Power Sharing the Way Forward for Manipur to Survive

There are several narratives about why and how Meitei and Kuki-Zomi-Hmar clashes started in Manipur. Some of the narratives are harmful to the idea for Manipur to survive as a single entity and need to be curbed before the damage becomes permanently embedded in the psyche of ordinary people and hinder the path to peaceful coexistence of all communities in Manipur.

An often repeated narrative is the word “Narco-Terrorism” which has become the pet punching bag of the valley CSOs to derogate the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar. This narrative is unfounded as there is no whispers of any name of drug cartel or drug lord running drugs through Manipur or operating in the state. The term “Narco-Terrorism” was first used in 1983 to describe campaigns by drug traffickers using terrorist methods, such as the use of car bombs, assassinations and kidnappings, against anti-narcotics police in Colombia and Peru. It refers to the attempts of narcotics traffickers to influence the policies of a government or a society through violence and intimidation and to hinder the enforcement of anti-drug laws by the systematic threat or use of violence. The word “Narco-Terrorism” is used in the US where drug smugglers in Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Nicaragua and other Central American countries, where organised illegal trade exist as a profession and also ran a parallel government. The “Narco-Terrorism” narrative against the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar tribes has no semblance with the description of “Narco-Terrorism” in other parts of the world and its usage should be shunned for the sake of peaceful coexistence.

The trigger for the ongoing ethnic clashes was alleged to have been caused by the Manipur High Court order favouring Meitei ST demand. This observation was made by the Supreme Court. It is perplexing to understand why Manipur government advocates and the standing counsel of union government chose not to object, say anything or ask for time through adjournment when the matter was taken up at motion stage (first day of introduction) in the High Court if it was not aimed at favouring the petitioners. The unusual performance of the respondent counsels only strengthens the suspicion that the state and central government may have colluded with the petitioners. It is intriguing that court’s order was passed orally on 27th March 2023 i.e. same day, but became public only on 19th April 2023 when it was uploaded in the website of the Manipur High Court. Parties (petitioner and respondents) are all Meiteis with no tribal person or organisation are involved in the court’s proceedings when they are the ones critically affected by the order. The decision not to act or mention anything in court on a serious matter impinging the  institutional rights of reservation of more than 40% of state’s Scheduled Tribe population appears to be surreptitiously and meticulously planned and executed. When trouble first broke out in the evening of 3rd May 2023, the prompt response of Meitei radical elements appear to indicate a high degree of preparedness. Utterances overheard by tribal persons accosted on the streets or neighbours of Kuki houses was not to touch the Nagas. The strategy is to “divide and rule” by isolating and targeting only the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar tribes. They were careful not to touch Naga tribes because of the risk of dragging both tribal groups into the conflict.

There are also allegations of involvement of hard core RSS who may have extended support to the Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun. The expectation allegedly was that Meitei radical elements would be able to execute the plan of evicting the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar tribes from villages in the periphery of the valley and even from Kangpokpi area, which was hinted by the Meitei Leepun Chief in his interview to The Wire with Karan Thapar. The manner in which local police guns were systematically looted from the armouries without much of a resistance, and in some cases more like a loan when Aadhaar cards were left behind, appeared like a militia being armed by the government during war time. There is yet another allegation that the demand for ST status by the Meitei community could be linked to the strategy of ethnic cleansing being attempted. It appears that the Meiteis were confident that they would get ST status by lobbying with the central government based on the Court’s order. A huge amount of funds is alleged to have been mobilised with many rich individuals contributing lakhs of rupees to fund the ST demand campaign. The ethnic cleansing strategy could be to legitimise the occupation of tribal lands in the hill areas by the Meiteis (who would have become ST) after the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar tribes are evicted by force. But sadly, mere availability of looted guns do not make warriors and the  radical elements appear to have faltered badly paying a heavy price at Khamenlok in the hands of armed Kuki-Zomi-Hmar tribes and the ST demand matter did not work out as planned and ran into litigation. Now in the protracted war of attrition both parties are bogged down with no end in sight for a peaceful resolution of the crisis as disillusioned Meiteis are blaming and targeting their MLAs for all the ills that has befallen upon them. At the same time, the mob seems to be anxious that the extension of AFSPA to the valley would lead to recovery of guns with consequential legal actions against those in possession of looted guns.

Recent deployment of additional CAPF (Central Armed Police Force) and imposing AFSPA appears to indicate a realisation by the central government that without the recovery of looted police guns any initiative for peaceful resolution of the crisis by the centre will be sabotaged by violent reactions in the valley. The state police working under the direction of state government has demonstrated their inability to round up looted arms as more than half the numbers of around six thousand police guns are still in the hands of radicalised youth 18 months after looting. In fact the local police, including the district administration and state government, is alleged to have acted in a partisan manner since the sectarian fight began in May 2023. The mobs are not stopped and disbursed, but escorted by the police while they carry out their illegal activities with impunity right under the nose of the law enforcing forces. Recent incidents of mob violence indicates that it was only the stern handling of protestors by the CAPF that disbursed the mobs and exposed the ineffectiveness of the local police in tackling the mobs. The humiliation heaped upon MLAs from the valley, including ministers, union minister and MP, by radicalised youth in the Kangla Fort on January 2024 was a public display of supremacy by Arambai Tenggol. It was a sorry sight to behold and witness the total capitulation of the state’s authority to outside state actors. The state government lost all credibility and authority to rule the state on that day. The drama of lawlessness and surrender of state’s authority to the radicalised elements was witnessed by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officials. A senior police officer was abducted and his property damaged by radicalised elements, yet the state government chose to look the other way. Lawlessness was ushered in and it opened the floodgates for rampant extortions.

