2023 Manipur violence | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Date | 3 May 2023 (1 year, 6 months, 2 weeks and 3 days) | |||
Location | 24°36′N93°48′E / 24.6°N 93.8°E | |||
Caused by | ||||
Methods | Arson (including churches and temples) [23] [24] [25] [26] Vandalism (including homes, temples and churches), [27] Rioting, Murder [28] (including lynching), [29] [30] Mutilation [31] [32] Plundering [33] [34] Mass rape [35] [36] | |||
Parties | ||||
Casualties | ||||
Death(s) | official – 221 (3 May 2024) [37] [38] earlier – 175 (14 September 2023) [39] (98 Kuki-Zo, 67 Meitei, 6 unidentified, 6 security personnel) [40] unofficial – 181 (29 July 2023) [41] [42] (113 Kuki-Zo, 62 Meitei) [41] [42] | |||
Injuries | 1,108 [43] | |||
Damage | 60,000+ displaced [44] ~400 churches damaged or destroyed [45] [46] [47] 132 temples vandalised [48] [27] | |||
On 3 May 2023, ethnic violence erupted in India's north-eastern state of Manipur between the Meitei people, a majority that lives in the Imphal Valley, and the Kuki-Zo tribal community from the surrounding hills. [49] According to government figures, as of 3 May 2024, 221 people have been killed in the violence and 60,000 people have been displaced. [37] [38] Earlier figures also mentioned over 1,000 injured, and 32 missing. 4,786 houses were burnt and 386 religious structures were vandalised, including temples and churches. [43] Unofficial figures are higher. [50] [41]
The proximate cause of the violence was a row over an affirmative action measure. On 14 April 2023, acting on a writ petition, the Manipur High Court ordered the state government to send a recommendation to the central government on the demand for a Scheduled Tribe status by the valley-based Meitei community, [51] a decision later criticised by the Supreme Court. [52] To protest the Meitei demands for the scheduled tribe status, the All Tribal Students' Union Manipur conducted peaceful protest marches on 3 May. After one of these marches, clashes broke out between Kuki and Meitei groups near the border between the Churachandpur district and Bishnupur district, followed by house burning. [53] [54] The violence quickly spread to the Kuki-dominated Churachandpur town and the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley, targeting the minority community in each area. According to Reuters, 7 Kukis and 10 Meiteis were killed within a week. [41]
In addition to the ST status, other issues had been festering prior to the violence. For example, the Kuki people in the hill districts saw themselves as being the target of the state government's treatment of indigenous land rights concerns. [55]
The Meitei community has also experienced a rise in insecurity as a result of the flood of refugees from Myanmar following the military coup in 2021, particularly those from the Sagaing region. [56] [57] In one of the instances, the Manipur government have questioned the central security forces, especially the Assam Rifles, of allowing illegal immigration from Myanmar. [58] [59] [60] Many organisations have protested against Assam Rifles of siding with the Kuki communities, including instance of Manipur police filing FIR against its personnel for enabling Kuki militants to escape by obstructing the police movements. [61] [62]
According to several organisations, there have been accounts of partisan killings by security forces, as well as allegations of the police siding with the Meitei community and the military forces siding with the Kuki community. [63] [64]
Manipur is a state in northeast India, bordering Myanmar to its east and south. The Imphal Valley constitutes about 10% of the geographical area of the state with 57% of the population, [65] predominantly Meitei, who are majority Hindus, with minorities of Muslims and native Sanamahism followers. [66] The surrounding hills constitute 90% of the geographical area of the state with 43% of the population belonging to 34 tribal groups broadly categorised as Nagas and Kukis. [66] The Nagas dominate the northern districts while the Kukis are predominant in the south. The tribal people have the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, whereas the Meitei have been accorded Other Backward Class (OBC) status, with some classified as Scheduled Castes (SC) in certain areas. [67]
Scholars write that the hill tribes, whose administration had largely been left to the respective chiefs known as Khullakpa by the Meitei Kings, came to be administered by the British after the Anglo-Manipur War of 1891. The British administrative control became more intensive after the Kuki Rebellion of 1917–19 and they continued to administer the hill areas directly until 1947. [68] [69] [70] Scholars believe the colonial administration employed the "divide and rule" policy which widened existing divide between the peoples. [69] [70] [71] On the contrary, the hill regions are noted by some scholars as forming part of Zomia inhabited by "non-state" peoples. They came to be administered only after the Kuki Rebellion of 1917–1919, [72] After Indian independence, the hill tribes continued to enjoy a protected status. Even though the Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms Act, 1960, prohibits transfer of tribal land to non-tribals except by special permission, [73] [74] the seventh amendment (2015) is seen as an attempt by the valley dwellers to grab tribal land. [75] The valley-based Meitei dominate the political establishment. Of the 60 Assembly constituencies, 40 are held by the valley and 20 are in the hill districts. [66] [55] The tribal population is not prohibited from settling in the valley region. [76] [77] [49] Kukis state that they do not want to come to the valley but they have to since there are no roads, schools or hospitals in the hills. [78]
Tribal groups have complained that the government spending is unduly concentrated in the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley. [79]
The Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee of Manipur (STDCM) began demanding Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the Meitei people in 2012. [80] The STDCM claims the status will restore the harmonious relationship between the valley and the hills peoples before the Manipur's merger with India in 1949. [81] On the other hand, the hills people view this demand as an attempt to reduce the effectiveness of the Naga and Kuki demands, and enable the Meitei to make inroads into the hill regions. [82]
