Manipur’s year of death, destruction and separation: In this unending conflict, everybody is a loser

It’s exactly a year since the Meitei-Kuki conflict started in Manipur, in which 224 people have been killed and over 60,000 others displaced. DH’s Sumir Karmakar visited the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley and Kuki-dominated Moreh and Churachandpur just before the Lok Sabha polls and found that the lives and livelihoods of both communities had been shattered.

Imphal/Moreh/Churachandpur: The airfare between Guwahati and Imphal shot up from Rs 3,098 to Rs 4,523 in a span of four days. “There is a rush for elections,” the reply came from the travel agent. It was just days before the first phase of Lok Sabha elections (April 19), and families with loads of luggage, including utensils, were seen rushing and pushing their belongings into the luggage scanners. As the conflict between the majority Meiteis and Kuki tribes has continued to roil Manipur since May 3 last year, many fled to Guwahati and elsewhere and stayed with their relatives or in rented houses. “How long will we stay outside?” one Meitei passenger hailing from Imphal told DH as he entered the flight with three children, aged between six and 14.

The 180-seater Air India Delhi-Guwahati-Imphal Airbus was packed.

“People are going back as the conflict seems to have stopped for some time. But nobody knows what will happen after the elections,” said Kh. Nabin, a student undergoing UPSC coaching in New Delhi. “Most of them fled as conflict continued and business and educational institutions remained shut for months,” Nabin said. “Many shifted to Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Guwahati, either in search of employment or to ensure their children’s education,” he said as the flight touched down in 40 minutes.

Communication hit hard 

As sporadic incidents of shootings and killings between armed groups belonging to both the Meiteis and Kukis have continued, communications on the two national highways, NH-2 and NH-37, linking Manipur with the rest of the country, have been severely affected. Meiteis have been avoiding the highways passing through the Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi due to fear of attacks.

Remains of a burned vehicle on the streets of Moreh.

On the other hand, Kukis even use helicopters between Churachandpur and Mizoram’s capital, Aizawl (Rs 3,500 to 4,500 one way) to bypass visits to Meitei-dominated Imphal, particularly for medical emergencies. Yet those unable to afford air travel or living outside relied on relief camps, both in the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley and Kuki-dominated hills. 

Kukis have stopped visiting the Imphal Valley districts and Meiteis too are avoiding visits to the Kuki areas fearing conflict. The "buffer zones" created by central security forces between the Vally and Kuki-inhabited districts have been witnessing sporadic incidents of firing, leading to killings and injuries.

Polls amid turmoil

Amid incidents of firing by armed miscreants in Imphal, booth captures, and destruction of EVMs, polling for two Lok Sabha seats, Inner Manipur and Outer Manipur, was conducted on April 19 and 26. Re-polling was conducted in 11 polling stations in Meitei-dominated Inner Manipur and in six polling stations in Outer Manipur, where Nagas and Kukis exert influence. Overall, a voter turnout of 81.90% was recorded in both seats (Inner: 80.15%, Outer: 68.83%). The polling was lower in Outer Manipur seats, mainly due to calls for boycotts by Kukis in Kangpokpi district. “Kukis don’t see any hope in the elections as killings have continued and the issues that triggered the conflict have remained unresolved,” Sominthang Doungel, a leader of Kuki Inpi, Manipur, a forum of Kuki organisations, told DH. Many of those who shifted to other states due to the conflict, however, could not cast their votes.

A teacher turns vegetable vendor

At a relief camp in the Government Dance College in Imphal, where Meiteis displaced by the violence in Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi and Churachandpur districts have been taking shelter since June, Koijam Govind looked confused. “How long will we stay here?” asked Govind, who worked as principal of a private English-medium school in Moreh, a Kuki-dominated town in Kangpokpi district bordering Myanmar, about 110 km from Imphal. As the Kukis started firing and burning shops and houses in Moreh on the evening of May 3, Govind rushed with his sister, wife, and one-year-old baby boy for safety. They were provided shelter in the Assam Rifles camps at KLP (near Moreh), Pallel, and were finally shifted to the relief camp on June 12. As the situation in Moreh remained unchanged, Govind started selling vegetables on the streets outside the relief camp. “See how the conflict turned me from being a teacher to a vegetable vendor on the street. Probably this was in my destiny,” Govind sarcastically said. Many such displaced people were seen on the streets of Imphal and elsewhere. 

