Will Manipur ever be the same again ?

Ngaranmi Shimray *

The destuction at Moreh :: Pix - TSE

The Nagas and Kukis have a long history of animosity and warfare. The fights were vendetta over century old bloodsheds and claims of land ownership. There was a detente only after the control of various areas between the warring tribes became clearer after ethnic cleansing in many locations. To a great extent the Churches played a role in the reconciliation.

However, areas of potential conflict still exists even to this day with onus of not aggravating the fragile detente falling mainly on the Kukis. This is so as the Kukis are settled on highways between the Imphal valley and higher hills and mountains inhabited by Naga tribes. The Kukis have always been careful not to provoke the Nagas whenever road bandh are imposed by Kuki organisations.

It is this stranglehold the Kukis have on the National Highways that the Meiteis in Imphal and Moreh are suffering from today. Similarly, the Kukis are not having access to any locations in the hills via Imphal valley. Both warring parties are exerting their influence to control the life line that runs across each other’s territories. If normalcy has to be restored, the imposition of selective blockade by each party has to be lifted first.

In the current conflict the Nagas have played a very responsible role of not taking sides but have recently expressed their exasperation with the United Naga Council (UNC) issuing a statement to both warring parties to stop harassing and stop provoking the Nagas. They have cautioned the Nagas living in Imphal to consider evacuating from Imphal if the situation does warrant. This hint is ominous and can only mean that the Nagas may favour leaving Imphal giving a blow to Manipur.

In 2023, the Kukis had taken cudgels with the Meiteis. There are many dimensions to the current clashes but it can be said that it centres around land, rapid population growth and poppy cultivation. The Kukis may be realising gradually now they have picked a fight with a community whicj has more resources including State Government control and a Central Government leaning on their side that these factors would favour the Meitei in a long haul conflict.

This will not be an easy fight for both parties but it will be the Kukis who will suffer more from social, economic and political deprivation in the long run. The sooner reality of the situation is realised by both parties the brighter the prospects for seeking out opportunities for peace.

Land has always been, and will always remain, an emotive issue. In the current clashes ethnic cleansing has been achieved in various pockets of the State. Meiteis have been evicted from Churachandpur district and Moreh town while the Meitei villages in the valley adjacent to the hills have become inhabitable on account of intermittent gun fire.

Their business and livelihood have been destroyed. Kuki-Zomi villages on hill areas surrounding the Imphal valley have been evicted, largely vacated but the presence of armed Kuki-Zomi persons in and around the hill villages, taking pot shots at innocent Meitei farmers have become a thorn in the flesh of the Meiteis. The properties and businesses of Kuki-Zomi have been vandalised and occupied by radical elements in Imphal city.

The Kuki-Zomi MLAs, top bureaucrats, Government functionaries, business persons and common men have been evicted from Imphal, the capital of Manipur and cannot return till they feel safe to come back. Similarly, the properties and houses of Meiteis have been looted, torched and levelled in Churachandpur and Moreh. Meitei business persons and farmers cannot return to their last place of residence.

The story is the same for the villages on both sides of the divide in the Imphal valley and the hillocks surrounding the valley. At the current extent of estrangement and war of attrition everybody is left wondering whether Manipur will ever be the same again after this conflict.

Trying to make sense of past history, the suspicion that the Kukis are trouble makers seem to stick. They had been used as reprisal forces armed with muskets issued by British colonial power to control difficult tribes.

At the time of the first world war the Kukis refused to help the war efforts as labour force and rebelled. Their rebellion affected mainly the non-Kuki tribes whose fighting ability was depleted as their youth had gone to Europe to aid the war efforts.

It was a vile tactical policy of the Kukis to pillage defenceless Naga villages whose main menfolks were in Europe causing deaths and destruction in its aftermath and it was more or less a one-sided fight. The second coordinated geo-political move by the Kukis was the control of the strategically important border town of Moreh. They succeeded by evicting the Nagas.

This time the Kukis have picked up a fight with the Meiteis, an adversary better placed than the Nagas to harm and damage their interest in every sphere of life. In the Naga-Kuki conflict the goal was just eviction from land. In the current fight with Meiteis, the Kukis have suffered considerably by losing political participation in the Assembly and total administrative absence in administrative institutions at Imphal.

The Kuki-Zomi are deprived of access to the High Court, subordinate Courts, universities, police headquarters, airport, land routes through the Imphal valley etc. Earnings from properties in Imphal for the Kuki-Zomi has stopped.

But the gravest danger of all for the Kuki-Zomi, after the Centre has acceded to the plea of Mr Biren Singh, Chief Minister of Manipur to erect fencing wall and remove Free Movement Regime (FMR) in the Indo-Myanmar border, is the fear that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) may be implemented in Manipur. Implementation of NRC could affect the Kuki-Zomi population the most with loss of citizenship.

From what is currently happening in Manipur, one is tempted to conclude that there may be no easy solution to the ethnic conflict before the 2024 Parliamentary elections. Allegations of rigging and electoral frauds cannot be ruled out as deployment of polling officials and security personnel in the Outer Manipur Constituency will be the biggest challenge to the Election Department of Manipur.

Allegations of such nature could result in cancellation of Outer Manipur Parliamentary seat election in 2024 leaving the hill areas without a representative in Parliament. On the economic front, economic activities will decline, prices will keep on rising and common people will become poorer throughout the State. Developmental schemes will come to a halt. Unemployment will sky rocket.

Education will suffer. Pot shots will continue to be fired from the hill top on innocent farmers. Free movement of goods will continue to be impeded. The Nagas and other non-warring communities will suffer from collateral damage of the conflict. This may become the “new normal” for people of Manipur which everybody should be working hard to avoid.

Given the high degree of estrangement between the warring communities, the time is not too late for the Churches of Manipur to take over the role of interlocutor and parley peace between the warring community. At the political level the Ministry of Home Affairs is talking to different leaders.

However, the willingness of both estranged parties to seek mediation may provide the much needed confidence for the Churches of Manipur to come forward. With such a mandate, the return of peace in this land could be explored. There is no harm in trying. But try we must.