New Delhi:

Nothing is more important than ensuring the rule of law and disarming all armed groups in violence-hit Manipur to bring peace, former Chief Justice of the Manipur High Court Siddharth Mridul said at an event in Delhi on Tuesday.

To a question by NDTV over reports that some civil society organisations are threatening internally displaced people, or IDPs, from returning to whatever is left of their homes to rebuild them with government support and security, Justice Mridul said, “The IDPs are not their [some organisations’] hostages. Let’s be clear.”

“They can return home provided we create an environment conducive to their returning home, which brings us back to the rule of law. Once law and order are restored and there is a rule of law, and groups have been disarmed of all the illegal weapons that they possess, either looted or smuggled, and there are talks under the auspices of the government, that’s the only way forward, external factors apart because I am keen on Manipur. I am sure there are external factors, but I am not an expert on that,” said Justice Mridul, who served as Manipur High Court Chief Justice from October 2023 till his retirement last month.

At least 50,000 people from both the valley-dominant Meitei community and over a dozen distinct tribes collectively known as Kuki, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, have been displaced since ethnic clashes began between the two in May 2023.

The Kuki tribes also include ‘Any Kuki Tribes’, which was added to the Scheduled Tribes’ (ST) list in 2003 when the Congress was in power in the state, led by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh.

Justice Mridul repeated what the Supreme Court said in November 2023 about “keeping the pot boiling”, while hearing a court-appointed committee’s report that flagged troubling actions by civil society organisations that contributed to keeping ethnic tensions simmering in Manipur.

“… The reason why I believe that there is somebody interested in keeping the pot boiling is that every time the situation seems to be normalising, there is a fresh injection of violence, which leads me to believe that there are forces – and if I were to believe the General, the forces are external, not internal. Even if the forces are external, they do have collaborators locally who ensure that the agenda of keeping Manipur burning is pursued vigorously,” Justice Mridul said, referring to a presentation by Major General Rajan Kochhar (retired) at the Delhi event.

“I am beginning to subscribe to the idea that there does seem to be an invisible hand. Whose hand is it is not clear to me yet. There could be a number of factors at play,” he said.

Justice Mridul had worked closely with the state authorities while he was in Manipur. He said though there have been periods of absence of violence, at no stage since May last year has normalcy ever been restored in Manipur.

“… You must understand the separation of powers. My interaction with the executive was purely to ensure that the judiciary was able to discharge its function. These are not political discussions, they can never be political discussions. But the impression I gathered was that – I may be wrong, I may be terribly wrong – nobody seems to be in command of the vessel,” he said.

“The point is that till such time there is disarmament, till the time that the weapons that were looted, snatched, whatever, are recovered, and till the time people with arms smuggled from across the border are intercepted and the weapons are taken from them, there is no possibility of peace returning to Manipur,” Justice Mridul said. “Armed people are not going to permit you either to return to your homes or live peacefully.”

“Trust Is Important”: Major General Rajan Kochhar (Retired)

Major General Kochhar said trust is the most important factor to normalise Manipur.

“Without trust, there will be all kinds of forces – you can call them internal, you can call them external – who will increase the divide. After I have listened to everybody here. Everybody agrees that there should be peace there. How this peace has to be brought about is the big question,” said Major General Kochhar, VSM, who retired after 37 years of service.

“A large number of people have come from Myanmar to Manipur… It is very important for the local community to identify militants among the civilians. It is the responsibility of the community. Unless we do that, we are creating buffer zones within our own state. That cannot happen. A buffer zone is created between two countries that are at war to prevent that war from escalating. Golan Heights, Syria, there was a buffer zone. Lebanon, the Blue Line, there was a buffer zone… How can you have a buffer zone within your own state and restrict the movement of people from one place to another? That is the larger question which I think both the communities need to answer,” Major General Kochhar said.

Dr Arambam Noni, an associate professor at Imphal-based DM University and one of the speakers at the Delhi event, further extended his comment on the “untenable and obsolete demand” of an ethnocentric homeland which he made at a side event of the 57th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva in early October.

