Imphal:

Leaders of the Meitei and the Meitei Pangal (Muslim) communities in Manipur held a meeting today to defuse tension following an attack on a Meitei Pangal youth by the Arambai Tenggol (AT).

Rajya Sabha MP Maharaja Sanajaoba Leishemba in a statement said he met leaders of both the communities, who agreed “the culprits should be punished as per law”.

A Meitei Pangal leader from Kwakta, 50 km from the state capital Imphal, told reporters that some AT members assaulted a Meitei Pangal youth and allegedly hurt religious sentiments.

“Today is January 5. If the Arambai Tenggol does not apologise and clarify by January 7, we will work with all CSOs [civil society organisations] and start a massive agitation and consider taking other steps for justice,” the Meitei Pangal leader told reporters.

The Meitei Pangal community in Kwakta, an area between Churachandpur and Bishnupur, have been caught in the crossfire between the Kuki tribes and the Meitei community.

In a post on X, the Rajya Sabha MP from Manipur said the meeting of leaders from both the communities agreed on three points – maintain peaceful co-existence, punish the culprits, and avoid hate speech aimed at creating communal trouble.

They also decided to ask the cyber crime department to look for troublemakers on social media and catch them.

“In connection with a recent development of misunderstanding and misconception between Meitei and Meitei Pangal communities, I have a fruitful session with leaders of both the communities at Sana Konung today (6th January, 2025),” Mr Leishemba said in the post on X.

“… Resolved that both the communities should continue to maintain age-old peaceful co-existence which have been continuing for the last so many years. We should respect each other’s social ethics and religious practices also,” he said. “As a well-wisher of Manipur I earnestly appeal to one and all Manipuris not to take up any action contrary to the ethics of peaceful co-existence in the state.”

Held a fruitful session today with the leaders of Meitei & Meitei Pangal and earnestly appeal to all not to take up any action contrary to the ethics of Peaceful co- existence in the state. pic.twitter.com/Oiz9qAbd34

— Maharaja Sanajaoba Leishemba. (@MaharajaManipur) January 6, 2025

Members of the AT call themselves “village defence volunteers”, in response to similar groups of the Kuki tribes with whom the Meiteis have been engaged in clashes since May 2023. Both sides face allegations of atrocities.

The National Investigation Agency is looking into two cases linked to AT chief Korounganba Khuman.

The Manipur Police in March warned the AT after the group attacked the house of a senior police officer. The police had said the AT was “engaged in many anti-social activities such as assaulting civilians, and snatching vehicles from the public and government officials.”

The police have often shared information on X about arrests of AT members for alleged extortion.

In the early days of the ethnic clashes after May 3, 2023, Korounganba Khuman was seen in visuals walking with a bamboo stick, while in the distance smoke was seen rising from a village behind a treeline. AT members say they were compelled to take up arms soon after May 3, 2023 due to attacks allegedly by heavily armed Kuki militants in the foothills and in the absence of effective law-and-order enforcement.

New Delhi:

In a first, a Starlink dish and router have been seized allegedly from a Meitei insurgent group in Manipur, raising concerns over the use of the internet by insurgents to coordinate attacks and communicate tactical information even during times of internet blackout, sources have said.

Finding a Starlink device in India in the hands of insurgents, however, does not mean it is usable in India, sources said.

Starlink, owned by billionaire Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX, is the world’s first and largest satellite constellation using a low Earth orbit to deliver broadband internet anywhere in the world where the service is licenced to operate.

Starlink is not available in India, though the American company has applied for regulatory clearance.

Elon Musk in a post on X said Starlink doesn’t operate in India. “This is false. Starlink satellite beams are turned off over India,” he said.

This is false. Starlink satellite beams are turned off over India.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2024

A joint team of the security forces found the Starlink dish and router along with an MA4 assault rifle, grenades and bullets from Imphal East district’s Khunou on December 13.

The police called the device “internet satellite antenna and internet satellite router”.

Search operations and area domination were conducted by security forces in the fringe and vulnerable areas of hill and valley districts. During the search operations, the following items were recovered:
i. 01 (one) no. of MA4 Assault Rifle, 01 (one) no. of 12 Bore Single Barrel… pic.twitter.com/Ls4lwx9Opu

— Manipur Police (@manipur_police) December 13, 2024

The Indian Army’s Spear Corps in a post on X also posted visuals of a joint operation that the Assam Rifles and the Manipur Police carried out in the hill and valley regions of Churachandpur, Chandel, Imphal East, and Kangpokpi.

One of the visuals shows a white, rectangular dish and a router with the Starlink logo on it. The acronyms “RPF/PLA” are visible on the router in this photo.

This photo taken from a closer angle is of the same Starlink device that the security forces found on December 13, sources told NDTV, adding the security forces handed over the device to the police. 

“Acting on specific intelligence, troops of the Indian Army and Assam Rifles formations under Spear Corps carried out joint search operations in the hill and valley regions in the districts of Churachandpur, Chandel, Imphal East and Kangpokpi in Manipur, in close coordination with Manipur Police and other security forces and recovered 29 weapons comprising of snipers, automatic weapons, rifles, pistols, country made mortars, single barrel rifles, grenades, ammunition and war like stores,” the Spear Corps said in a post on X.