It was reported later that the Union government and the state government had considered the issue of ST status for Meitei twice, once in 1982 and a second time in 2001, and rejected it both times. This fact was not publicised at the beginning of the conflict. [83]
Okram Ibobi Singh of the Indian National Congress (INC) had been in power for three terms from 2002. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2017 for the first time under the leadership of N. Biren Singh who managed to out-maneuver the INC, the single largest party, and formed a minority government. In the 2022 Manipur Legislative Assembly election, Biren Singh led the BJP to a clear majority increasing the seat tally from 21 (2017) to 32 (2022) in an Assembly of 60 and continued as the Chief Minister. [84]
The renewed outbreak of civil war in Myanmar in neighbouring Chin state has also been claimed to be a reason for the violence in Manipur. [17] Fighting in the Chin theatre has caused an influx of refugees in the states of Manipur and Mizoram. As of May 2023, according to the chief minister, 2,000 refugees had entered Manipur and were housed in shelters. [85] Other estimates put the number between 5,000 and 10,000. Rumours have circulated that Chin refugees are receiving assistance from Kuki villagers and are helping to enhance the "political clout" of the Kukis. [86] This has caused the Meiteis to brand all Kukis as "illegal immigrants". [87] Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah stated that the influx of Kuki people from Myanmar created insecurity amongst the Meitei people of Manipur and triggered the violence. [88]
China perceives that India's Act East Policy, and closer relations with Southeast Asian nations pose a serious threat to its ambition to establish its hegemony in the region. [89] [90] [91] [92] On 15 August 2023, Chief Minister of Manipur, N Biren Singh said that certain misunderstandings, actions of vested interests and foreign conspiracies to destabilise the state led to widespread violence in Manipur. [93] [94] [95]
On 7 November 2022, the Government of Manipur passed an order setting aside previous orders from the 1970s and 1980s that excluded villages from proposed Churachandpur-Khoupum protected forest, which automatically placed 38 ancestral villages in Churachandpur in the encroaching category. [96] In February 2023, the BJP state government began an eviction drive in districts of Churachandpur, Kangpokpi and Tengnoupal, declaring the forest dwellers as encroachers—a move seen as anti-tribal. [97] [98]
In March, the Manipur Cabinet decided to withdraw from the Suspension of Operation agreements with three Kuki militant groups, including the Kuki National Army and the Zomi Revolutionary Army, though the central government did not support such a withdrawal. [98] [99] [a] Several Manipuri organisations also demonstrated in New Delhi to press for a National Register of Citizens (NRC) to be created with 1951 as the base year, complaining of abnormal population growth in hill areas. [100] The first violence broke out as five people were injured in a clash in the Kangpokpi district, where protesters gathered to hold a rally against "encroachment of tribal land in the name of reserved forests, protected forests and wildlife sanctuary". [99] While, the state cabinet stated that the government will not compromise on "steps taken to protect the state government's forest resources and for eradicating poppy cultivation". [99] Social scientists, such as Dhanabir Laishram, have argued that targeting those poor Kuki cultivators alone would be futile. A rich section of the Meitei community is blamed to be one of the major funders. [101] On 11 April, three churches in Imphal's Tribal Colony locality were razed for being illegal constructions on government land. [99]
On 20 April 2023, a judge of the Manipur High Court directed the state government to "consider request of the Meitei community to be included in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list." [102] The Kukis feared that the ST status would allow the Meiteis purchase land in the prohibited hilly areas. [100]
The Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF) called for a total shut down on 28 April in protest of the state government actions, a day that also happened to have been scheduled for the chief minister N. Biren Singh to visit Churachandpur for the inauguration of an open air gym. The day before the visit, a mob set fire to the gym and vandalised it. The ITLF claimed that it started the agitation as the state government was not addressing the plight of the people. [103] [104] Section 144 was invoked on 28 April as well as a five-day Internet shut down. The protesters clashed with the police and tear gas shells were used to disperse the mobs. [103]
What has been said, openly, including by Chief Minister Biren Singh, is that too many “foreign” (Myanmar Kukis) are involved, there is foreign (Chinese, he insinuated) hand, and that the Kuki tribals are forest encroachers, illicit poppy growers, drug smugglers and terrorists. “Terrorist” is an expression he has used for them more than once and it has been widely reported in the national broadsheets. [105]
On 3 May, the tribal organisation All Tribal Student Union Manipur (ATSUM), opposing the Meitei demand for ST status, conducted a "Tribal Solidarity March". Tens of thousands of protesters participated in the march across all hill districts of Manipur. [103] [100] According to the Union Home Ministry, the call for the march also generated a "counter response" by the Meiteis, [106] and protests and rallies were called at various locations in the Imphal Valley. [107] Reports were received of a counter-blockade at Torbung near the Bishnupur–Churachandpur district border, [108] [109] [110] and a counter-agitation in the surrounding valley areas (such as the Kangvai village), where houses were attacked by Meitei mobs. [111] [112] [113] Two dead bodies were discovered in the Kangvai village and tyres were burnt at the base of the Anglo-Kuki War Memorial gate at Leisang as an apparent provocation. [114] [115] [116]
