Marching towards the 2 year mark : The unseen hand
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 14, 2025 -

In less than 20 days the ongoing ethnic clash would have completed two years and in the last 730 or so days, certain points would have emerged to the eyes of all keen observers.

The May 3, 2023 violence started in Churachandpur and Torbung. Gun wielding elements took part in the Tribal Solidarity March. The violence quickly spread to Kangpokpi and Moreh.

Imphal and the valley districts retaliated only late in the evening of May 3, 2023.

Between May 3, 2023 and now that is April 13, 2025, over 250 people have been killed, many are still missing, hundreds of homes have been reduced to rubbles and thousands continue to languish in relief camps set up across the length and breadth of the State.

New Delhi had then stepped in and criss crossed Manipur with buffer zones laying down that people from either side of the clash divide should not cross over to the other side.

In between New Delhi has tried to play the peacemaker, with the Union Home Ministry first hosting a talk on October 15, 2024 and later on April 5, 2025.

No one has been given to understand what exactly transpired in the first meeting, with only the Kuki-Zo representatives making it clear that no talk would be possible if the demand for a Separate Administration is not on the agenda.

Sort of calling the shots, one may say.

Fast forward to April 1 of 2025 and the scheduled talk at Delhi came to the knowledge of the public only after the Kuki-Zo civil society organisations came out with its pre-conditions before the talk on April 5.

The April 5 meeting came and went and while members of AMUCO and FOCS representing Manipur or the Meiteis signed on the dotted line or the points laid down by the Union Home Ministry to take Manipur to the path of normalcy, the Kuki-Zo representatives refused to do so and justified it by questioning the credibility of AMUCO and FOCS.

The April 5 cock a snook attitude of the Kuki-Zo folks is an extension of the manner in which the directive of the Union Home Minister Amit Shah to ensure free movement on all the National Highways was punctured with disdain on March 8.

This is how it has been since May 3, 2023 and it is more than clear that the Kuki-Zos want to beat the drum according to which Manipur should dance.

The rally was ostensibly organised to protest the directive of the High Court of Manipur to send the report sought by the Union Tribal Ministry back in 2013 on whether the Meiteis fit the bill to be included in the ST list of the Constitution or not but far from just expressing their opposition to the Court’s ruling the Kuki-Zos started targeting the Meitei settlements at Churachandpur and Torbung.

The mindset has not changed even as the ongoing clash is fast approaching the two year mark.

And it is this mindset which has emboldened the Kuki-Zo CSOs to oppose any move of the Meitei community to climb Mount Thangjing for the annual pilgrimage to the hill. It is also the same thing at Mount Koubru.

One thing that stands out clearly in the ‘devil may care’ stance of the Kuki-Zo community are the diktats they have adopted from a position of strength.

From where do they draw their strength ?

From the SoO groups which are in a state of ‘peace’ with the Indian security forces or from some ‘unknown’ authority ?

The very fact that this question is being raised now should serve as an eye opener to many.

From where have the arms used by the Kukis ‘volunteers’ come ?

It was during the early days of the clash that Union Home Minister Amit Shah talked about the arms looted from the police armouries, but not once has a question been raised on the arms used by the Kuki ‘volunteers’.

Who is funding them ?

And why is the Union Home Ministry quiet even as its directive to ensure the free movement of the people from March 8 was derailed so contemptuously ?

All questions at the moment, but the very fact that these questions are being raised should give one an inkling to the answers that can come.

And this is what Manipur is against.

The politics being played at the cost of Manipur and her people will not be forgotten in a hurry.

Delhi better take note of this, for not everyone is blind to the game that is being played or staged on the turf of Manipur.