Acting on specific intelligence, troops of #IndianArmy and #AssamRifles formations under #SpearCorps carried out joint search operations in the hill and valley regions in the districts of Churachandpur, Chandel, Imphal East and Kagpokpi in #Manipur, in close coordination with… pic.twitter.com/kxy7ec5YAE

— SpearCorps.IndianArmy (@Spearcorps) December 16, 2024

The Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) is the political arm of the Meitei insurgent group People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which is one of the eight Meitei secessionist groups listed as banned organisations by the Union Home Ministry.

Starlink had launched the 12 by 19-inch rectangular dish in November 2021, in addition to its existing circular dish. The dimensions of the device with the Starlink logo in the visuals released by the security forces seem to match. The new generation dish is 20 by 12-inch.

Starlink has no licence to operate in neighbouring Myanmar, too.

However, the Myanmar Internet Project – a collective run since 2022 by researchers to track developments in the Myanmar digital space – has estimated some 3,000 Starlink connections across the country, used by both ethnic insurgents fighting the junta and the common people living in remote areas.

The Meitei insurgent group PLA has been operating in areas in Myanmar which are near the border with India.

The police declined to give more specific details about the “internet satellite antenna and internet satellite router”. Sources said investigation is at an early stage.

Imphal/Guwahati/New Delhi:

Five weeks before the Manipur ethnic clashes began in May 2023, a cabinet subcommittee comprising ministers from the three major communities visited three villages to make an assessment of the situation on “identification of Myanmarese immigrants/refugees”, reports submitted by the subcommittee show.

Tribal Affairs and Hills Minister Letpao Haokip, who belongs to the Kuki tribes, headed the subcommittee, with Water Resources Minister Awangbow Newmai, a Naga, and Law Minister Th Basanta Kumar Singh, a Meitei, as the two other members.

They visited the three villages between March 26, 2023 and April 1, 2023, and met Myanmar nationals – including a Member of Parliament from the neighbouring country – living in community halls under the watch of the village chiefs.

The Kuki tribes in Manipur still follow the archaic hereditary chieftainship system – blamed for power struggles among siblings and mushrooming of villages – which has been abolished even in neighbouring Mizoram where kindred tribes live.

The subcommittee never made subsequent visits after clashes broke out on May 3, 2023 between the Meitei community and over a dozen distinct tribes collectively known as Kuki, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur.

Subcommittee Chairman Seeks Separate Administration 

Letpao Haokip later joined the 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs who went on to demand a separate administration carved out from Manipur. Kuki groups had raised the same demand in 2015 after nine people from their community were killed in police firing during a protest against three controversial bills tabled by the state government, then under the Congress party led by former chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh.

Meitei leaders say claims by the 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs and frontal groups that they raised the demand for a separate administration only after the May 3 violence erupted, was a blatant lie.

By the time the subcommittee began their survey in late March 2023, tension had already permeated Kuki-dominated areas in southern Manipur after the government carried out an eviction drive in Churachandpur’s K Songjang village just a month ago. The subcommittee’s visits to the three villages also coincided with sporadic protests by Kuki groups against what they called illegal eviction from forests.

An NDTV report on June 21, 2023 citing preliminary documents filed by the subcommittee said over 2,000 Myanmar nationals have set up settlements inside Manipur and refused to be moved to designated shelters. They fled from the war between the ruling junta and ethnic insurgent groups claiming to fight for democracy.

The final copies of the subcommittee’s reports complete with visuals of the visit, which NDTV accessed now, show the three leaders repeatedly appealed to the village chiefs to persuade Myanmar nationals to live in designated shelter camps once the structures were ready.

The subcommittee visited Holenphai village in Tengnoupal district on March 26, Gamphazol village in Chandel district on March 29, and Singhat in Churachandpur district on April 1, 2023.

“Shri Letpao Haokip… highlighted the issue of illegal Myanmar nationals into Indian side which cause apprehension amongst general public as there is high chance of getting such immigrants getting naturalised amongst common native population because of similarity in culture and dialect. He further highlighted that even though such cases are not reported, there is apprehension that many of them had already resided in the main Churachandpur town area in rented houses,” the report of the visit to Singhat said.

“Shri Th. Basanta Kumar Singh also appeals to all illegal immigrants to come forward and join the shelter homes, not hiding amongst locals, supporting the humanitarian goodwill gesture extended by the government,” the report of the subcommittee’s visit to Holenphai – the first village they went to on March 26, 2023 – said.

Border Pillars At Gamphazol Village

Chandel district’s Gamphazol village presented a unique problem. The district commissioner said the IMB (Indo-Myanmar Border) falling in Chandel district “is different from other neighbouring districts” as it has a sparsely populated, vast stretch of forest covering 60-75 km between Border Pillar No. 72 and 49.

