Manipur As Seen By Meiteis, Nagas, And Zo Peoples
- Part 2 -

Siamchingthang Tungpo *

Manipur Maps showing the different districts :: Pix - TSE

The subsequent sections of the essay analyze the ethnic movements––those of Meiteis, Zo peoples,[iv] and Nagas, or Kukis––so as to understand how and why they view Manipur so differently, and the significance of the location and distribution of ethnic groups in sustaining and compounding the conflict. According to Milton J. Esman (1975: 392) the proportion and the quality of conflict and cooperation depend on the relative resources at the disposition of each group. The resources are demographic (relative numbers); organizational (degree of mobilization and capacity to put resources to political uses); economic (control of finance, means of production or trade channels); technological (possession of modern skills); locational (control of natural resources and strategic territory); political (control or influence over the instrumentalities of the state); and ideological (the normative basis for group objectives).

In addition to these objective determinants of power, the quality of inter-communal relations depends on the congruity or disparity in goals between those who control the state apparatus and the leaders of the constituent groups. If the goals are the same, the outcome is likely to be consensual. If the goals are incompatible, the consequences will be tension and conflict, and the outcome will be determined by the relative resources controlled by the parties. This introduces to a third determining factor––the conventions, rules, procedures, and structures, the institutions for conflict management.

Without such institution there can be no predictability in intergroup relations and no framework for channeling group demands or for regulating outcomes. Likewise, the clustering of factors that cause conflict in Manipur is so diverse. The situation is such that the political dominance of majority Meiteis can be challenge by the Nagas or Zo people because location and distribution of ethnic groups matters.

The United Committee Manipur, the group which opposes Nagalim, remembers the June 18th 2001 as "Great June Uprising Day" in honor of 18 strikers killed in Imphal in 2001 while demonstrating against the extension of the ceasefire between the NSCN-IM and the Government of India to Manipur. To make matters worse, the state government of Manipur had declared June 18 of every year as the "Manipur Integrity Day" in 2005. It was done in memory of 18 strikers killed in Imphal. The Manipur's legislative assembly had adopted several resolutions against the division of Manipur into different parts. The Meiteis had threatened to revive the movement for the restoration of the pre-1949 political status of Manipur in case Government of Indian failed to protect Manipur's land.

Opposing the declaration of June 18 of every year as "Manipur Integrity Day," the All Naga Students' Union Manipur (ANSAM), a student group, set ablaze government offices and imposed curfew on a main highway connecting Manipur with rest of India for 52 days (June 19 – August 11, 2005). During those days, the good-laden trucks were prevented from entering Manipur, and hence the prices of staple goods sharply risen due to their shortage. To show their distrust to state government of Manipur and Meiteis, the Nagas sought to registers private schools situated in their areas of concentration to the Nagaland Board of Secondary Education, the agency responsible for the conduct of final examination for class X in Nagaland. It was summarily rejected by the government of Manipur.

In 2010, Th. Muivah, the NSCN-IM leader, who wanted to visit his birth place in Manipur's Ukhrul district was debarred from entering Manipur by the government of Manipur. Muivah's supporters came out to protest in large number, in which two strikers were killed in police firing at Mao, the town located along Manipur-Nagaland border. In addition, the United Naga Council (UNC), the apex body of Nagas, has started a campaign to severe all political ties with the state government of Manipur.

The UNC wanted to set up an "alternative administrative arrangement" for Nagas of Manipur. The UNC maintained the Nagas have suffered social, economic, and political deprivations. Interestingly, those Nagas who have settled down in the plain region were not impressed by such campaign. Further, the Naga People's Front, the political party that runs state government of Nagaland, has entered the electoral politics in Manipur. It is clearly a Naga party, its membership open only to the Nagas. In the legislative assembly election held in 2012, it tried to woo Naga electorates on the issues of protecting the land of the Nagas, expediting the political talks between the Government of India and the NSCN-IM, and establishment of an alternative administrative arrangement for the Nagas. It won from four territorial constituencies.