After the reportedly peaceful rally in the Churachandpur town in which 100,000 people participated, [117] [106] rallyists returning to the Torbung–Kangvai area [b] faced the "counter-blockade" by the Meitei groups. This resulted in stone-throwing and arson of vehicles and properties. Kangvai Bazar adjacent to Torbung was burnt down. [108] [115] These events caused a large number of Kuki-Zo people from Churachandpur side to rush to the clash site and participate in the clashes, including the burning of the Bangla village in Churachandpur district. [119] [c] About 80 people were injured in the violence who were taken to the Churachandpur District Hospital, of whom at least three people died. [121]
By the evening of 3 May, clashes spread to the Churachandpur town, where Meitei settlements were attacked, and the Imphal City, where Kuki-Zo settlements were attacked. Violence continued through the night of 3 May. Residences and churches of the Kuki tribal population were attacked in the valley areas. [77] [49] According to the police, many houses of the tribal population in Imphal were attacked and 500 occupants were displaced and had to take shelter in Lamphelpat. Around 1000 Meiteis affected by the violence also had to flee from the region and take shelter in Bishnupur. Twenty houses were burnt in the city of Kangpokpi. [122] Violence was observed in Churachandpur, Kakching, Canchipur, Soibam Leikai, Tengnoupal, Langol, Kangpokpi and Moreh while mostly being concentrated in the Imphal Valley during which several houses, places of worship and other properties were burnt and destroyed. [109] [122]
On 4 May, fresh cases of violence were reported. The police force had to fire several rounds of tear gas shells to control the rioters. [109] Kuki MLA Vunzjagin Valte (BJP), who is the representative of the tribal headquarters of Churachandpur, was attacked during the riots while he was returning from the state secretariat. His condition was reported to be critical on 5 May, while a person accompanying him died. [123] [124] The government said around 1700 houses and numerous vehicles were burned down during the violence. [125] [126]
A curfew was imposed across eight districts, including non-tribal dominated Imphal West, Kakching, Thoubal, Jiribam, and Bishnupur districts, as well as tribal-dominated Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, and Tengnoupal districts. [127]
The Manipur government issued a shoot at sight order on 4 May. [122] By the end of 3 May 55 columns of the Assam Rifles and the Indian Army were deployed in the region and by 4 May, more than 9,000 people were relocated to safer locations. [76] [128] [122] [129] [130] By 5 May, about 20,000 and by 6 May, 23,000 people had been relocated to safe locations under military supervision. [49] [131] The central government airlifted 5 companies of the Rapid Action Force to the region. [132] Nearly 10,000 army, paramilitary and Central Armed Police Forces were deployed in Manipur. [133] [134] As of 14 May, the total military build up in Manipur stood at 126 army columns and 62 companies of paramilitary forces. [135]
On 4 May, it was widely reported that the Union government had invoked the Article 355 of the Indian Constitution to take over the security situation of Manipur. [136] [137] [138] However, no notification was issued to this effect. [139] [140] Nevertheless, the Home Ministry appointed a security advisor to the Manipur chief minister, Kuldip Singh, who previously headed the CRPF, and an overall commander for the law and order situation, Ashutosh Sinha. [140]
The insertion of troops led to several engagements between hill-based militants and the Indian Reserve Battalion, resulting in at least five militant deaths. In a separate encounter, four militants were killed. By 6 May the situation had calmed down to a degree. [134] According to journalist Moses Lianzachin, at least twenty-seven churches were destroyed or burned down during the violence. [49] As of 9 May, according to the Manipur government, the death toll was over 60 people. [141] The situation was described as "relatively peaceful" on 10 May, with the curfew being relaxed in places, [142] though unknown militants fired on Indian troops in an incident in Manipur's Imphal East district, injuring one. [143]
On 12 May, suspected Kuki militants ambushed policemen in Bishnupur district, killed one officer and injuring five others. [144] In a separate incident, a soldier was stabbed and three Meitei community members kidnapped in Torbung, Churachandpur district. [144] A day later, the security advisor to the Manipur Government Kuldeep Singh raised the total fatality count from the violence to more than 70 deaths. This included the discovery of three Public Works Department labourers found dead in a vehicle in the Churachandpur from unknown causes. [145] He added the number of internally displaced people living in camps had been significantly reduced, and that about 45,000 people had been relocated to other areas. [145]
On 14 May, a delegation of state ministers led by Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh left for New Delhi to meet Union home minister Amit Shah to discuss the situation. [135]
The internet blackout and curfew remained in place on 16 May. [146] Food was also reported to be scarce, with shops, schools and offices closed, and thousands of people stranded in refugee camps. Fresh violence over the weekend had led to further displacements. [146] On 17 May, the internet blackout was extended for five more days. [147]
This section needs to be updated.(January 2023) |
On 14 May, reports of fresh violence surfaced in the Torbung area, with unidentified arsonists torching more property, including houses and trucks. Five companies of Border Security Forces were deployed. In a separate incident, two Assam Rifles personnel were injured. [135]
Fresh violence occurred on 29 May during which at least five people including one policeman was killed. [148]
On 14 June, at least 11 people were shot, including nine Meitei men. [149] Additionally, 14 were injured in a fresh outbreak. According to doctors and other senior management officials at the state's capital, the latest clash has been so extreme that many bodies have been hard to identify. [150]
