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23-06-2023
Bureau Report + Agencies
NEW DELHI: Last week, a retired lieutenant general in India’s army bemoaned the volatile situation in his native Manipur, a violence-wracked state in the north-east of the country.
“The state is now ‘stateless’,” tweeted L Nishikanta Singh. “Life and property can be destroyed anytime by anyone just like in Libya, Lebanon, Nigeria, Syria etc.”
Nearly two months after it was convulsed by ethnic violence, Manipur is teetering on what many believe is the brink of a civil war. Clashes between the majority Meitei and Kuki communities have left more than 100 dead and over 400 wounded.
Nearly 60,000 people have been displaced and taken shelter in some 350 camps. Some 40,000 security forces, army soldiers, paramilitaries, police are struggling to quell the violence. Only a quarter of the more than 4,000 weapons looted by mobs from police armories have been voluntarily returned since the violence began.
The level of mistrust between the warring communities has sharpened, with both accusing security forces of being partisan. More than 200 churches and 17 temples have been destroyed or damaged by mobs. Homes of local ministers and legislators have been attacked and set on fire.
Normal life has been strangled: a night curfew continues in most of the 16 districts; schools are shut and internet services have been suspended. A main highway for ferrying supplies has been blocked by protesters. There are sporadic killings and arson. The federal government’s proposal for a peace panel to broker a truce has received a tepid response.
“This is the darkest moment in Manipur’s history,” says Binalakshmi Nepram of Northeast India Women Initiative for Peace. “In two days [when the violence began], homes were burnt and people were lynched, burnt and tortured. Manipur has not seen this kind and type of violence in its modern history.”
Eight states in India’s restive and remote north-eastern region are home to some 45 million people belonging to more than 400 communities. More than a dozen peace talks trying to mediate between groups across the region have been dragging on for years. Nestling along the border with Myanmar, Manipur is no stranger to ethnic violence.
