Torbung Bangla Boljang | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 24°24′59″N93°42′49″E / 24.4163°N 93.7137°E | |
Country | India |
State | Manipur |
District | Churachandpur, Bishnupur |
Language(s) | |
• Official | Meitei (Manipuri) |
Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
Torbung Bangla (or 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. [1] The village was originally called Boljang, [lower-alpha 1] with an educational sericulture farm established here. At present, the village is a site of contestation between the majority Kuki-Zo 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.
The Torbung Bangla village is on the Tedim Road between Torbung and Churachandpur, in the Khuga River valley (also called "Lamka plain"). Immediately to its south is the village of Kaprang. Snuggled between the two is another small village called Waikhurok. Waikhurok and Bangla are populated by Meitei people, whereas Kaprang appears to be populated by Kuki-Zo people.
The villages are watered by streams diverted from the Torbung river as soon as it enters the plains, from near the Pengjang village.
The village is marked as "Boljang" in the Survey of India data, indicating its original name. [3]
The village of Boljang was likely present since the time of Indian independence. In 1959–1960, it was noted to have a private lower primary school, one of 149 such schools in the tribal areas that were recognised by the Government of Manipur. [4] In 1964–1965, an experimental sericulture farm was established in the village by the Government of Manipur to popularise non-Mulberry silkworm rearing. [5] In 1969, oak tasar silk was introduced by the Central Tasar Research & Training Institute of Ranchi. [6] The sericulture farm still exists, and it is still mentioned as being in the Boljang village. [7]
From 2000 onwards, the village of Boljang began to be overtaken by the newer village of Torbung Bangla. In 2005, a resident of the village submitted testimony to the AFSPA review committee. [8] In 2009, a driver from the village was abducted by armed miscreants, and the villagers claimed that the abductors were security forces themselves. [9] In 2013, a bomb placed in a roadside culvert killed a security personnel of Gorkha Rifles and injured two others. The security forces suspected the hand of the People's Liberation Army of Manipur (PLA), a Meitei insurgent group, whose members were believed to be taking shelter in the village. [10] [11] [12] Another bomb blast occurred in January 2015 near the 27 Sector Assam Rifles camp. The bomb blast, for which PLA claimed credit, was said to have been part of the "bycott" against the celebration of India's Republic Day. [13] In May 2016, another IED was discovered near a post of the Border Security Force (BSF), which was safely detonated by the bomb disposal squad. [14]
Scholar Rohlua Puia notes that the hills–valley distinction in Manipur is political rather than geographical. [15] The hill districts and the valley areas have different administrative systems. The Kuki-majority areas in particular have villages headed by chiefs, as per their traditional custom. The land of the village is owned by the chief and the residents pay only house tax. In contrast, the valley areas have private land-ownership and the owners pay land revenue. A village like Torbung Bangla, where the valley population resides in a hill district (Churachandpur) produces an anomaly. The villagers of Torbung Bangla, despite living in the geographical precincts of a hill district, desire to be treated as belonging to a valley district (Bishnupur). Their land revenue records are maintained in the valley district, while the remainder of administration lies in the hill district. [16]
However, at least since 2012, the Torbung Bangla and Waikhurok villages voted for the gram panchayat (village council) of Torbung. [17] There may be an effort to enlarge the boundaries of the valley district to encompass such villages, noticed by the Registrar General of India and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. [18] These efforts caused resentment among the hill populations. [19]
On 3 May 2023, serious ethnic violence broke out between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo people, in which Torbung Bangla was a key location. On that day, a protest march was held in the Churachandpur town to protest the Meitei demand for a Scheduled Tribe status. [lower-alpha 2] Meitei groups organised a counter-agitation in the neighbouring areas of Bishnupur district against the protest march. [20] The Kangvai village (a Kuki village to the north of Torbung) appears to have been attacked and houses ransacked, causing the death of two people. At the same time a fire was started at the base of the Anglo-Kuki War Memorial Gate in the Leisang village (to the south of Bangla and Kaprang). [21] [22] The people that started the fire were described as "unknown miscreants travelling in a white Bolero [van]", who fled the scene after being discovered. [23] [24] Kuki mobs from Churachandpur rushed to the border areas. [25] As the Kuki fighters passed through Torbung Bangla around 3:30 pm, some with advanced guns, a video of them got circulated on social media, which caused considerable alarm among the Meitei community. [26] [27]
The two sides clashed at the Torbung and Kangvai villages, injuring 30 people. Properties and vehicles are said to have been torched. [28] Apparently after the police dispersed the mobs from these villages, the Kuki mobs returned to Bangla and burnt down almost the entire village. [29] [30] The residents had fled the village when the mobs arrived. According to a resident, the mobsters had complained about a sign board marking the village as being part of the Bishnupur district. [31]