Ethnocentric Homeland

“Ethnopolitical leaders are playing a dangerous game. They want to end overlapping spaces. When they end overlapping spaces in a state like Manipur inhabited by 35 officially recognised communities, some of which only have a population of 600 or 1,000 people, their existence is under threat. If we allow to end these overlapping spaces, they only aim to increase the demand for ethnocentric political spaces. And that is very, very dangerous. We’d be setting a very dangerous precedence by favouring an ethnocentric homeland because the Constitution does not really acknowledge the possibility of ethnocentric homelands,” Dr Noni said.

He said the question of whether the modern state can afford to allow the incessant movement of population across borders in the name of culture, or can the modern state accommodate them, needs an answer.

“Do you have a mechanism in the modern state system to accommodate these free-flowing movements of population, not only for cultural solidarities but also for territorial solidarity? That’s problematic. I think modern states normally do not have any such mechanism to deal with these continued, territorial trespassing of identities because modern states basically stand on fixed territoriality and sovereignty. What is happening in northeast India is the porousness of the fixed idea of a State.

“I don’t see any problem in the cultural transition of people across borders. But I see a problem in the continual reconciliation of identities for ethnocentric homelands. That of course will create a conflict with overlapping spaces like Manipur, which is a multicultural state. Having said this, I think our problem is very, very complex. The weaponisation of identity is not good because micro-identities are increasingly feeling threatened. That part must be acknowledged. The media or the academic society must not get trapped in binaries that they believe… because there are other aspects of our social world, and we must also acknowledge the resources that can unite people, not divide people.

No Comfortable Life In Relief Camps

“Institutions need to be democratised. There should be fair development and redistribution of resources… The other suggestion that I want to make is – as Justice Mridul has already said – that you must allow IDPs to return home because that’s their fundamental right. You cannot give them a comfortable life in relief camps,” Dr Noni said at the panel discussion ‘Understanding the Barriers of Northeast India and Manipur Violence: The Way Forward’, organised by TMP Manipur, Meitei Alliance, and Manipur International Youth Centre.

This is the second winter the internally displaced people in Manipur are spending in relief camps.

The 10 MLAs of the Kuki tribes and the Zo people and their civil society groups have said talks are not possible unless Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh quits. The Kuki tribes also blame him for allegedly starting the Manipur crisis; they have reinforced this allegation with the leaked tapes controversy.

Kuki leaders have demanded a political solution in the form of a separate administration before any other issues, including the return of thousands of people living in relief camps, can be discussed.

Meitei leaders have cited this condition to allege that Kuki leaders are engineering an ethnocentric homeland demand; the Meitei leaders’ argument is talks can go on while at the same time people living in difficult conditions in the camps can also return home since no territory is ethnic exclusive.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley districts.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram have cited discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis as some of the reasons behind their call for separation.

Imphal:

Amid the sound of gunfire and explosions that reverberated in the valley in Manipur, Ngangbam Surbala Devi lived a happy life centred around the love for and well-being of her family. The 31-year-old was more than just a homemaker; she was the glue that held her family together, managing their home with grace and determination, supplementing their modest earnings, and ensuring her children received the education they deserved, her relatives said.

On September 1, the unrelenting ethnic violence shattered her world, ending her life in the place she had once called home.

Surbala Devi’s killing is not just another tale of loss; it is a heartbreaking reminder of the innocent lives torn apart by senseless conflict. Her death has left behind a grieving husband and two young children.

At her home in the quiet, green village of Phayeng, Surbala Devi was the heartbeat of her family, balancing multiple roles with an unwavering commitment, her relatives said.

Her husband, Ngangbam Ingo, served as a village guard, a role that often kept him away from home amid the ethnic violence. In his absence, Surbala Devi raised their two children – Mahesh, 14, and Rosia, 8.

She ran a small piggery and a local rice liquor brewery to support her family. Despite her small income, her tireless efforts were enough to keep her family afloat during the Manipur crisis, her relatives said.