A 21 year old Kuki youth was arrested for sharing a post against CM Biren Singh on social media. He was beaten to death on a street in Imphal when he was supposed to be in police custody. [151]
Both Meitei civil society organisations, Arambai Tenggol, Meitei Leepun and Kuki militants under SoO agreement with the government were repeatedly mentioned as being involved in this ongoing violence as attackers of each other's villages. [152] [153] [154] [155] [156] [157] Surrendered cadres of Meitei insurgent groups, officially called "Valley-based Insurgent Groups" (VBIGs), are believed to have trained them in using arms looted from state armouries. [158] [159] In one instance, a fierce gunfight was reported between militants operating under the Arambai Tenggol banner, and a unit of Assam Rifles. [160] On 26 May, Arambai Tenggol issued an announcement stating it was "dissolving itself". [161] But its cadres were spotted at Pallel in September, dressed in police commando uniforms, attempting to break through security check posts. [162]
Reuters reported that, during the first week of violence, 77 Kukis and 10 Meiteis were killed. [41] The majority of the Kuki deaths were caused by murderous Meitei mobs, who roamed the streets of the Imphal city and other locales in the valley, attacking people in their homes and on the streets. [163] [164] By 14 May, the government's tally of casualties and property damage from the violence stood at 73 dead, 243 injured, 1809 houses burned down, 46,145 people evacuated, 26,358 people taken to 178 relief camps, 3,124 people escorted evacuation flights, and 385 criminal cases registered with the authorities. [135]
On 19 July, a video went viral showing two Kuki women, one aged in her forties and another in her twenties, being stripped, paraded naked on the streets, slapped and sexually assaulted by presumably Meitei men. [165] [166] [167] [168] The women were forcibly taken away from the police station when they were fleeing mob violence. [169] The younger victim was allegedly gang-raped and one of the victims' father and teenage brother were killed by the mob while trying to protect the victim. Despite the complaint being lodged no action was taken by the police for more than 2 months until the video emerged. [170] The Kuki community have accused the police of siding with the Meitei community. [171] The video emerged after more than two months since the incident took place as internet was shut down in Manipur. [165] [172] [167] [173] One of the victims said that they have been “left to the mob by the police”. [172] [173]
On 20 July, Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh defended his decision to curtail Internet access in the state, citing hundreds of similar incidents occurring in the past. [174] The Union government ordered social media platforms to remove all posts showing the viral video. [175] Seven arrests were made in the case, all of them after the viral video surfaced. [176]
The Supreme Court responded within hours after the circulation of the video, warning that the court will intervene if the government fails to act. [177]
After the media reports circulated about the National Commission of Women (NCW) having knowledge of the incident as they received a complaint in the month of June, the chairperson of NCW said that she did not receive a response from authorities in Manipur, even after she forwarded the complaint thrice. [178] [179]
The CBI took over the case on 29 July. [180] On 1 August, the Supreme Court stopped CBI from recording the two women's statements which was scheduled just two hours before the Supreme Court hearing on the case, due to objections by the women. [181] [182]
The home of Babloo Loitongbam, human rights activist and director of Human Rights Alert, was vandalised on 5 October 2023 for his activism. The radical Meitei organisation, Meitei Leepun, issued a "boycott call" to Loitongbam. [183] [184] The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said "We are alarmed by threats to human rights defender Babloo Loitongbam by Meitei Leepun and Arambai Tenggol groups in Manipur for speaking out on communal violence since May. We urge authorities to protect him, his family and home, and hold perpetrators accountable". [185]
On 31 July, the Supreme Court asked Manipur government to provide complete break-up of around 6000 FIRs related to the violence in the state. The court also expressed shock after learning that it took 14 days for the police to register even a zero FIR in the case of two women being paraded naked by a mob and were assaulted sexually in public. [186] During the hearing on 1 August, the Supreme Court called the police investigations as "tardy", and said that the state underwent "absolute breakdown of the constitutional machinery". [187]
On 7 August 2023, the Supreme Court took suo moto cognisance and formed a committee consisting of retired Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal (who will lead the committee), former Bombay High Court judge Justice Shalini Phansaklar Joshi and former Delhi High Court judge Asha Menon to look into relief and rehabilitation, and appointed former Mumbai Police Commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar to oversee the probe. [188]
The Chief Minister of Manipur, N. Biren Singh, stated that the riots were instigated by “prevailing misunderstanding between two communities” and appealed for restoration of normality. [189]
Shashi Tharoor, a Member of Parliament, called for President's rule and blamed the BJP-led government, saying it has failed to govern the state. [190]
Peter Machado, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Bangalore, expressed concern that the Christian community is being made to feel insecure, adding that "seventeen churches are either vandalised, desecrated or defiled." [191]
Olympic medallist Mary Kom, a native of Manipur, tweeted an appeal seeking help for her home state. [192] The Union Government Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah cancelled his campaign programs for the Karnataka election and held meetings with Biren Singh monitoring the situation in Manipur. [193]
A BJP MLA, Dinganglung Gangmei, petitioned the Supreme Court of India against the High Court's recommendation to the state government to add Meitei people to the Scheduled Tribes list. [194] [195] [196]