Three months later in August, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF), an umbrella body of Kuki leaders, proposed to bury the bodies of 35 Kuki people killed in the violence [lower-alpha 3] near the sericulture farm at S. Boljang village. [32] (The original announcement mentioned Haolai Khopi, which is apparently a new subvillage established adjacent to the sericulture farm to its south). [33] The proposal brought up strenous objections from the Meitei community who got organised under the Torbung gram panchayat, calling it a "violation of international law". [34] The International Meitei Forum filed a petition in Manipur High Court, which directed that status quo be maintained till the matter is decided. The Deputy Commissioner of the district said that the site was on land belonging to the Sericulture Department, while the Superintendent of Police noted that it was close to the boundary between Churachandpur and Bishnupur districts, which was a "buffer zone". [35] After appeals from the Union home ministry and the Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga, ITLF postponed the burial ceremony, [36] and eventually accepted alternative sites. ITLF mentioned to The Hindu that the reason for its insistence on the original site was to assert that it was part of the Churachandpur district, and not Bishnupur district as some Meitei residents claimed. [37]
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.
Churachandpur District, is one of the 16 districts of the Indian state of Manipur populated mainly by Kuki-Zo people. The name honours former Maharaja Sir Churachand Singh of Manipur. The district headquarters is located in the Churachandpur town, which is also locally known by the name Lamka.
The Kuki people are an ethnic group in the Northeastern Indian states of Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, as well as the neighbouring countries of Bangladesh and Myanmar. The Kukis form one of the largest hill tribe communities in Northeast India, along with the adjoining regions of Bangladesh and Myanmar. In Northeast India, they are present in all states except Arunachal Pradesh. The Chin people of Myanmar and the Mizo people of Mizoram are kindred tribes of the Kukis. Collectively, they are termed the Zo people.
Bishnupur district or Bishenpur district, is a district of Manipur state in northeastern India.
Thoubal district is one of the sixteen districts of Manipur state in northeastern India. This district is bounded by Senapati district on the north, Ukhrul and Chandel districts on the east, Churchandpur and Bishnupur districts on the south and Imphal West and Imphal East districts on the west. The district occupies an area of 324 km2. The population as of 2011 is 286,687. Thoubal town is the district headquarters. This district is known for Khongjom, where the last battle of the independence of Manipur was fought in April 1891 against the British army.
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 use the native name "Lamka".
The Mate people are one of the Kuki tribes of Manipur, India. The Mates – a name, in its literal sense, connotes front beaters and consequently, in the broadest sense as a designation, implies a migratory people – are a little-known tribal community of Manipur, India, whose socio-cultural identity as a distinct tribe was only recently recognised by the Union Government of India and the State Government of Manipur. The Mates achieved recognition as a scheduled tribe in January 2012.
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.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Manipur:
Khuga River, also known as the Tuitha River, is a river in Manipur, India. It originates in the Churachandpur district and flows through the district for much of its course. It enters the Imphal Valley near Torbung, and flows east, joining the Manipur River near Ithai. The Khuga River valley in the Churachandpur district is thickly populated, with the Churachandpur town and numerous villages.
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.
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. According to government figures, as of 15 September, 175 people have been killed in the violence. 1,108 others were injured while 32 are missing. 4,786 houses were burnt and 386 religious structures including temples and churches were vandalized. The violence left more than 70,000 people displaced from their homes. Unofficial figures are higher.
Arambai Tenggol is a Meitei activist organisation in the Indian state of Manipur, often 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 Manipur's titular king and parliamentarian Leishemba 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.
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 Subdivison 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.
Ukha Loikhai is a village in the Churachandpur district of Manipur, India. It is on the western slopes of the Thangjing Hill and has ongoing claims to the top of the hill itself. In the 2011 census, Ukha Loikhai had a population of 418 people. Ukha was one of the leading villages in the Kuki Rebellion of 1917–1919.
Henglep is a village in the Churachandpur district in the Manipur state of India, populated by about a thousand Kuki-Zo people. Henglep is also the headquarters of the Churachandpur North subdivision with a population of more than 30,000 people. Henglep was a key area of operations during the Kuki Rebellion of 1917–1919.
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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.