August 31 was a special day for Surbala Devi. She eagerly prepared to visit her son Mahesh at Kangleipak Modern School in Lairenkabi, where he boarded. His mid-term results were out, and she was anxious to see how he had done.

Knowing how much he loved chicken curry, she planned to surprise him with his favourite dish. She called her husband Ingo the night before, asking him to prepare the meal for their son. The next morning, Surbala Devi set off on her two-wheeler to pick up her husband. They shared a simple lunch together – a rare moment of family time – before she dropped him back and continued to the school with Rosia and a nephew.

“Mother came at 11 am and asked about my results,” Mahesh said, his voice tinged with sadness. “I told her I got sixth rank. She said it was okay, but encouraged me to try harder for the final exam.”

They enjoyed the chicken curry and other treats she had brought, savouring these precious moments together. Soon, Rosia and their cousin began insisting they visit their grandmother’s house in Koutruk.

Giving in to their pleas, Surbala Devi decided to take them there, promising Mahesh she would see him again soon. Little did he know these would be his last moments with his mother.

Later that day, Mahesh was taken back home in Phayeng, blissfully unaware of the tragedy that had happened. As he approached the house, he was startled to see a crowd of people in white dress gathered in the courtyard.

A sense of dread filled him as he hurried inside, looking for his mother. It was only then that he learned the devastating news – his mother had been shot in the head and killed during an attack in Koutruk. The police later said it was an attack by suspected Kuki insurgents.

Koutruk, located at the foothills where the hills of Kangpokpi begin, had always been a vulnerable target in the ongoing ethnic violence between Kuki insurgents and the Meitei community.

On September 1, after Surbala Devi arrived at her maternal home with her children, the village was suddenly attacked. Suspected Chin-Kuki militants, escalating their aggression, used military-grade drones to drop bombs, coupled with indiscriminate gunfire.

Ingo received a call from Surbala, her voice filled with fear.

“We’re in Koutruk, and there’s firing from the mountains. They’re even using drones to drop bombs. I’ve taken the kids, and we’re ducking for cover,” she told him.

Ingo, 8 km away, could only urge her to stay safe. These would be the last words he ever exchanged with his wife. Moments later, a bullet pierced the earthen wall of the verandah where Surbala Devi and Rosia were taking cover. The bullet struck Rosia in the arm before fatally wounding Surbala Devi in the head.

The news broke Ingo’s heart. Consumed by grief, he could barely find the words.

“Why did this happen to my wife? She was the kindest, most hard-working person. She single-handedly took care of our family. How will I live without her? How will I raise our children?” he said, and broke down.

Romen Leishangthem, secretary of the Koutruk Youth Club, recounted the attack.

“The militants started firing around 2 pm, catching us off guard. It was a new kind of warfare. They used drones to drop bombs with terrifying precision. Surbala and her daughter were lying on the verandah, trying to stay safe. The bullet that hit Rosia’s arm passed through and struck Surbala, taking her life.”

Surbala Devi’s death adds a number to the casualties list of the unending ethnic violence that has ravaged Manipur, claiming over 230 lives, leaving many missing, and countless more injured, traumatised and displaced.

Homes and places of worship on both sides have been reduced to ashes. Despite recent efforts to restore peace, the escalation of violence with advanced weaponry signals a disturbing trend, suggesting that the road to reconciliation and normalcy is still fraught with danger.

As Manipur continues to grapple with its deep-seated ethnic strife, the memory of Surbala Devi stands as a sad example of the senseless loss of innocent lives. A devoted wife, a loving mother, and a pillar of her family, Surbala Devi’s legacy lives on in the hearts of those she touched, a silent plea for peace amidst the chaos, reminding of the unbearable cost of conflict.

Inputs by Sunzu Bachaspatimayum

Imphal/New Delhi:

Six people were killed in fresh violence this morning in Manipur’s Jiribam district, the police said. Suspected Kuki insurgents attacked Nungchappi village in the district 229 km from the state capital Imphal, killing a 63-year-old man identified as Yurembam Kulendra Singha. The attack came a day after an elderly man from the valley-dominant Meitei community, who was offering prayers, was killed in a rocket-propelled bomb attack by Kuki insurgents in Manipur’s Moirang town, according to the police.