On 12 May 2023, all 10 Kuki MLAs, including eight from the Bharatiya Janata Party, issued a statement demanding a separate body be created to administer their community under the constitution of India in the wake of the violent ethnic clashes. [197] They alleged that the violence had been “tacitly supported” by the BJP-run state government, and that living under a Meitei-majority administration after the violence would be “as good as death” for their community. [197] Five organisations of tribal students of Manipur in New Delhi also demanded a probe into the alleged involvement of two radical Meitei groups, Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun in the violence. [198]
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement that the violence in Manipur "revealed the underlying tensions between different ethnic and indigenous groups". He urged the authorities to "respond to the situation quickly, including by investigating and addressing root causes of the violence in line with their international human rights obligations". [199]
On 29 May, hundreds of women from Kuki, Mizo, and Zomi tribes staged a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, demanding intervention by the central government to end communal tensions in Manipur. The women waved national flags and held posters declaring themselves as Indians, not immigrants, while criticising the state government stirring tensions by evicting of Kuki villagers from reserve forest land. [200]
On 30 May 2023, eleven international and national award-winning sportspersons from the state said that they will return their awards if the territorial integrity of the state is compromised. The sportspersons said that if the government does not meet their demands, they will not represent India and will not help in training new talent. [201]
On 1 July 2023, Joseph Pamplany, Archbishop of Thalassery in Kerala, said the violence is sponsored by the Modi government to destroy Christian communities in Manipur. [202]
On 14 July 2023, the BJP's vice-president from the state of Mizoram, R. Vanramchhuanga, resigned from his post accusing BJP governments in the centre and the state of supporting demolition of churches. [203]
On 20 July 2023, Modi broke his months-long silence after a video of two women being paraded naked and subjected to blatant acts of sexual assault by a group of men went viral. He said the incident shamed India and that no guilty will be spared. [204] Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been criticised for being silent on the violence for almost three months, for not visiting the state and for avoiding the broader situation in his statement after a video showing two women being paraded naked went viral. [205] [206]
On 27 July 2023, the BJP's Bihar wing leader, Vinod Sharma, resigned alleging that the violence in the state has defamed the country. [207]
On 7 August 2023, Kuki People's Alliance withdrew their support to the BJP government of the state led by N. Biren Singh. [208]
The parliamentary opposition under the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) tabled a no confidence motion about the crisis on 10 August in order to make Modi address the situation in more detail to parliament. Modi delivered a two-hour speech mainly focused on the accomplishments of his government and criticising the opposition for "defaming India" through the vote, to which opposition MPs walked out. Afterwards, Modi addressed the conflict, stating that "there would soon be peace in Manipur" and that the whole country would get behind resolution efforts. The motion failed as expected due to the overwhelming BJP majority, with it being seen more as a way to force Modi to speak about the matter and showcase the unity and power of the INDIA grouping. [209] [210]
In November 2024, the National People's Party withdrew support government over violence. [211] [212]
Mainstream television channels from India ignored the Manipur conflict for a while, and covered it only after a viral video surfaced showing two naked women being paraded by a mob. [213] However, a team of independent researchers on national media coverage of Manipur Violence argued that "The study finds some discernible patterns in this regard that indicate shortcomings and perceptible biases in the ways in which the crisis in Manipur has been covered by the ‘national’ newspapers" , and it has been found that the Kuki sources are quoted far more than the Meitei sources in the news reports of the mainstream media. [214] [215] [216] Also, as per "the Wire" major newspapers and broadcast media from Manipur and the rest of India [217] have avoided reporting on violence faced by the Kukis, who are predominantly Christian, while highlighting violence by Kuki militants. It is argued that three of the most read English newspapers in the region did not even report on the incident of a mob burning a woman and a boy alive.[ citation needed ] The Sangai Express referred to Kukis by the adjective "aliens" in an editorial, while an editorial in the Imphal Free Press justified the villagers looting arms from the security forces in the state. [218]
On 21 July, ANI incorrectly reported that a Muslim man has been arrested in connection to the incident in which two naked women were seen paraded forcibly by a mob in a viral video. ANI later apologised for the tweet, saying that it was based on an erroneous reading of previously published tweets by Manipur Police. [219]
Manipur is a state in northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanmar, Sagaing Region to the east and Chin State to the south. The state covers an area of 22,327 km2 (8,621 sq mi). The official and most widely spoken language is the Meitei language. Native to the Meitei people, it is also used as a lingua franca by smaller communities, who speak a variety of other Tibeto-Burman languages. Manipur has been at the crossroads of Asian economic and cultural exchange for more than 2,500 years. This exchange connects the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia to Southeast Asia, East Asia, Siberia, regions in the Arctic, Micronesia and Polynesia enabling migration of people, cultures and religions.
