New fields, more players make the Manipur story bloodier

The official website of Jiribam district lists poverty, low rate of literacy and unemployment as the major "social issues" in this western frontier of Manipur. Nothing surprising for a landlocked terrain which lacks industries or major infrastructure. Though not mentioned in the website, a "social issue" of explosive nature is ripping apart the district right now: ethnic vigilante violence. 

Even as large parts of the northeastern state have been plunged into vigilantism since May 2023, Jiribam was largely spared from major flare-ups. Nobody guessed it was calm before the storm. Going by the incidents of recent weeks, the focus of vigilante violence is now shifting to Jiribam, that too with more players ready to spill blood. 

Before moving further, let's have a glance at the happenings in the last few weeks.

On November 8, several houses were torched and residents of a Hmar tribal village were attacked by a group of armed militants in the district. The attack left a 31-year-old mother of three children charred to death beyond recognition. Three days later, the district saw a major flare-up when 10 suspected Hmar militants were killed in a gunfight with the security forces. The Hmars claimed that the slain men were "village volunteers" charged with defending their hamlets from armed militants. It was on the same day that three Meitei women and as many children were abducted from Borobekra in the district, which shares a river border with Assam. 

The Barak shocker

The Barak river flows quietly through the western frontier of Manipur. After meandering many gorges and jungles, it merges with another river, Jiri, before making an unceremonious entry to Assam. This quiet flow took a violent turn on the night of November 15 when the bodies of a woman and two children were fished out of the river. 

The bodies were suspected to be of the abducted persons from Borobekra on November 11. Later on November 16, bodies of the three other abductees, too, were recovered. 

As their mortal remains were taken to the Silchar Medical College Hospital in Assam for an autopsy, the strife-torn Manipur once again woke up for another cycle of ethnic tension. 

Continuous 'othering' 

Ever since the ethnic conflict erupted last year, both Meities and Kukis have been weaving a narrative using selective facts and events for showing the 'other' side as an inhuman enemy. This 'othering' is used for justifying the gory acts of violence on women and children based on racial or ethnic grounds.

A closer examination indicates that a continuous act of 'othering' based on lies, disinformation and propaganda tactics is a part and parcel of the ongoing violence.

Such a distorted perception of the 'other' is magnified when the security forces gundown members of one community during a clash and quite ironically, the force is found to be led by an officer from the 'other' community.

Similarly, when a woman becomes a victim of the clashes, the community of perpetrators label her as part of an armed group of the opposite camp. 

Adding another layer of complexity, the administration often brands the armed "village defenders" of the Hmars and Kuki-Zos as "terrorists".

What's new now?

The clashes between the majority Meiteis and tribal Kukis have been largely confined to the Imphal Valley, Churachandpur district and the southern hills of Manipur. The Hmar tribal people, who occupy places like Zairawn and Borobekra in Jiribam district, didn't have much history of clashes with the Meiteis. In fact, Chief Minister Biren Singh had initiated a peace accord between the Hmars and the Meiteis in August this year. 

In this backdrop, the emergence of vigilante violence in areas like Jiribam and Borobekra, where direct rivalry between Meiteis and other tribes has been absent, poses serious questions. 

Many unknown factors seem to be shaping 'the action and reaction at a distance', without any direct connection to the two main warring groups.  

Vernacular ethnic politics

The earlier clashes between the Kukis and the Meiteis in Monbung village in Churachandpur district were dealt with by the Biren Singh government through a peace agreement in the village. 

However, there was one slip. The agreement kept the Thadou Kukis — a group of Kukis who speak Thadou language — out of its purview.

While the chief minister accepted Hmars as indigenous people of Manipur, a line was drawn between Thadou kukis and the rest of Kukis, creating the potential for a vernacular ethnic conflict in the future. 

Peace-brokering through partial efforts, and then making the diverse security forces such as Assam Rifles and CRPF work together on the ground, makes the situation too complex as the public on the receiving end has a huge trust deficit with the forces.  

AFSPA and changing realities

The recent re-imposition of Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) under six police station limits in five districts, including Jiribam, where paramilitary forces are not operating, has raised eyebrows.

Sending additional central forces without terrain knowledge to the restive state is no guarantee for peace, especially at this juncture when Jiribam is heating up due to events that happened elsewhere. A lack of coordination between civil society and security forces is raising the odds further.

Even as the security forces try to bring an end to vigilantism, the casualties of ethnic strife keep on rising. Will someone be able to bell the cat?

(The author is an independent commentator and academic based at North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong)