United in grief, but...
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: June 26, 2024 -

EVEN as the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha began on Monday with the newly elected members taking oath of allegiance to the Constitution of India, people in the ethnic violence-hit Manipur witnessed massive rallies across the state with both the warring communities, Meetei/Meitei in the valley and Kuki-Chin in the hills, trying their best to draw attention of the central government towards the urgency of resolving the over one year old humanitarian crisis in the state.

It's true that life in Manipur has never been the same since the ethnic conflict broke out on May 3, 2023 after people of the Kuki-Chin community clashed with the Meetei/Meitei over the latter's demand for recognition as a Scheduled Tribe (ST).

So far, hundreds of precious human lives have been lost and thousands of families on both sides of the clash divide rendered homeless, apart from causing untold suffering to people of other communities living in this tiny multi-ethnic state who have remained neutral from involving in the conflict or taking sides.

The impact of the ethnic crisis has become so pervasive that even the functioning of the government and its departments has been affected and the economy of the state, which is driven mainly by agriculture and allied activities, taken a beating.

Today, it is difficult to say whether Manipur would be able to recover from the crisis and put itself back on the track of development.

Taking all these into consideration, it is natural for the suffering people to yearn for restoration of peace and normalcy in the state, and thus, they expect the central government to resolve the crisis.

But the moot question is how the central government is going to find a solution to a crisis when the two warring communities have not shown any sigh of relent from their respective positions and demands which are diametrically opposite to each other.

From the tone and posturing of the rallies taken out in the Meetei/Meitei dominated valley and the Kuki-Chin dominated hill areas, it is quite evident that the road to peace and normalcy in Manipur is still a distant dream, and any hasty decision taken by the central government without a clear understanding of the root causes of the crisis would be fraught with danger.

Instead of getting overwhelmed by the false narratives being churned out, one needs to know who is the real victim and the aggressor in this conflict.

One also needs to look back to decipher how a supposedly "peaceful solidarity march" taken out in the hill areas against a court directive given to the state government for sending the requisite recommendation to the centre for considering inclusion of the Meetei/Meitei in the ST list turned violent only in the Kuki-Chin inhabited areas and it morphed into a demand for a separate administration for the Kuki-Chin people, which was first raised by 10 MLAs of the said community within days of outbreak of the violent clashes.

Interestingly, this demand for a separate administration has now been changed to creation of a Union Territory by merging all Kuki-Chin dominated areas in Manipur, which not only the Meetei/ Meitei but the people of other communities in the state have also made their opposition known to all.

In fact, everyone now knows the real face of the politics behind pushing the demand for a separate administration or a Union Territory for the Kuki-Chin people for which their leaders, both armed and unarmed, have been making efforts with their eyes fixed on the ultimate goal of achieving "Zale'n-gam", a homeland by integrating all Kuki-Chin inhabited areas of Chin state in Myanmar, Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh as well as Mizoram and Manipur in India.

Meetei/Meitei in the valley and Kuki-Chin in the hills may have divided by violence but united in grief when demonstrated to draw attention of the central government.

But for any meaningful discussion on resolving the over one year old ethnic conflict in Manipur, leaders of the Kuki-Chin people definitely need to come clean.