Nongthombam Biren Singh is an Indian politician, former footballer and journalist who is currently serving as the 12th Chief Minister of Manipur since 2017, in addition to representing the Heingang Assembly constituency in the Manipur Legislative Assembly since 2002. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Besides being the chairman of Shri Shri Govindaji Temple Board, he is the first incumbent Chief Minister who serves as the president of the Lainingthou Sanamahi Temple Board (LSTB), the temple development board of Lainingthou Sanamahi of the Sanamahi religion since 2021.
Churachandpur, locally known as Lamka is the second largest town in the Indian state of Manipur and the district headquarters of the Churachandpur District. The name "Churachandpur" was transferred from the earlier headquarters of the district at Songpi to the present location, and honours Churachand Singh, former maharaja of the Manipur princely state. The local people reject the name as a colonial imposition and prefer using the native name "Lamka".
The Manipur Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Manipur.
Kim Gangte is an Indian politician, educator and human rights activist, who was a Member of Parliament elected from the Outer Manipur Lok Sabha constituency in India in 1998, as a Manipur People's Party candidate. She is the general secretary of the Kuki Women Human Rights Network.
The Insurgency in Manipur is an ongoing armed conflict between India and a number of separatist rebel groups, taking place in the state of Manipur. The Insurgency in Manipur is part of the wider Insurgency in Northeast India; it displays elements of a national liberation war as well as an ethnic conflict.
Meira Paibi is a women's social movement in the Indian state of Manipur. Referred to as the "guardians of civil society", Meira Paibi dates to 1977 in present Kakching district. It derives its name from the flaming torches which the women carry while marching through city streets, often at night. They do so both as a patrol, and in protest, seeking redress against human rights violations committed by paramilitary and armed forces units against the innocent. Contextualized, Meira Paibi was founded at a time when the people of Manipur were fighting for self-determination, political autonomy, and independence.
Thangjing Hill , is a mountain peak in the Indian state of Manipur. It is in the Churachandpur district, to the west of Moirang. The north–south-running mountain range on which it sits is also called Thangjing range or Thangjing Hills. The range forms part of the western border of the Imphal Valley.
The Kuki People's Alliance is an Indian state-level political party in Manipur. The Party has 2 MLAs in Manipur Legislative Assembly, making it, largest opposition party in Manipur after Congress. The party's logo has interesting symbols of Hornbill and Star of David, with quote "Integrity, Development, Coexistence", the Star of David.
The Sana Konung is the royal palace of the rulers of Manipur and their present-day descendants. After the 1891 Anglo-Manipur War, the British took over the Kangla Palace, and Sana Konung was built as the new royal residence, first occupied by Maharaja Churachand Singh in 1908.
Arambai Tenggol is a Meitei activist organisation in the Indian state of Manipur founded by Manipur's titular ling and Rajya Sabha member Leishemba Sanajaoba, who also remains as its chairman. Arambai Tenggol has been described as a radical organisation, or as a radicalised armed militia. It is also a revivalist organisation that aims to reestablish the pre-Hindu, native Sanamahi religion among the Meiteis. It enjoys the patronage of Sanajaoba as well as the chief minister N. Biren Singh. During the 2023–2024 Manipur violence, members of the Kuki-Zo community blamed it for having carried out deadly attacks against them. In January 2024, the organisation demonstrated its influence by summoning all the elected Meitei legislators of the state for a meeting to deliberate on the defence of Meiteis in the prevailing conflict.
The 2024 Indian general election was held in Manipur on 19 April and 26 April to elect two members of the 18th Lok Sabha, from the constituencies of Inner Manipur and Outer Manipur. The election got scheduled in the midst of year-long ethnic violence between the valley-based Meitei community and the hill-based Kuki-Zo community. There were reports of violence and intimidation by armed militias during the campaigning as well as polling but, on the whole, the election got conducted peacefully. Opposition Indian National Congress candidates, Bimol Akoijam and Alfred Kanngam Arthur, won the two seats respectively.
Torbung is a census village split across the Bishnupur district and Churachandpur district in Manipur, India. The Bishnupur part of the village has a population of 2781, and the Churachandpur part a population of 1047 in the 2011 census. Torbung is on the bank of the Torbung river, which flows down from Thangjing hills to join the Khuga River. It is a village of historical as well as current political significance.
Kangvai is a village in the Churachandpur district of Manipur, India. It is on the bank of the Kangvai stream that flows down from the eastern slopes of the Thangjing Hill. It is also the headquarters of the Kangvai Subdivision in the Churachandpur district. In the 2011 census, Kangvai had a population of 939 people. According to many sources, the 2023–2024 Manipur violence began at Kangvai, causing most residents to abandon the village.
The International Meeteis Forum is a Meitei ethnic advocacy group in the Indian state of Manipur. Its objectives are to assert Meitei indigeneity in Manipur, to unify Meiteis around the world, to campaign for the territorial integrity of the Manipur state and to block the influx of alleged foreigners. Founded in 2012 by a retired army officer R. K. Rajendro, it later teamed up with the Federation of Haomee with similar ideological motivations. Both the organisations generated free-flowing hate speech against the Kuki community of Manipur, labelling them as "immigrants" or "foreigners", which was instrumental in the generation of 2023 Manipur violence.