The five others were killed in a gunfight between armed groups of the Meitei community and the hill-dominant Kuki tribes, sources said. These groups call themselves “village defence volunteers”.

The Jiribam Superintendent of Police (SP) and a police team rushed to the area, but were fired at, the police said in the statement, adding the team “retaliated strongly and controlled the firing.”

In Imphal, the Inspector General of Police (Intelligence) K Kabib today told reporters, “… Yesterday, some Kuki militants attacked and fired at some fringe areas including Bishnupur and Churachandpur border. In response to that, combined teams of the security forces conducted combing operations. They have destroyed two bunkers which was previously occupied by militants. After that, there was a long-range rocket fire from the hills by Kuki militants at Moirang, in which one senior citizen was killed and six others were injured.”

“Today morning, the Kuki militants attacked a village in Jiribam, killing a senior citizen. The militants kept firing and ran away. Some village volunteers retaliated, and when the Jiribam police reached the area, they were fired at, after which the police also fired back,” Mr Kabib said.

Jiribam is where Meitei and Hmar leaders met for peace talks last month, along with security forces commanders. They had given a joint statement agreeing to work for peace. Churachandpur-based Kuki groups, however, had objected to the peace talks, alleging the peace talk parties did not represent their interests and met only at Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s bidding.

The Hmar Inpui, however, declared it would not recognise the peace initiative and warned the individuals who participated in the meeting to “stop their blind and selfish efforts”. The Hmar Inpui had said these leaders appeared to be bowing to the “whims and fancies of a divisive and communal government under the leadership of Biren Singh…”

Anti-Drone System, Chopper Patrol

An anti-drone system has been deployed, the police said, nearly a week after suspected Kuki insurgents attacked villages in Imphal West district with weaponised drones – the first time suspected insurgents used drone attacks on Indian soil.

The police said that in a multi-pronged approach, army helicopters are keeping an eye on the ground, while combing operations in “suspected areas” in both the hills and the valley are going on. A team is also monitoring social media posts to catch instigators of violence, the police said.

The security forces have destroyed several bunkers in the foothills, the police said.

On Friday evening, crowds tried to loot weapons from the 2nd and 7th Manipur Rifles camps in the state capital Imphal, but they were prevented from doing so by the security forces, who fired blank rounds and tear gas, the police said. Two policemen were injured in firing by some people from the crowd, the police said. The two injured personnel have been identified as inspector Kh Henery, and constable Issac Gangmei. Both are in hospital.

Protesters in Imphal valley told reporters they were disappointed with the state and the central government over the drone and rocket attacks, and civilians were left with no choice but to defend themselves.

“Who in their right mind would want to loot weapons? People are being killed in their homes, despite the presence of over 50,000 central force personnel. A Meitei woman was shot by a sniper. An elderly man was killed in a rocket attack,” Imphal resident M Nirmala Devi, who came out to protest on Friday evening, told NDTV.

Imphal/New Delhi:

A woman was killed, and her 12-year-old daughter was injured in firing by suspected insurgents in Manipur today, sources said. Two policemen were also injured; both are out of danger, sources said. One of the policemen was hit in the leg by a shrapnel from a bomb dropped by a drone, police sources said, adding at least two weaponised drones were seen. Other security forces are yet to confirm the sighting of the “weaponised drones”.

The firing started from Nakhujang village in Kangpokpi towards Kadangband in Imphal West at 2.35 pm, sources said. 

Residents in Kadangband said at least one drone dropped a “bomb” on a house in the area. They have shared purported visuals of the drone dropping a bomb, while people ran for cover. Sources in the security forces, however, said they are yet to look into this claim.

Some people guarding their houses in Kadangband retaliated, sources said.

The woman, identified as Ngangbam Surbala, 31, was brought dead at the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in the state capital Imphal, 45 km from Kangpokpi.