“It was also suggested that only one temporary shelter may not be feasible to cater [to] all such immigrants along the stretch and as such temporary shelters at Gamphazol in the northern side and Somdal in the Southern side [were proposed],” the report of the subcommittee’s visit to this border village on March 29, 2023 said. The district commissioner said they found 628 “illegal immigrants” along the stretch of IMB falling in Chandel district, out of which 250 were at Gamphazol village.

Subcommittee Meets Myanmar MP Ousted By Junta

In Holenphai, the three ministers met Thamsei Haokip, a Myanmar Member of Parliament before the junta overthrew the government, who told the subcommittee that he would follow all rules and regulations while being a refugee in India and would return to Myanmar once the issue there is “over/settled”, the report said.

“He [Thamsei Haokip] pointed out that due to the military junta in their country, they have come to Manipur being the nearest state of the world’s largest democratic country expecting humanitarian support [to] them at this juncture when civilians cannot stay in Myanmar out of the issue. He appeals to the state government to provide identification cards and to allow/facilitate earning livelihood. He also asserted that they will go back once the issue in Myanmar is settled…”

The foreign MP asked the subcommittee to shift Myanmar nationals earlier detained as illegal immigrants to the proposed shelter homes, and requested not to treat them as illegal immigrants since they fled from the junta rule, where “civilians are being killed”.

An activist from one of the Kuki tribes, who claims to know the Myanmar MP personally, told NDTV that the foreign politician has deep links with the Kuki National Army (Burma), or KNA(B). Thamsei Haokip has taken shelter in a relatively safe, forested area along the India-Myanmar border, the source said, adding it will be a big ask for the Meitei community to trust the likes of Thamsei Haokip due to the precedent set by another Myanmar-origin leader, Thanglianpau Guite.

The Manipur government has blamed unchecked entry of illegal immigrants from Myanmar as one of the factors responsible for the violence. It has also cited “unnatural growth of villages” owing to illegal immigrants being allegedly accommodated by village chiefs.

Precedent Set: Myanmar MP-Turned-Militant Group Leader

Meitei civil society groups are sensitive to any mention of Myanmar-origin leaders in the context of Manipur. Chief Minister N Biren Singh has said this sensitivity is due to the manner in which how Thanglianpau Guite – the “Myanmar-born” politician who contested the MP election in his country and who later became the chairman of the militant group Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA) – was welcomed by the then Congress government when P Chidambaram was the Union Home Minister in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

The ZRA is a signatory to the controversial suspension of operations (SoO) agreement, which lapsed in February this year.

Over two dozen Kuki-Zo insurgent groups come under two umbrella groups – the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), and the United People’s Front (UPF). These two representing the others have signed the SoO agreement, which says the insurgents are to stay at designated camps with weapons kept in locked storage, to be monitored regularly.

Meitei leaders have alleged the SoO groups have been working to strengthen themselves over the years by taking advantage of the ceasefire, until a time came to engineer a violent attack for a separate land. Geopolitical analysts have speculated the Kuki armed groups were used as mercenaries to fight Meitei and Naga militants operating in the India-Myanmar border.

Myanmar’s government-in-exile in a statement in June 2023 – a month into the Manipur clashes – asked its nationals who are “temporarily sheltering” in India “to refrain from any acts that are prejudicial to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India.”

The National Unity Government (NUG) in the statement told Myanmar nationals “sheltering” in India and their organisations to avoid unnecessary involvement in India’s politics and administrative activity, and asked them to live in harmony with the host communities. The NUG also appealed to the Myanmar nationals to not get involved in drug trafficking.

The Manipur government on January 18, 2023 announced it would form the subcommittee to identify “Myanmarese immigrants/refugees”; the state government on February 16 announced the composition of the three-member panel, and on March 24 it ordered the police to check the number of Myanmarese immigrants in five districts – Tengnoupal, Chandel, Churachandpur, Pherzawl, and Kamjong.

While the February 16 announcement referred to the subcommittee as one that would work on identifying “Myanmarese immigrants/refugees” in the state, the reports of the subcommittee’s visits referred to them as “illegal immigrants”.

Myanmar Refugees In Mizoram

Neighbouring Mizoram has taken in over 40,000 Myanmar refugees. Mizoram government sources told NDTV on November 10 that it has been nearly three years since the coup in Myanmar, and feeding and taking care of all the displaced people and refugees in a small state as Mizoram remained a huge challenge. There were also concerns over a rise in drug trafficking. The sources said the Mizoram government can’t thank the central government enough for the massive help it has been giving to ensure enough resources are available with the state to tide over the refugee crisis.

“The people of Mizoram are not immune to the strain that all these efforts bring. There is especially a growing dissatisfaction even in our own community, especially from the intellectual circle. Yes, we are welcoming them as brothers and sisters, but what are we getting back in return? We are getting drugs, this and that. So the frustration is growing, obviously,” the source told NDTV.

The Kuki tribes have criticised the Manipur government over not treating Myanmar refugees in a humane way as Mizoram has done.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes have killed over 250 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000. The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kuki tribes want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

Imphal/Guwahati:

Civil society groups of Manipur’s Kuki tribes in Kangpokpi called a shutdown of the district after the Manipur government announced public buses would run from the state capital Imphal till this district, and towards Bishnupur and Churachandpur.