The Churachandpur–Khoupum Protected Forest was declared by the Government of Manipur in India in 1966. It is believed to be largely coincidental with the Thangjing Hills range that bounds the Imphal Valley on the southwest. The protected forest designation was relatively unknown until November 2022, when the government issued a memorandum derecognising 38 tribal villages embedded in the forest area, mainly populated by Kuki-Zo people. Amidst the uproar caused by the announcement, a small village called K. Songjang was dramatically bulldozed in February 2023, with the claim that it had encroached into the protected forest. Tensions arising from this event are stated to be one of the causes of the long drawn 2023–2024 Manipur violence.
Torbung Bangla is a village in the geographical precincts of Churachandpur district in Manipur, India. It is populated mostly by Meitei people who regard themselves as being part of Bishnupur district. The village was originally called Boljang, with an educational sericulture farm established here. At present, the village is a site of contestation between the majority Kuki-Zomi people of the Churachandpur district and the Meitei people that dominate the state of Manipur. During the 2023–2024 Manipur violence, the village was almost entirely burnt down by Kuki mobs.
Angomcha Bimol Akoijam is Indian academic, filmmaker and politician, from Imphal,Manipur. He is an associate professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University's School of Social Sciences, and a public intellectual. He was elected to the 18th Lok Sabha from Inner Manipur constituency in Manipur in the 2024 Indian general election as a member of the Indian National Congress
The Khamenlok search operation on 12–14 June 2023, in the course of 2023–2024 Manipur violence between the Meitei and Kuki people, in the Khamenlok river valley, a branch valley of the Iril River valley, in the Saikul subdivision of Kangpokpi district. According to intelligence reports, the Manipur police received information that more than 3,000 Meitei militants, some armed with sophisticated weapons, launched an attack on the kuki villages in the Khamenlok and surrounding areas. Over a period of three days, the meiteis burned houses and rampaged through the area. While the kuki villagers escaped upon the arrival of the assailants, the Assam Rifles were blocked from reaching the area by Meitei women. Finally, on June 13, while the assailants were celebrating in a church building, the kuki village defense volunteers descended from hills and carried out a wholesale massacre of the meiteis mobs. The official death count was thirteen people, but unofficial estimates were in excess of 200 people.
Jarolpokpi, also called Zairawn, is a census village at the southern end of the Jiribam plain in the Jiribam district, Manipur, India. It occupies a narrow plain between the Vangaitang range in the east and Sejang hills in the west, covering 2.47 km2 (0.95 sq mi) area. Included in the census village are a Hmar village Zairawn, two Thadou Kuki villages Mongbung and Sejang Kuki, and a Meitei village Mongbung Meitei. The combined population of the Jarolpokpi census village is 1,237 people, of whom 64.2 percent are Scheduled Tribes.
Thus, the standpoint of the dominant valley-based Meitei community on the 'territorial integrity' of Manipur remains a major challenge to the demands for 'Greater Nagalim', separate 'Kuki State', and extension of the Sixth Schedule in the hill areas of Manipur.
Highlighting a few instances of involving the Kukis in the recent past, these leaders from the majority community are habituated to generalising the entire Kuki population as refugees and migrants.... What is being noticed is that hate speech, earlier the territory of individuals, was now taking place at the institutional level.
Intermittent violence — emerging from an ethnic conflict between Meitei and Kuki communities
The state has fractured on ethnic lines, with rival Meitei and Kuki-Zo militias setting up blockades to keep out members of the opposing community.
... the [Bharatiya Janata Party] has favoured popularising and reimagining Manipur's culture and traditions, emphasising the Meiteis. It has also aided in the formation of several Meitei-based organisations. This has sparked a concern among the state's diverse ethnic communities, prompting them to launch their own version of ethnic politics to counter Meitei majoritarianism, which could dangerously lead to the disintegration of Manipur into numerous sub-factions.... It is important to note that the Meiteis' demand for the ST status is closely linked to the BJP's majoritarian politics of inciting the Meiteis to further solidify their dominance over minorities through the benefits provided for the ST category.
Spiraling violence in the northeastern state takes cues from the ruling party's majoritarianism.
Such charges are rooted in the Manipur government's barely-veiled Meitei majoritarian stance that has been on display throughout the conflict... The Manipur commandos, an elite counter-insurgency unit of the state police, in particular, has been widely charged with siding with Meitei mobs.
... the [High Court] order came amid an escalation in the Biren Singh government's concerted campaign to stir up majoritarian sentiments against Kukis, using the same tactics it had employed against the Pangals. The scale of this campaign, however, is exponentially higher.
Biren Singh may have found these militant organisations very useful to aggressively push his integrationist and majoritarian agenda and conveniently use this to electorally consolidate his position by neutralising intermittent challenges from powerful factional leaders within the BJP.