Meitei teacher in Moreh who became a vegetable vendor on the streets of Imphal

After weeks in relief camps, the Manipur government admitted many children to government schools. But many of them faced adjustment problems as they studied at better private schools. “The state government later admitted many to private schools and decided to bear their fees,” Govind said. At least 18 children belonging to both Meitei and Kukis have died, while thousands are living in relief camps with their parents. DH earlier reported how many such conflict-hit children were taken out of Manipur, flouting norms.

The burned and destroyed houses left behind by Kukis in and around Imphal bore testimony to the conflict. “Don’t click photos, or they will snatch your camera,” said a shopkeeper near the historic Govindaji temple, pointing to the members of Arambai Tenggol, a Meitei armed group, which has been accused of attacks on the Kukis. The group has opened offices in many nooks and corners of Imphal Valley, and their armed members were seen roaming around the streets. Members of Meira Paibis, the women vigilante group, were also seen keeping “vigil” on the streets, even at night. Many displaced Meiteis even shifted from relief camps to some of the houses belonging to the Kukis, who fled to Kuki areas. 

Shop inside relief camps

A similar scene prevailed inside a relief camp at Moivom village in Kuki-dominated Churachandpur, about 60 km from Imphal. Jemnu Khongsai, a Kuki woman, fled Saja village in Kangpokpi district after Meitei miscreants attacked her house on the night of May 3. Struggling to meet the necessities of her four children, Jenny started selling grocery items inside the relief camp. “There is no work outside because of the tension,” said Jemnu. A total of 552 displaced persons, including 101 children, are taking shelter in the relief camp set up in an under-construction private university. Many such displaced women, several with newborn babies and multiple children, were seen loitering outside, clueless about their future.

Kuki woman selling grocery items inside a relief camp in Churachandpur district.

Barricades at Moreh lanes 

Barricades and half-dug roads welcome outsiders to several lanes leading to the Kuki-Zo villages at Moreh, situated 110km from Imphal. “This has been done to prevent entry and harassment of Manipur police commandos,” Sasang Hmar, a leader of the influential Kuki Students’ Organisation (KSO), at Moreh, told DH. Caleb Baite, a Kuki carpenter, and his wife, Kimnei Lian, fled Salam Patong village in Kangpokpi after the Meitei attacks on May 9. Nearly 80 people had taken shelter in the relief camp at Moreh Government Higher Secondary School, but many had to shift after the school reopened in March. “There is no work for carpenters here because of the tension,” Baite said. Hmar said at least eight Kuki-Zo residents were killed in and around Moreh by Meiteis since May 3. Moreh is a Kuki-dominated town bordering Myanmar, but most of the 6,000 Meiteis have fled Moreh, and their houses were burned down or damaged in May. Burnt shops, houses, and charred cars in areas such as Prem Nagar clearly show the destruction Moreh has seen in the past year. Many non-Manipuris, including Tamils, Punjabis, and Biharis, have fled as business activities and schools remained shut. Moreh has witnessed frequent conflicts as Manipur police commandos are rushed to “take control” of the Kuki-dominated town. “There is a fight for dominance as Moreh is a business centre and the gateway to Southeast Asia,” said an officer of the Assam Rifles, which guards the India-Myanmar border. The Indo-Myanmar friendship border gates have been shut down due to the conflict, severely affecting business at Moreh.

Job creator to job seeker

The conflict pushed Bronte Kshetrimayum, a Meitei youth, from being a job creator in Manipur to becoming a job seeker in Pune. As the Manipur government launched a scheme to support local youths to take up business activities, Bronte started a start-up in 2019 that provided IT support services. But as business activities remained shut for months due to the conflict, he had to shift to Pune in August, seeking a job. “My work needed to travel to both the valley and the hills. But it was not possible to visit my clients in the hills due to the conflict. Finally, I joined a BPO job in Pune to support my parents living in Imphal,” 32-year-old Bronte, who employed six people in Manipur, told DH from Pune.

