On May 4 and 5, Union Home Minister Amit Shah was expected to be in Karnataka, taking part in the BJP's final push to retain power in the state. But as riots continued to spiral out of control in Manipur, he was forced to cancel his plans and oversee security efforts from Delhi along with Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chief Minister N. Biren Singh. The riots also prompted a visit by Lieutenant General R.P. Kalita, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Army's Eastern Command, to the region to assess the preparedness of the forces near Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and China.
By then, the Army and the Assam Rifles had deployed 125 columns to rein in the rioters. Thirteen companies of the Central Reserve Police Force and large contingents of the Manipur Rifles now assist them. They have already rescued nearly 23,000 civilians and relocated them to Assam Rifles’ camps and other military establishments.
What is unfolding in Manipur is an ethnic clash between the two large communities―the largely Hindu Meiteis, who live in the plains, and the Christian majority Kukis, who dominate the hills. The Meiteis make up 53 per cent of the population of the state and the Kukis and the Nagas, who are Scheduled Tribes, constitute 40 per cent. The valley, dominated by the Meiteis, constitutes just about a tenth of Manipur’s total land area, but it is the most fertile region of the state. The Meiteis also dominate the state’s sociopolitical and economic landscape.
Ethnic riots are not new to Manipur, caused by the lingering tension between the inhabitants of the hills and the valley, often on account of claims and counter claims regarding land, revenue and economic opportunities. One of the reasons behind the ongoing conflict is the widespread infiltration of Kukis from neighbouring Myanmar, with which Manipur shares a 550 km-long border. THE WEEK, in its cover story dated January 9, 2022, had reported how thousands of minority Kukis from Myanmar were making their way to India through Manipur’s porous borders. Some of them even dug underground tunnels to reach India and find shelter among their kinsmen. The villagers chose not to complain to the security forces, instead they supported the refugees. And Manipur seems to be paying the price now.
Struggle for existence: Displaced manipuris at a temporary shelter in a military camp, after being rescued by the army | AFP
“The world received information about the Rohingyas who fled to Bangladesh. But the news about those coming to India’s northeast has been largely unreported because of the ethnic similarity on both sides of the border,” said an official from the Manipur chief minister’s office. Chief Minister Biren Singh accepted that there is massive infiltration from Myanmar. He felt Manipur needed to implement the NRC (National Register of Citizens) to identify the intruders and initiate the process of sending them back to Myanmar. "They are eating up our limited resources,” he said.
Singh's office said it was not easy for the government to identify the illegal Kukis as they live among the legal Kuki residents of the state, who are settled in districts like Churachandpur, Bishnupur and other hilly areas like Tengnoupal and Senapati. The government is concerned that the intruders have links with insurgent groups in Myanmar and are involved in poppy cultivation inside Indian territory. "They are out to destroy our next generation by occupying land in the semi-hilly areas inside the forests and cultivating poppy. It is their biggest source of income,” said Singh.
A senior officer from the chief minister's office said that China, too, was a player in the poppy trade taking place in the Myanmar-Laos-Thailand golden triangle. The Assam Rifles had alerted the government about the trade of drugs from the golden triangle as China was trying to regain the hold it once enjoyed along India’s northeast border. The director general of Assam Rifles, however, refused to comment on the issue when THE WEEK reached out to him. In fact, both civilian and military officials have stopped explaining what was going on in Manipur. Through an official order, the Manipur government has asked the media to report “sensibly” on the issue. Journalists have been prohibited from visiting hotspots and flashpoints.
Singh refused to comment further about the Myanmar situation as it comes under the remit of the ministry of external affairs. But his government is already facing the repercussions, especially as the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act has been withdrawn from the state. Local people say the Manipur government woke up late to the reality of ethnic tensions because of political reasons. Singh heads a government comprising Meitei, Kuki and Naga MLAs. So, it is not easy for him to take stern action against the rioters.
N. Biren Singh | Salil Bera
A senior Army officer said the root cause of the problem was the land laws drafted in 1965 which gave land rights in the hills to the Kukis and the Nagas. “They were also given Scheduled Tribes status by the Union government. The Meiteis, who are the majority in the plains, did not have that status. And the situation worsened as the Kukis started coming down to the plains with the increase in their numbers. It made the Meiteis angry,” he said.
The Modi government’s soft stand towards Myanmar further complicated the situation as it decided to give refugee status to a section of Kuki intruders from Myanmar. The state government, meanwhile, finds it difficult to accommodate the refugees and provide them employment opportunities and other benefits. “The state government never supported such a move by the Centre. But we had to accept the decision,” said a state home department officer.
