2008 for reports that were broadcast in Times Now and a camp of Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA) two years later in Churachandpur. Nonetheless, these efforts to acquire weapons are indicative of the volatility of the situation that has enveloped a large part of Manipur as well as the ‘help yourself’ tactics adopted by members of both the warring communities as a former government official said. Many villages across several districts had established their own combat forces to ward off attacks from the rival communities. Bunkers were dug for effective surveillance and counter-attack which the government had failed to eradicate despite setting a deadline. The fallout has been a sharp divide among the two communities in a manner not witnessed earlier in the areas in the country’s North East that had borne the brunt of ethnic riots such as the twin hill districts of Dima Hasao and Karbi Anglong in neighbouring Assam. An overwhelming majority of the sparring communities in Manipur residing in areas dominated by the rivals were compelled to relocate to safer places.  For instance, large sections of the Meitei living in the hill districts of Tengnoupal and Churachandpur left their homes for safer zones while the Kuki-Zo did the same by relocating from the Meitei dominated Imphal Valley comprising six districts out of a total of 16 in the state. And, for the first time, more than 2000 government officials were also transferred from disturbed zones to their respective places of origin where they would ‘face no threats.’ The Myanmar connection Some issues in the North East had been and still are intertwined with the neighbouring countries. The best example comes from Assam on illegal immigration from Bangladesh which continues to be a burning issue despite several accords and efforts to resolve the issue. In Manipur, however, many existing phenomena in Myanmar have been linked simultaneously fueling diverse interpretations and consequences. Among the many narratives that have gained prominence is the role of opium cultivation in the hill districts of the state and its role in triggering the conflict. Kuki-Zo farmers are involved in the cultivation but so are farmers from other communities as the government data reveal. It has been argued that the illicit cultivation is sponsored from across the border in Myanmar. Former state police chief P Doungel went on record to say that the state has been linked with the infamous Golden Triangle straddling some contiguous regions in Myanmar, Laos and Thailand. Second, illegal immigration from Myanmar has been cropping up at regular intervals in Manipur for the past many years.   Last month, Home Minister Amit Shah claimed that illegal infiltration from Myanmar had sparked the conflict in Manipur which came days after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta alleged that the unclaimed bodies in Imphal mortuaries were of “illegal infiltrators”. The concern over illegal immigrants has also been raised by civil society organisations in Imphal. In February 2023, Chief Minister N Biren Singh informed the state assembly that 393 Myanmar nationals were apprehended in the first two months of the current year. The government has begun capturing the biometric details of all Myanmarese nationals residing in the state which is scheduled to be completed towards the end of the month. Related to illegal immigrants is the widespread belief among some sections that militants from Myanmar battling the Junta are involved in the violence and killings in Manipur. A retired general of the Indian Army was quoted by the media as saying that 300 terrorists have landed in the state from the neighbouring country.  Home minister Amit Shah named an outfit Kuki Democratic Front as being involved in the mayhem that started on 3 May in the state.   The Burma chapter of the Kuki National Organisation ( KNO-B) was quick to issue a release denying the existence of any such outfit in Myanmar. While speculation continues to be widespread on the aforementioned issues, what appears certain is the distinct imprint of Myanmar on certain combat tactics witnessed in the state. Both sides made use of drones to monitor each other’s movements; some went a step further by manufacturing rockets launchers at home which were also uploaded on social media and a small group was also spotted by the media making bulletproof vests. All these were observed by this correspondent in Myanmar at some conflict zones of Chin State and Sagaing Region between January and March. Such episodes were not discernible earlier either in Manipur or anywhere in the North East. Similarly, the flight of around 300 people belonging to the Meitei community across the border to Tamu for safety was a development that was rare if not entirely new since there are unconfirmed reports of a few families scurrying to safer locations in Myanmar during the earlier ethnic clashes in the 1990s. Myanmar had its impact on the disinformation campaign in social media by groups belonging to both the Meitei and Kuki-Zo. One such example was of a video from the neighbouring country’s Sagaing Region showing anti-Junta rebel organisation operating drones to bomb buildings occupied by the Myanmar military. It was shared with a false claim that members of one community were using drones to attack the residents of the other community. The viral video showed two men operating the drones attached with bombs that dropped on a few houses. Foreign governments’ concern over Manipur In the past, several incidents in the country have attracted a great deal of global attention and provoked aggressive responses. The European Parliament’s urgent resolution on the Manipur conflict which made a case for ‘urgent steps’ to defuse the crisis and ‘regular dialogue’ between the two Parliaments came as a ‘surprise’ to the Indian government, claimed a senior official in New Delhi.  New Delhi reacted with predictable anger saying that the resolution was unacceptable, and it reflected a colonial mindset. Days ahead of the resolution was another statement from the US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti who said the US would be willing to offer assistance in resolving the conflict in Manipur and that it does not have any strategic concerns but human concerns over the unrest. The comment raised eyebrows and drew a response from Congress MP Manish Tewari who was of the view that it is very rare for an American envoy to issue a statement on the internal affairs of India. Other unusual incidents Militancy in the North East has spawned exceptional episodes that grabbed media headlines occasionally in the past. On 25 June, the army was compelled to release as many as 12 rebels of the outlawed Kanna Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) in Imphal when it was surrounded by a mob led by women who were reportedly affiliated with the Meira Paibis. In the group that was set free was Moirangthem Tamba alias Uttam who was wanted for his role in the 2015 ambush at Chandel in which 18 soldiers were killed. This incident does not seem to have any parallels in any of the states in the region that had been ravaged by insurgency. Likewise, the FIR by Manipur Police against Assam Rifles was an extremely rare case revealing the deep animosity and mistrust between the two agencies. The police’s rationale was that the Assam Rifles had allowed Kuki militants to escape from being nabbed. A colonel of Assam Rifles has denied the allegations saying that the ‘instructions received from above were to prevent violence which were being implemented.’ The list of extraordinary incidents originating from the conflict in Manipur is long some of which could also have a long-term impact in the state and region. The level of violence has diminished five months after the unrest erupted in May but the divide between the two communities continues to widen with no serious effort to bridge the gap. The Centre has ruled out a separate administration for the Kuki-Zo inhabited areas in the state.  The state government has announced that it would be willing to grant more autonomy to the hill areas council.    So far, there has been no positive response on the proposal from the Kuki-Zo organisations and legislators.  What’s next? The author is a senior journalist based out of Guwahati in Assam. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.