Many such start-ups and new business ventures, which were trying to scale up business across Manipur, had to halt their journeys due to the conflict. Vendors at ima markets, the all-women markets in Imphal, told DH that business was severely hit as outsiders stopped visiting the Valley.

Tourism too has remained badly affected. Footfalls at the historic Kangla Fort in Imphal, the Indian National Army museum (where Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose stayed) at Moirang and the enchanting Loktak in lake in Bishnupur district was very low. "Tourists from outside are not visiting because of the conflict," Naoba Moiranthem told DH as he sat idle inside the six-seater machine operated cruise boat at Loktak, Asia's biggest fresh water lake. Women vendors, who sells eatables along the road leading to Loktak, too were seen waiting for customers.

Caught in the conflict

Abdul Hakim stood outside Anita Standard High School, the first English-medium school set up in 1986 at Kwakta, a town situated near the “buffer zone” between Meitei-dominated Bishnupur and Kuki-dominated Churachandpur. The school was turned into a relief camp where nearly 300 Pangals, the Meitei Muslims from nearby villages in Kwakta, took shelter. Most of them have gone back, but the frequent firing between the “village volunteers” of Meiteis and Kukis along the “buffer zone” has kept residents of Kwakta on their toes. “Some Pangals got hit by bullets, and many houses were also burned,” said Hakim. Kwakta is about 15 km before Churachandpur. 

“Pangals are not part of this conflict. But we are very badly caught in the conflict,” he said. Manipur has over two lakh Pangals (Meiteis who converted to Islam). Over 130 pangals were killed in a conflict with the Meiteis way back in 1993. “This time, Pangals have not been a target. In fact, it is the pangal drivers who are acting as a bridge between the valley and the Kuki Hills. Pangal and Naga drivers are only allowed to enter from both sides. This has helped in transportation for outsiders,” Hakim said.

Vehicles are stopped and frisked at several places after Kwakta by the central security forces, including the Army and Assam Rifles. Remnants of burned houses and shops along the road draw the attention of outsiders. Two unusual barricades manned by members of the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), an influential Kuki organisation, stopped all vehicles. The youths, some clad in camouflage and brandishing sticks, asked outsiders to take an ITLF pass by paying Rs 100 before entering Churachandpur. It is similar to the Inner Line Permit (ILP) that outsiders require to visit Manipur. 

Students, teachers up in arms

“Separate administration is the only solution to end the conflict,” Muan Tombing, the ITLF general secretary, told DH at the Churachandpur district library, a portion of which has now been turned into the forum’s office. “Our fight is not against the Centre. It is the Centre alone that can end the conflict by forming a Puducherry-like Union Territory,” he said. “If nothing is done after the elections, we will move ahead with our separate administration,” he said. Inside Churachandpur town, burned houses and shops left behind by the Meities are visible. The debris has been removed from some such land and is being used for parking.

A few kilometres away, near Moivam village, Kuki boys clad in camouflage, some with “licenced” weapons, were seen jostling with BSF and Assam Rifles personnel. “Come at night; you will see them moving with sophisticated weapons,” said one of the security force personnel. A few metres away, young Lalcha Haokip sat inside a “bunker” with sandbags around him, his “licenced weapon” pointed towards Bishnupur hills. Lalcha was seen sitting alone, but seven “village volunteers” guarded a bunker at night. “They had to take up arms not to fight against the security forces but to defend our Kuki-Zo people from attacks by Meiteis,” Lelen Haokip, a private school teacher who is on the ITLF’s logistics team now, told DH. Lalcha, who passed class 12, said he wants to join the army once the Meitei-Kuki conflict ends. Similar “bunkers” and “village volunteers” were also seen on the Meitei side. Meiteis claim that “large-scale illegal migration” of Kuki-Zo people from Myanmar has posed a threat to their identity and land.