TODAY -
Manipur: Ethnic Turf war
washingtonbanglaradio.com | South Asia Intelligence Review/IBNS
At midnight of October 31, 2011, the Sadar Hills Districthood Demand Committee (SHDDC) lifted the longest ever economic blockade in the history of Manipur after 92 days, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the State Government. The Sadar Hills area in Senapati District was to be upgraded to a full-fledged Kuki District at the earliest, after the submission of the report by the District Re-organisation Committee. The Kukis have been demanding district status for the area since the early 1970s, with the bifurcation of the Kangpoki sub-division of the Naga majority Senapati District, to form a Kuki-dominated Sadar Hills District. The agreement was signed ahead of Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram's visit to Manipur on November 2, 2011.
Meanwhile, the Nagas, under the leadership of the United Naga Council (UNC), launched a counter-blockade on August 21, on all highways in the State, including NH 150, which links Manipur with Kohima in Nagaland and Aizawl in Mizoram, in opposition to the SHDDC demand. Sadar Hills is currently under Senapati District, where the Nagas constitute a majority, and the Naga organisations oppose bifurcation.
With a rapidly improving general security scenario and declining residual militancy, the "culture of economic blockades" has the potential to provide the insurgents fertile grounds to revive rapidly dwindling support among the masses. Sandwiched between the demands of the Kukis and Nagas, the Government faces a tricky situation. Granting the demands of either side is likely to create more violence and even, in the worst case, to trigger another possible ethnic clash between the two communities, as their turf wars continue unabated.
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* This Post is uploaded on November 14 2011
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