The animosity between them is so profound that a small incident can turn into a big issue. The alleged assault of a Meitei film actress by a NSCN-IM insurgent at the town of Chandel in 2012 led to a series of strikes in Meitei-concentrated areas demanding appropriate action against the alleged culprit. However, the state government of Manipur couldn't take any action. Although the ceasefire between the NSCN-IM and the Government of India is officially limited to Nagaland, but in practice it extends to all Naga-concentrated areas. T

he Meiteis alleges that the central government of deliberately appeases the Nagas, and hence has compromise the interests of other ethnic groups. As pressure mounted from the Meiteis, the state government of Manipur sent leaders of various political parties to Delhi to put pressure on the central government to take action against the said insurgent. On the other side of the divide, the Nagas accused the Meiteis of blowing a small incident out of proportion. They claimed that the incident was a matter of discord between two individuals.

Further, the state government of Manipur wanted to upgrade Moreh, the town located along the India-Myanmar border, into a municipality in order to accelerate infrastructure development there. The town has been a major trading center between India and Myanmar. The proposal was seen by the Zo peoples as a "meticulous game plan" to suppress their rights. They wanted the town to be governed by district council, not by the state government of Manipur. Interestingly, the Meiteis overwhelmingly wanted Moreh to become a municipality.

Nonetheless, the Nagalim and the Kukiland or Autonomous Hills state are opposed to each other because of their overlapping territorial claims. If the proposed Nagalim is unacceptable to the Zo people, the proposed Zoland is also unacceptable to the Nagas. Both sides accused each other of claiming more territories as integral parts of their ancestral homeland. Both sides claimed to be the first settlers in the disputed territories. The claims and counter-claims have reenergized the conflict since not much is available about the history of Nagas or Kukis. To my mind, they are resorting to what Anthony Cohen (2000: 153) calls inventing history for themselves.

The Nagas claimed that the Zo peoples were recent immigrants who came from Myanmar, an allegation refuted by the Zo peoples. A Naga scholar states "Kuki community is found scattered in all hill districts of Manipur, but a larger population is concentrated Churachandpur. District like Senapati, Chandel, Ukhrul and Tamenglong belong to the Nagas" (Shimray 2001: 3675). Th. Muivah, the NSCN-IM leader, also claims "We Nagas are not living in anybody's territory; we are in our own territories. It is a fact, so the question of claiming [any territory] does not arise."

By contrast, a Kuki scholar states "Even though written records of the history of the Kukis started primarily with the advent of the British, CheitharolKumbaba, the court chronicle of the kings of Manipur, and the Pooyas, the traditional records of the Meitei people, include some accounts of Zo people which date back to 33 AD. This means that the Zo people has been living in Manipur and other north-eastern states since prehistoric times" (Haokip 2013: 254).

However, Lucy Zehol, an anthropologist at North Eastern Hill University, Shillong states, the Nagas and Zos are recent arrivals, nearly two hundred years ago compared to Meiteis, who are the old inhabitant (Zehol 1998: 40). Ethnic violence between them occurred in the 1990s. It was a major violent conflict based on ethnic lines which have greatly changed the social equations of Manipur. It has resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives and damage to private and public properties. Several thousands have been either temporarily or permanently displaced. It started over establishing and perpetuating control over Moreh town (see, Oinam 2003). In the aftermath of this incident new insurgent groups were formed to safeguard the interest of the Zo people.

Both Meiteis and Thadou-Kukis accuse the central government of giving undue favor to the Nagas. They said that the government did not take action against the Naga insurgents despite knowing that they indulged in illegal acts. The Kukis allege that their interests are not been heard. Take, for example, despite the Zo people insurgent groups and the government decided to temporarily suspend military operations against each other since 2008, the political talks had not taken place.

Concluded...