Members of the Kuki tribes gathered at Gamgiphai, a key thoroughfare between Kangpokpi and Imphal West district to block the government’s attempt to restart public transport.

Ng Lun Kipgen, spokesperson of the Kangpokpi-based Kuki civil group Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), said the escalating tension in Manipur has prompted the Kuki tribes to strengthen their unwavering opposition to what they termed as a “partisan and baseless” government directive.

Mr Kipgen alleged Chief Minister N Biren Singh has been constantly trying to derail their “movement”.

“In his fourth desperate attempt, the chief minister has sought to impose vilified and unfounded ideas upon us, further exacerbating the divide,” Mr Kipgen said.

He said the directive was a deliberate attempt to vilify the Kuki tribes and undermine their struggle for a separate administration. “The order is not only unwarranted but preposterous,” he said.

The Kuki Inpi also criticised the government’s decision to let public transport resume between hill and valley areas, calling it a reckless and insensitive attempt to restore public services without addressing the underlying political tensions.

The internally displaced people from both communities in Manipur are yet to return home. The 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs in Manipur who have been spearheading the call for a separate land carved out of the state bordering Myanmar, and Kuki groups such as CoTU have said talks are not possible unless the chief minister quits.

The Kuki tribes also blame him for allegedly starting the Manipur crisis; they have reinforced this allegation with the leaked tapes controversy, which is being heard in the Supreme Court.

Kuki leaders have said a “political solution” in the form of a separate administration should be discussed first before any other issues, including the return of thousands of people living in relief camps.

Meitei leaders have, however, cited this condition placed by the Kuki leaders as a deceitful attempt to set up a narrative for an ethnocentric homeland demand; the Meitei leaders’ argument is that 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.

The demand for an ethnocentric homeland is untenable and obsolete in Manipur, where at least 35 communities co-exist, a group of activists and academics from the violence-hit state bordering Myanmar had said at a side event of the 57th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva in October.

Manipur is seeing a growth of divisive forces that play the cards of myopic ethnicity leading to the undermining of historical and legal foundations of the state’s pluralistic demography and territoriality, Dr Arambam Noni, associate professor at Imphal-based DM University, had told the UN gathering.

“Due to the increasing weaponization of ethnicity by a section of elites and academics, as seen in the case of an exclusive narrative for a Kuki Lebensraum in India-Myanmar-Bangladesh region, there is an apparent design to proliferate inter-ethnic tension as an instrument to segregate people exclusively on ethnic lines,” Dr Noni had said.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis – a term given by the British in colonial times – who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, has killed over 250 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 the separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

Imphal/New Delhi:

A 10-month-old baby who was among six family members kidnapped and killed by “Kuki militants” in Manipur’s Jiribam district on November 11 was shot in the knee, stabbed on the chest, and hit with a blunt object on the jaw, according to the postmortem report shared by the family.

Laishram Lamnganba Singh was last seen on his mother’s lap in a photograph that surfaced on a public WhatsApp channel called ‘Zogam News’, a day after all six members of the same family from the Meitei community were kidnapped from Jiribam by suspects who the Manipur government in a cabinet resolution called “Kuki militants”.

The WhatsApp channel formed in March this year and which had 12,000 subscribers has shut down, with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) looking into the case now.

All the six bodies were found floating in a river in Jiribam between November 15 and 18. While the autopsies were done on all the six bodies last week, only three reports were released. The other three reports came out today.

Both eyeballs were missing, and maggots were present in the infant’s body which was found in an advanced stage of putrefaction, the autopsy report said. There were bruises all over the face and a sharp cut in the abdomen. The “chop wound” on the infant’s chest fractured the ribs, the autopsy report said.

The body of 8-year-old Telem Thajamanbi Devi was also found in an early stage of decomposition with maggots in some parts of the body. She suffered a bullet wound in her shoulder, which pierced through the heart, lung and ribs and exited, the autopsy report said.

Her mother, Telem Thoiboi Devi, 31, was shot four times in the chest, the report said. Her head had been crushed, it said. Thoiboi Devi’s body was decomposed and both eyes were dislodged from the sockets; her scalp was lacerated at many places and the skull bone was broken and pushed in, according to the autopsy report.

The postmortem reports of the infant’s mother L Heitonbi Devi, 25, his grandmother Y Rani Devi, 60 and his 3-year-old brother, which were released last week, found they were all shot dead.

The autopsy reports of two senior citizens from the Meitei community who were killed by “Kuki militants” on the same day the family was kidnapped show both died of severe burn injuries. The militants had set some houses on fire after attacking the police station in Jiribam’s Borobekra village.

The bodies of Maibam Kesho Meitei, 72, and Laishram Baren Meitei, 64, were found during a search operation hours after 10 “Kuki militants” were shot dead in an encounter with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), police sources had said.

Intelligence sources said the public WhatsApp channel ‘Zogam News’, which first shared the photo of the kidnapped family, may have shut down; however, investigators can use legal means to order the messenger’s parent firm Meta to share the logs, which can find the details of the phone number, SIM card and its owner, and last tower location, apart from other content.