Kangpokpi is a Kuki-dominated area, while Imphal West is in the Meitei-dominated valley. The Kuki tribes and the Meitei community have been fighting since May 2023 over a range of issues.

While members of the Meitei community claimed “Kuki terrorists” killed the woman, social media users from the Kuki tribes alleged the Meiteis began firing at Kuki villages in Kangpokpi first.

Both sides have shared purported visuals of the firing from different angles. What’s a first – if confirmed by the security forces – would be the use of the weaponised drones in Manipur.

Imphal/Guwahati/New Delhi:

Members of the Kuki tribes held rallies and protests in parts of Manipur today, demanding a separate administration carved out of the ethnic violence-hit state bordering Myanmar.

There were reports of skirmishes at the district border between protesters in Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi and volunteers who formed a human chain to prevent the protests in Naga-dominated Senapati, officials said.

The Kuki tribes have been asking the Centre to create a Union Territory with legislature for them. They held the rallies in Churachandpur’s Leishang, Kangpokpi’s Keithelmanbi, and Tengnoupal’s Moreh.

Many shouted slogans against Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who belongs to the BJP. Posters called for action against the Chief Minister over a purported leaked tape, which the Kukis alleged proved Mr Singh engineered the Manipur crisis.

The Biren Singh government has called the tape “doctored”. The purported tape has been given to a commission of inquiry formed by the Home Ministry, along with affidavits by some people who claimed the tape was genuine, according to reports in the news website The Wire.

In the Meitei-dominated Imphal valley, businesses responded to an appeal by the women civil society group Meitei Leima and pulled down shutters. Public transport also didn’t run in protest against the rallies by the Kuki tribes.

BJP Spokesperson’s House Attacked Again

While the Kuki rallies and protests were going on, Manipur BJP spokesperson and Thadou tribe leader T Michael Lamjathang Haokip’s house was vandalised and set on fire in Kuki-dominated Churachandpur district today. This was the third attack at his house since the Meitei-Kuki ethnic violence began in May 2023. The Chief Minister in a post on X condemned the attack.

“The burning of my home will not make me disown my Thadou identity. Pure Thadou, who disowns Kuki, segregation games from ultra Kuki extremists and supremacists begin; follow me or not. We begin,” Mr Haokip said in a post on X.

The burning of my home will not make me disown my Thadou identity. Pure Thadou, who disowns Kuki, segregation games from ultra Kuki extremists and supremacists begin; follow me or not. We begins.

— T. Michael Lamjathang Haokip (Thadou) (@TMLH4BJP) August 31, 2024

Mr Haokip has said he has been raising awareness about his tribe, Thadou, being inaccurately referred to as a Kuki tribe amid the ethnic tension in Manipur. This has angered “Kuki supremacists” as they do not want to accept the Thadou tribe’s distinct identity, Mr Haokip said.

Many other recognised tribes in Manipur did not participate in the Kuki-led protests today, and communicated their decisions through public statements — unlike on May 3, 2023 when under the banner of the All Tribal Students’ Union Manipur (ATSUM) some non-Kuki tribes participated.

Just days after the clashes on May 3 last year, 10 Kuki MLAs (from the 60-member assembly) had raised the demand for a separate administration. Since then, Kuki leaders and civil society groups have said the violence has necessitated their demand and there can be no going back.

Separate Administration Demand

However, Kuki civil society organisations, the 10 MLAs, and 25-odd Kuki-Zo insurgent groups that have signed the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement (a ceasefire of sorts, yet to be renewed) – all of them have been demanding nothing less than a separate administration, bringing them together on a common platform.

The SoO groups have been in talks for a separate administration – a political settlement – for many years before May 2023, and so the claim by some Kuki leaders that the violence led to their call to break away from Manipur was a lie, since the intention for separation was always there, sources in the Manipur government had told NDTV.

The clashes between the valley-dominant Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes under the Kukis nomenclature – a term given by the British in colonial times – who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, has killed over 220 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.