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02-01-2025
Bureau Report
NEW DELHI/ BENGALURU: The Chief Minister (CM) of India’s northeastern state of Manipur apologized on Tuesday for months of ethnic unrest that has killed at least 250 people and prompted criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s federal government.
The strife between the majority Meitei and the tribal Kuki communities in the state of 3.2 million people broke out in May 2023 and has displaced 60,000 people. Despite peace efforts, many Kukis and Meiteis have moved out of ethnically mixed areas.
Violence erupted after a court ordered the state government to consider extending the special economic benefits and quotas in government jobs and education enjoyed by the Kuki people to the Meitei population as well.
“This entire year has been very unfortunate,” Singh told reporters in the state capital Imphal.
“I want to say sorry to the people of the state for what’s happening … many people lost their loved ones. Many people left their homes. I feel regret, I apologize.”
Sporadic attacks and killings continue to be reported, but Singh said peace efforts had made progress in recent months, and he believed normality would return in the New Year.
Manipur’s two largest ethnic groups are in effect competing for land, jobs and political clout, with large quantities of weapons in circulation, including automatic rifles stolen from the police or smuggled from neighboring Myanmar.
Kukis accuse Chief Minister Biren Singh, a Meitei and member of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of complicity in attacks on members of their community and have sought his removal.
Singh denies the allegations and Modi’s federal government has dismissed opposition accusations of inactivity, saying it has deployed tens of thousands of security personnel and that the situation is on the mend.
At least 180 people were died since fierce fighting broke out between members of the majority Meitei and minority Kuki communities in the state in May, following a court order suggesting privileges granted to Kukis also be extended to Meiteis.
Three people were killed and five injured when gunmen in camouflage fatigues opened fire in the Lilong area of Thoubal district on Monday. Separately, at least seven security personnel were critically injured in an ambush by foreign mercenaries on Tuesday, officials said.
The injured security personnel were part of a convoy travelling through the town of Moreh, bordering Maynmar that was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and other automatic weapons. “Four police commandos and three BSF (Border Security Force) troopers are now in a critical condition,” a police official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh said the assailants were suspected of being “Myanmar-based mercenaries”, and added that the government “will not succumb to this kind of pressure”.
There was no immediate word on the identities of the three people killed on Monday or the suspected identities of the assailants.
Authorities have re-imposed an indefinite curfew in Thoubal district and four other adjoining districts of Imphal East, Imphal West, Kakching and Bishnupur since late on Monday. Manipur, bordering Myanmar, is among the smallest states in India with a population of 3.2 million, of its residents, 16% are Kukis, who live in the hills and receive economic benefits and quotas for government jobs and education, while 53% are Meiteis, who control the more prosperous lowlands.