Civil society organisations of the Kuki tribes claim the 10 men killed in the encounter were “village volunteers”, an allegation the police and other authorities have refuted strongly, pointing at the weapons brought by the militants and numerous bullet holes in a police SUV.

Political leaders across party lines have condemned the killing of women and children in Manipur. Most have said the latest incident was a terror attack considering it was not a skirmish between two communities in a riot-like situation, but a calculated, premeditated kidnapping operation with an intention to kill them.

The latest round of violence in Jiribam began on November 7 when suspected Meitei insurgents attacked a village of the Hmar tribe. A woman from the Hmar tribe was killed in the attack. Her husband in a police case alleged she was shot in the leg, raped and then set on fire by the suspected Meitei militants. Civil society groups of the Kuki tribes have accused the Manipur government of keeping silent on that attack.

The Manipur cabinet in a statement on November 16 had said “Kuki miscreants” burnt several houses and attacked Borobekra police station in Jiribam district on October 19. This attack and not the November 7 attack led to a fresh cycle of violence, sources have said.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis – 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 carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

New Delhi:

Ten Kuki-Zo MLAs from Manipur have asked the Centre and the state government to start a political dialogue for bringing lasting peace in the troubled region, two days after the Manipur cabinet also resolved to do the same.

The 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs, who have been leading the call for a separate administration to be carved out of Manipur, in an eight-point statement on Wednesday also condemned the attack on the houses of “our colleague Meitei MLAs and ministers by frenzied Meitei mobs”.

The Manipur cabinet resolution, too, had called the attacks on MLAs and ministers “barbaric actions”, to be investigated by a high-powered committee.

The statement signed by the 10 Kuki-Zo leaders, including Saikot MLA Paolienlal Haokip, who is a fierce critic of Chief Minister N Biren Singh, acknowledged the need for the high-powered committee.

However, this is where the similarity in the call for how to bring peace ends. The Manipur cabinet’s resolution and the 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs’ statement – both in eight bullet points – differ widely on other critical matters.

“The suggested high-powered committee should investigate into the role/involvement of vested interest political parties and individuals/Meitei CSO leaders with secessionist mindset taking undue advantage of the situation,” the Kuki-Zo MLAs said in the statement.

“The entire episode appears to be a mere political vendetta with sinister design for further escalation of the heightening violence and tensions in the troubled-torn state. The misdemeanour also seems emanating from certain quarters to save the shaky chair of the Chief Minister,” the 10 MLAs said in the statement.

The Kuki-Zo MLAs have not attended a single assembly session since May 2023, when ethnic clashes broke out between the valley-dominant Meitei community and the Kuki tribes, who are dominant in some hill districts in southern Manipur and a few other areas in the north, due to ostensibly insurmountable disagreements over sharing land, resources, affirmative action policy, political representation and other issues. They have cited reasons from personal safety to lack of conditions for a political dialogue for not attending the sessions held in the state capital Imphal, a valley area.

The Kuki-Zo MLAs attacked the Manipur government over the cabinet resolution that called for operations against whom the state government called “Kuki militants”.

“To start a mass operation against only one community is biased, mass operations must be conducted all over the state to recover all illegal arms from all militia groups. The resolution seeking the handing over of cases relating to the death of six civilians to NIA also smacks of a communalised State. We recommend that all civilian killings from the 3rd of May, 2023, both in the valley and hills be handed over to the NIA,” the MLAs said, referring to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) being handed over three cases from recent spike in violence to investigate.

Six members of a Meitei family including an infant and two children were taken hostage by whom the Manipur government now calls “Kuki militants” from Jiribam district last week. Their partially decomposed bodies were found in a river. The hostage-taking happened on the same day when the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) shot dead 10 men from the Kuki tribes in an “encounter”.

While the police have called them militants and showed evidence of what they say were weapons recovered from the encounter site and photos of police vehicles with numerous bullet holes, Kuki civil society groups have called the 10 men “martyrs”.

On November 7, suspected Meitei militants attacked a village of the Hmar tribe in Jirbam, 220 km from the state capital Imphal, and killed a mother of three. Her husband in a police case alleged she was raped before she was shot dead.

Kuki groups have said the Jiribam hostage-taking was a retaliation to the November 7 attack on the Hmar village. However, the Manipur government in a statement said “Kuki miscreants” set fire to several houses in Jiribam and attacked the police station in Borobekra on October 19, which sparked the latest cycle of violence, and not November 7 as claimed by Kuki groups.

“The resolution for declaration by the GoI (government of India) of ‘Kuki militants’ responsible for the killing of six innocents must be preceded by the declaration of the Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun as Unlawful Organisations under relevant laws,” the 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs said.

“Village volunteers are not an organisation, but youth defending their villages from the murderous attacks by Arambai Tenggol, the so-called G5 (a conglomerate of five underground outfits of the Meitei majority) aided by the state police and, in the case of Jiribam, by the CRPF,” they said.