Ironically, the growing trend of poppy cultivation saw some sort of understanding between certain Meitei groups and the Kuki intruders which was evident from the ambush of Colonel Viplav Tripathi, commandant of 46 Assam Rifles, along with his wife, son and four soldiers, in November 2021. He was working to stop the poppy cultivation in Churachandpur, a key base for illegal immigrants from Myanmar. But the colonel’s ambush was masterminded by the People’s Liberation Army, an insurgent group dominated by the Meiteis. After his reelection last year, Biren Singh launched an eviction drive against the encroachers and poppy cultivators in the hills. But, as the move resulted in the eviction of a large number of tribals from their villages inside the reserve forests, the Kukis reacted strongly, leading to widespread protests.
According to observers, the Kukis started emerging as a major force in the 1990s, when the junta reigned supreme in Myanmar. “Their numbers have grown into several lakhs,” said a state land tribunal member. M. Mohan, an ethnic Tamil resident from the Tengnoupal district bordering Myanmar, said the ethnic clashes began in 1992 as the Kukis from Myanmar started entering the state through the Moreh border and clashed with the Nagas. Clashes with the Meiteis started two years later and soon there were fights with Gujaratis, Bengalis, Tamils, Biharis and Nepalis settled in Moreh. “Unable to fight the Kukis, non-tribal groups like us fled to Myanmar to save our lives. The Myanmarese government was lenient and gave us shelter,” he said.
The already tense situation came to a head on April 19 after the Manipur High Court asked the state government to convey its opinion to the Union tribal ministry about a proposal to give the Meiteis Scheduled Tribe status. The directive led to widespread protests by the Kukis, especially in the hill districts. With the Kukis targeting the Meiteis in the hills, retaliation came from the plains, where the Meiteis enjoy a significant majority. Singh said the demand for ST status was not justifiable. Moreover, a constitutional amendment would be required to grant Meiteis Scheduled Tribe status.
Mohan said the ongoing riots were unprecedented, even in the context of Manipur's fragile ethnic balance. “In Tengnoupal, which is a Kuki-dominated district, Meitei houses were burnt. As fire does not distinguish between ethnicities, it spread to our houses, too. The Kukis did not wish to touch the houses of non-Meiteis, but the fire spread accidentally,” said Mohan, who fled to his friend’s house in Tamil Nadu.
Those who were not lucky like him are stuck in the middle of the devastation and a stringent curfew, which has led to the cancellation of flights, trains and even local commutes. The Army and the Assam Rifles have moved to every corner of Manipur where the Kukis and the Meiteis stay together. Both communities have attacked each other’s houses, businesses and places of worship. There are also reports about attacks on women. Around 250 Meiteis in Tengnoupal district were forced to cross the border and seek protection in Myanmar, unable to the bear the torture at the hands of the Kukis. “It is difficult to know where they are. They might be in trouble there as well,” said Mohan.
As the Meiteis took up arms, they easily outnumbered the police and police stations were set ablaze. Some Kukis burnt Modi and Singh in effigy. Reports indicate that the collapse of law and order has led to a rise in infiltration from across the border. Even more alarmingly, what began as an ethnic clash is now being portrayed as a communal riot. “I strongly condemn any attempt to give this riot a communal tag,” said Singh. “It would be handled strictly by the security forces.”
The biggest challenge for the Union and state governments is that while the Army has managed to take control of the situation, the troops could not be deployed forever in the absence of AFSPA and political talks should begin as early as possible. Politically, Singh is already on a sticky wicket as many of his MLAs have resigned.
The Army is worried about the security threats caused by the riot and its underlying causes. “We have our own challenges as far as security is concerned. But if we are involved in internal security matters for long, insurgent groups will take advantage of that, especially when Myanmar is in trouble and Indian underground groups are active there. Our focus must be on not giving those groups the chance to fish in troubled waters,” said an Army officer of the Eastern Command. Security agencies believe that the issue in contention is land as several underground groups in Myanmar are out to redraw the international border by grabbing Indian territory, perhaps egged on by Beijing. If that happens, Manipur will become yet another national security headache for India.
THE WEEK, in its cover story dated January 9, 2022, had reported how thousands of minority Kukis from Myanmar were making their way to India through Manipur’s porous borders. Some of them even dug underground tunnels to reach India and find shelter among their kinsmen. The villagers chose not to complain to the security forces, instead they supported the refugees. And Manipur seems to be paying the price now.