"Since the coup, this recent violence is the first time where we see that a large number of refugees have come in and created internal problems," said Gopal Krishna Pillai, a former home secretary and joint secretary in charge of India's whole northeast, echoing the official line that the refugees are to blame for the unrest.... But some observers maintain that the government is scapegoating the tribal peoples. "Now, it is easier to target the Kukis as illegal immigrants," said Angshuman Choudhury, an expert on the region at the New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research.
The Centre and Manipur government told the Supreme Court that the genesis of ethnic violence in the state was the crackdown on illegal Myanmar migrants' illicit poppy cultivation and drug business in the hill districts...
Manipur's Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader N. Biren Singh, a Meitei, has blamed illegal migrants and drug lords from Myanmar for the lingering violence, claiming such forces were trying to "destabilise the state".
[There] are myriad underlying reasons. The Kukis say a war on drugs waged by the Meitei-led government is a screen to uproot their communities. Illegal migration from Myanmar has heightened tensions. There is pressure on land use from a growing population and unemployment has pushed youth towards the various militias.
Fuelling this conflict are also allegations of illegal immigration. In March, leaders of several students' organisations representing the Meitei community protested outside Biren Singh's home, alleging that "illegal immigrants from Myanmar, Nepal and Bangladesh" were marginalising "the indigenous people of Manipur". They demanded the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the setting up of a population commission.
Amid a high level inquiry into the ongoing Kuki-Meitei clashes in Manipur, the BJP government in the state is increasingly pushing its claim that Myanmar-based drug lords and 'illegal immigrants' from the neighbouring country were behind the violence...
It has been four months since violence erupted between the Kuki and Meitei communities in Manipur, which claimed the lives of around 200 people and left more than 70,000 people displaced.
It was under Mr. Singh's leadership that the BJP not only increased its seat share in the Manipur Assembly, from 21 (in 2017) to 32 (in 2022), but had also managed to weather several storms while running a minority government in the last five years. Unlike 2017, when the BJP formed the government in dubious circumstances — the Congress had emerged as the single largest party with 28 seats — the ruling party had a clear-cut majority on its own this time.
The eviction drive, which began in February, declared the forest dwellers as encroachers and was seen as anti-tribal.
Reports about a clash between people who had imposed a counter-blockade at Torbung and those returning from the rally started doing the rounds at Torbung. The stand-off that initially started with pelting stones soon escalated with vehicles and properties being targeted. Violence and arson rapidly engulfed the neighbouring Kangvai area as people were seen leaving their homes and running into an open field.
(Lead paragraph: Several houses, shops and vehicles have been torched at Torbung, Bangla, Kangvai and Phougakchao Ikhai situated along the adjoining areas of Churachandpur and Bishnupur districts.) It is reported that the properties were torched for launching a counter agitation against the Solidarity March of ATSUM.
The miscreants' act resulted in a clash between the villagers of Churachandpur and Bishnpur districts, around Kangvai locality where the majority population belongs to the Kuki tribal community. Locals told The Wire their houses were burnt, forcing dozens of them to rush to nearby forests for shelter and safety.
'They [Meitei mobs] only moved back only after Kukis from neighbouring villages and towns came to confront them. The initial violence was in Kangvai village. Police and commandos remained mute spectators and sided with them as they went about ransacking and destroying houses. Over 30 people have been injured,' says [Kelvin Neihsial of All Manipur Tribal Union].
According to eyewitness accounts, many Meitei volunteers who were held up at Kakwa [Kwakta] areas started moving towards Torbung and Kangvai areas and began torching Kuki houses. The first victim of that mob attack was Haopu Kipgen from Torbung Village; he was bludgeoned to death. The first casualty with torching of houses, therefore, was a Kuki.
These protest rallies were peaceful. Yet they were met with counter-blockades by various Meitei civil society organizations in various parts of the valley. Meitei miscreants burned down the Anglo-Kuki War (1917–19) Centenary Memorial Gate at Leisang village and beat up Kuki boys returning from a protest rally. Such incidents escalated into mob fighting. As the Meitei mobs burned down some Vaiphei-speaking houses in Kangvai village later, the ethnopolitical conflict spread like wildfire and transformed large parts of the state into killing fields.
Things began to turn ugly around 2.15 pm that day after a tyre was seen burning along the plaque of the Kuki War memorial gate near Torbung, kilometers ahead of Churachandpur. Around the same time, police found two bodies in Kangvai village, a kilometre away from Torbung. Following this, massive crowds began building up on the Torbung-Kangwai stretch of the Imphal-Churachandpur highway.
The march was a grand success in Churachandpur district where a record crowd, estimated to be more than one lakh [100,000], including students started the march from Lamka Public Ground, Hiangtam Lamka and culminated at Peace Ground, Tuibong, as reported by our Churachandpur correspondent. There were no reports of any untoward incident till 1 pm.
Later, a large number of people from Churachandpur side stormed towards Bangla and Torbung along Tiddim Road and destroyed several shops.
[In] the Imphal Valley, Meitei mobs led by Arambai Tenggol and Meetei Leepun, often supported by police commandos, sprang into action. They raided police armouries and carried out massacres in tribal neighbourhoods throughout the valley, killing over seventy people and destroying nearly two thousand houses.