‘Kuki Militants As Village Volunteers’

Meitei civil society groups deny the Kuki tribes’ allegation about the Arambai Tenggol (AT). The Meiteis say AT was only a cultural youth organisation with hardly any public following, but was forced to take up arms to defend Meitei villages from relentless attacks by Kuki militants under the guise of “village volunteers”, especially in the foothills.

In the early days of the ethnic clashes after May 3, AT chief Korounganba Khuman was seen in visuals walking with a bamboo stick, while in the distance smoke was seen rising from a village behind a treeline. More visuals purportedly of May 3, 2023 showed at least three men in camouflage battledress and body armour, carrying AK series assault rifles, walking towards a field with slogan-shouting protesters from the Kuki tribes. In these visuals too, smoke can be seen rising from huts in the distance.

There are hundreds of verified and unverified visuals from Manipur showing men in bunkers from both communities, who call themselves “village volunteers”, but are armed with AK and American M series assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers.

The only time any authority in Manipur admitted to the involvement of insurgent groups of both the Meitei community and the Kuki tribes was on September 9, after five bodies were found following a fierce gunfight. Three of the bodies were confirmed as Kuki insurgents from Churachandpur district; the fourth was identified as a Kuki volunteer from Jiribam; the fifth was identified as a member of the Meitei insurgent group UNLF(P), the police had said in a statement.

The three Kuki insurgents were members of the Kuki Liberation Army (KLA), a signatory of the highly controversial suspension of operations (SoO) agreement. Former Union home minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram has sparked a fresh row over this matter, with the Manipur Chief Minister pinning the root cause of the present crisis to alleged missteps by the Congress and Mr Chidambaram, who was Union minister at the time of formally signing the previously clandestine SoO agreement in 2008.

The UNLF is the oldest Meitei insurgent group, which later broke up into two factions; the Pambei faction signed the tripartite peace agreement with the Centre and the state government in November 2023.

Sources have told NDTV there would be numerous instances of militants from both sides accompanying “village volunteers” and training them in Manipur, while the police have admitted to only one incident.

Guwahati/New Delhi:

For Laisharam Herojit, a relief camp inmate from the Meitei community in Manipur’s Jiribam district, the worst fears have come true – his family has been executed.

Mr Herojit, in an almost inaudible, slow voice, told NDTV on phone from Jiribam, “It is true”.

His two children, wife, mother-in-law, wife’s sister and her son are dead, killed in captivity by suspected Kuki militants after they were taken hostage on Monday from the town bordering Assam.

The partially decomposed bodies of Mr Herojit’s 60-year-old mother-in-law and his two-and-half-year old son were found floating in a river near Jiribam, the police said today.

Mr Herojit’s son’s headless body was found wedged between some broken tree branches floating in the river. Eyewitnesses told NDTV arms were missing from the boy’s body.

The semi-naked body of the boy’s grandmother was found floating in the river, face down.

The boy, L Chingheinganba, and his grandmother, Y Rani Devi, were taken hostage at gunpoint along with the four other family members on Monday, amid an encounter between the militants and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Jiribam’s Borobekra, some 220 km from the state capital Imphal.

Three bodies were brought to a hospital morgue in Assam’s Silchar at 7.30 pm on Friday. They were Mr Herojit’s eight-month-old baby, his wife’s sister, and her eight-year-old daughter. The body of Mr Herojit’s wife is yet to be recovered, though government sources have confirmed all six were dead.

Soon after reports of the tragedy came on Saturday morning, violence broke out in the state capital Imphal, with protesters vandalising houses of MLAs of the ruling BJP and trying to storm Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s official bungalow.

The protesters are angry over what they claim was inaction by the government on launching a rescue operation and lack of communication from the authorities before it was announced all the hostages were found dead.

At least two dozen suspected Kuki militants split into two groups before launching the attack in Jiribam’s Borobekra on Monday, police sources told NDTV. While one group took civilian hostages, the other vandalised and set fire to houses, sources said.

Ten militants in the group that attacked a CRPF camp were shot dead, the police said in a statement.

The Kuki tribes claim the 10 men killed in the encounter were “village volunteers”, an allegation the police and other authorities have refuted strongly. The security forces have shared visuals of assault rifles and a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) which they say were brought by the militants. They have also shared visuals of a police SUV with numerous bullet holes.

Political leaders cutting across party lines have condemned the killing of women and children in Manipur. Most have said the latest incident was a terror attack considering it was not a skirmish between two communities in a riot-like situation, but a calculated hostage-taking operation with an intention to execute them.

“Deeply saddened by the tragic incident in Manipur. 6 innocent lives (3 women and 3 minors) from the Meitei community were kidnapped and killed by Kuki terrorists. Condemn terrorism! Demand severe punishment for culprits,” Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale said in a post on X.

The Mizoram government in a statement said, “… Deeply saddened by the recent turn of violent events in Manipur in which precious lives were lost. The government extends its deepest condolences to the families who lost their loved ones and those injured in the recent unrest… Request everyone to refrain from actions which can instigate communal incidents within Mizoram in connection with the recent Manipur conflict…”

Former Manipur Chief Minister and Congress leader O Ibobi Singh told reporters today MLAs are ready to quit en masse if necessary in the interest of the state. His comments came following an ultimatum given by the influential Meitei civil society group COCOMI to the state leaders to act on the Manipur crisis or step down.

“We have already mentioned that we MLAs will resign if it can solve the crisis. We are ready to quit in the interest of the state if the crisis can be solved with our resignation. But the onus of the situation lies with the state and the Centre; there is no law and order. There is a complete breakdown of constitutional systems. This is the government’s responsibility that they can’t ignore,” said Mr Ibobi.

Latest Round Of Violence Began Thursday

The latest round of violence in Jiribam began on Thursday last when suspected Meitei insurgents attacked a village of the Hmar tribe. A woman from the Hmar tribe was killed in the attack. Her husband in a police case alleged she was shot in the leg, raped and then set on fire by the suspected Meitei militants. Civil society groups of the Kuki tribes have accused the Manipur government of keeping silent on Thursday’s attack.

The next day, a woman from the Meitei community was shot dead allegedly by suspected Kuki militants while working in a paddy field in the valley district Bishnupur. While Meitei civil society groups alleged the firing came from a nearby hill, the Kuki tribes have denied the shooting, citing the long distance from the nearest hill to the paddy field where the woman was hit.

Kuki groups have alleged Meitei insurgents tried to shoot at central forces for not letting them cross the sensitive area (or “buffer zone”), but missed and hit the farmer.

The Kuki tribes and the Meitei community have been fighting since May 2023 over a range of issues such as land rights and political representation.

New Delhi:

The women’s wing of the Delhi Meitei Coordinating Committee (DMCC) on Thursday appealed for the safe and immediate release of six people – three women and three children including an infant – kidnapped by suspected Kuki insurgents from Manipur’s Jiribam district.

The women leaders of the valley-dominant Meitei community in a statement demanded immediate and serious intervention from the highest levels of the government to ensure safe release of the kidnapped civilians.

They said if the women and children are harmed, the authorities will have to take responsibility.

Not taking visible action to ensure the safe release of the six hostages may deepen public mistrust and fuel perception that the government is “complicit in perpetuating violence for political ends, including the potential division of Manipur along ethnic lines”, the DMCC said.

They said failure to secure release of the six civilians would not only “signal an erosion of the Indian state’s moral and protective authority but also raise grave questions about the purpose and implications of continued support under the suspension of operations (SoO) framework”.

“The government must recognise that the safety of these women and children is not just a humanitarian concern but a test of its commitment to peace and unity in Manipur,” they said.

The father of two children – who were kidnapped along with their mother and three others – yesterday appealed to the authorities to find them as soon as possible. Two other women from the family, and an eight-year-old child are also missing.

At least 10 suspected Kuki insurgents were shot dead in Jiribam on Monday. Kuki groups have alleged they were “village volunteers” who were shot from behind by the CRPF without any provocation, an allegation the Manipur Police have denied.

Members of the Meitei community held candlelight vigil and protests in some cities to draw attention to the situation back home. In the state capital Imphal, hundreds came in front of the Kangla Fort and lit candles in a silent protest.

Candlelight vigils were also seen in Jiribam, the epicentre of the latest round of violence, seeking the safe release of the six hostages.

In another huge development today, the Centre reimposed a law to protect security forces in hostile areas in several new locations in ethnic violence-hit Manipur. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act has been reimposed in six police station areas including Jiribam.

The AFSPA gives sweeping powers to the military to operate freely anywhere that has been declared a “disturbed area”; no military personnel in an area where AFSPA is in force can be prosecuted without the Centre’s permission.

The AFSPA reimposition will allow the security forces to freely engage armed groups that have not signed any ceasefire deal with the government.

New Delhi:

Hundreds of members of Manipur’s Meitei community came out on the streets in Delhi and other cities in a silent candlelight protest, seeking the safety of six people who have been missing since an encounter broke out between suspected Kuki militants and the security forces in the state’s Jiribam district on Monday.

Students from the Meitei community gathered at some parks in north Delhi, candles and printouts in their hands, and stood in silence. In the valley areas of Manipur, several civil society groups have called a shutdown.

More silent, candlelight gatherings are planned in several cities on Wednesday, a Delhi-based member of a Meitei forum said.

Three women and three children including a two-year-old baby went missing on Monday after suspected Kuki insurgents set houses of the Meitei community on fire, a Meitei civil society organisation in Jiribam said.

A purported photo of the six missing people was leaked from a WhatsApp group, which showed them sitting on the ground near some bamboo trees. NDTV could not independently verify the authenticity of the photo.

However, members of the Meitei civil society organisation shared the names and ages of the missing people, and identified all the six in the photo.

“We express our deepest concern for the lives and well-being of those who have been taken captive. These individuals, being innocent civilians, should never be subjected to violence or used as tools in conflicts. Our organisations stand together in condemning this heinous act and demand the immediate release of the abducted women and children,” the Manipur Innovative Youth Organisation Delhi (MAIYOND), Manipur Students’ Association Delhi (MSAD), and United Kakching Students (UNIKAS) said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

“We call upon the authorities to take swift action to ensure their safe return and to bring those responsible for this atrocity to justice. Violence against innocent civilians is an affront to human dignity and peace, and we will not stand idly by as such acts continue to take place,” they said.

“The fate of these women and children are unknown. They are reportedly held hostage by Kuki armed groups. This impunity towards civilians violates all humanitarian protocols. The fear is glaringly seen in the eyes of the hostages. Stop dis (sic) deliberate brutality. Release them safely,” Dr Arambam Noni, associate professor at Imphal-based DM University, posted on X.

Manipur Police officers in a press conference on Tuesday said the security forces are searching for the missing people, and operations are going on in several areas.

The police have denied allegations by Kuki groups that the 10 men killed in the Jiribam encounter were “village volunteers”.

“Several press releases from organisations have surfaced on social media, alleging baseless claims against the CRPF [Central Reserve Police Force] and Manipur Police… accusing the authorities of foul play. In this regard, factual account of the incidents is hereby issued…” the Manipur Police posted on X.

Several press releases from organizations have surfaced on social media, alleging baseless claims against the CRPF and Manipur Police regarding the incident of 11 November, 2024 at Jakuradhor, Borobekra under Jiribam District, accusing the authorities of foul play. In this…

— Manipur Police (@manipur_police) November 12, 2024

A CRPF soldier was injured in the attack by the suspected Kuki militants in the district bordering Assam. The bodies of two elderly men from the Meitei community were also found inside a house in Jiribam that was set on fire by the suspected insurgents, residents said.

Last month, two men from the Meitei community were held hostage allegedly by a Kuki insurgent group in Kangpokpi district from September 27 till October 3. They were released after the authorities coordinated with the Kuki group Committee on Tribal Unity.

On Thursday last, a woman from the Hmar tribe was killed by suspected Meitei insurgents, who also set houses on fire in Jiribam. Her husband in a police case alleged she was raped before she was killed. A day later, a woman from the valley-dominant Meitei community was shot dead by suspected Kuki insurgents while she was working in a paddy field.

READ | How Last-Minute Breakthrough Came In Manipur Hostage Negotiations

Central security forces including the Assam Rifles have faced allegations of bias while operating in Manipur. The valley-dominant Meitei community has often alleged Assam Rifles of going soft on Kuki militants due to the suspension of operations (SoO) agreement.

The Kuki tribes had protested against the Centre’s move to shift two Assam Rifles battalions to Jammu and Kashmir, to be replaced by CRPF in the areas in Manipur the Assam Rifles had vacated.

The CRPF is the country’s biggest Central Armed Police Force (CAPF). It has evolved into an efficient fighting force with huge successes in anti-Maoist operations in Jharkhand and other states. It made significant contributions to eradicating Naxalism, particularly in West Bengal and in the Kaimur and Rohtas regions of Bihar.

The Kuki tribes and the Meiteis have been fighting since May 2023 over a range of issues such as land rights and political representation.

Imphal/Guwahati/New Delhi:

Two women were killed in fresh rounds of violence in Manipur in the last two days. In the first incident, a woman from the Hmar tribe was allegedly shot, raped and set on fire in Jiribam district by suspected Meitei insurgents on Thursday night, according to a police case filed by her husband.

In the second incident, a woman from the Meitei community was shot dead by suspected Kuki insurgents while she was working in a paddy field in Bishnupur district on Saturday, police sources said.

In Jiribam, the 31-year-old woman and her three children were in their house when the attack happened. A group of suspected Meitei insurgents set several other houses on fire.

The civil society organisation Hmar Inpui in a statement alleged the suspected Meitei insurgents shot the mother of three children in her leg, “rendering her unable to escape.”

“Disregarding her humanity and her family’s unimaginable grief, the attackers raped, tortured and burned her alive, denying her even the dignity of an honourable burial,” the Hmar Inpui alleged.

Jiribam Superintendent of Police Kh Robinsun Singh in a letter to the district magistrate sought permission to get the autopsy done with video recording in Silchar Medical College and Hospital in neighbouring Assam.

The district police chief said Jiribam doesn’t have a forensic medicine facility, and transport to the state capital Imphal will be “inconvenient” due to the ethnic tension.

In the Bishnupur incident reported today, the woman was working in a paddy field with other farmers when suspected Kuki insurgents opened fire from the nearby hills, police sources said, adding she died on the spot.

Most of the paddy fields in Manipur’s low-lying valley areas, including Bishnupur’s Saiton, where the attack happened today, are near the foothills where suspected Kuki insurgents operate disguised as ‘village defence volunteers’, Meitei civil society groups have alleged.

Huge protests have broken out in Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi and Churachandpur district, seeking justice for the family of the woman who was allegedly raped and killed in Jiribam. Civil society organisations of the valley-dominant Meitei community have also mobilised to protest the killing of the farmer today.

The Kuki tribes and the Meiteis have been fighting since May 2023 over a range of issues such as land rights and political representation.