The realisation of the need to bring about “rule of law” by imposing AFSPA seems to have been made unilaterally by MHA without consulting the state government. The current turmoil caused by mobs in Imphal valley targeting the MLAs serve to demonstrate to the MHA that the protestors want AFSPA removed at all cost to prevent recovery of looted arms. The state government has echoed the demand too. The NPP, an ally of BJP in the state and centre, has withdrawn its support to the state government registering their disappointment. It is becoming clearer that no concrete step towards peace would be possible without recovery of looted guns. The onus is on the people to repose faith on the CAPF to protect them around the periphery of Imphal valley and allow the forces to carry out their duties of restoring law and order in the state.

Following the Presidential Order of 28th February 2020 for carrying out the delimitation exercise in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Assam, there has been progress only in case of Assam with delimitation completed in August 2023. As regards the remaining three states the Election Commission (EC) has stated that consultations are underway for Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, but for Manipur the ongoing violence is making the situation unconducive for delimitation. The Supreme Court Bench, however, dismissed the need to club all 4 States together and directed the central Government to provide clear instructions and deferred the hearing filed by ‘Delimitation Demand Committee for the State of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland in North East India’ till January 2025. The current status of this litigation points to the likelihood of the postponed delimitation in respect of Manipur to be deferred again on security grounds. There is now an urgent need to restore normalcy and peace in Manipur for carrying out Census operations for 2026 successfully to ensure that the delimitation exercise is based on the population data of Census 2026.

Restoring rule of law has become a priority without which any initiative floated by the central government for resolution of Manipur crisis would face the risk of being hijacked, sabotaged, derailed and violence provoked by radicalised elements. The brutal killings of civilians in Manipur have made India look like a third world country, besmirching the good image of India internationally. The conflict is an internal fight between two communities within the state and can be sorted out locally under any able leader. The demand that the Prime Minister must come to the state and commiserate with both communities serves no purpose if the ground work for resolution of the conflict has not been initiated by the state government. It is the duty of the chief minister to convince his colleagues and start conversations. The biggest hurdle behind his failure is his inability to shed the charge of partiality towards his own community when he should have been neutral. Crying hoarse for the prime minister to visit the state at this juncture when there is total lawlessness in the state without any proposal to consider does not provide the proper grounds for anyone to visit Manipur. Law and order has to be restored first before anything can be considered. The onus of creating a peaceful atmosphere vest heavily in the hands of the CSOs, MLAs and Chief Minister. If the chief minister is unable to perform his duty of initiating talks with MLAs of his own party, he should gracefully make room for another leader to take the role. The other option is for the Governor to consider recommending imposition of President’s Rule in the state to restore normalcy and work out a solution to the crisis. Jammu & Kashmir was downgraded to UT and kept under the Lt. Governor’s rule for 10 years.  If the current crisis in Manipur becomes intractable and drifts rudderless on account of poor leadership, as the state limps towards the second anniversary of ethnic conflict, it would not be surprising if Manipur is meted out the same treatment as given to J&K.

It may have been premature or out of line and place for PC Chidambaram to suggest “the Meiteis, the Kuki-Zo and the Nagas can live together in one state only if they have genuine regional autonomy”. However, the suggestion of autonomy to regional councils may be the “bitter truth” that the governments may not want to admit or acknowledge at this stage. Autonomy is a form of empowering district/regional/territorial councils within a state and to many right-thinking people that it is a better option than the alternative of creation of a UT or state. Alternatively, another option is to prolong the war of attrition with untold miseries and loss of lives and properties plunging the state to chaos and creating a situation for the centre to mete out to Manipur similarly as done to J&K.

Although the plausible concession of autonomous councils to the tribals in hill areas of Manipur may appear to be unacceptable to Meiteis, it is nothing out of the ordinary as the Bodos and other tribes in four northeast states (Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura) already have empowered district/territorial/regional councils under the Sixth Schedule. Article 244 and 244-A with details of powers and functions elaborated in the Sixth Schedule is akin to the constitutional provisions for the Panchayati Raj institutions provided under Article 243 to Article 243 O of the constitution already implemented in Imphal valley since 1994 i.e. for 20 years. Why should the Meiteis begrudge the tribals if similar arrangement of local self government is considered to be given to tribals for development of the hill areas? The consideration for autonomous councils is constitutional and legitimate. It will enable equitable distribution of resources and developmental benefits to hill areas which is critical as its denial has already kept the hill areas backward leading to faster population growth rate. There is fear that demographic changes is likely to upset the power equation between the valley and hill areas and this anxiety is partly fuelling the conflict. In the interest of the state, population growth of the tribes in hill areas needs to be contained and the best way forward is through rapid development of the hill areas which can be done by empowering the local self government to implement schemes and projects.

Obstructing and denying the basic institutions of local self government to the tribals by the dominant Meitei community would amount to selfish and cruel intentions of continuing suppression, oppression and subjugation of the tribes in hill areas. Such attitude and strategy of the dominant community of denying the suppressed tribes their due share of resources and development is becoming unacceptable to the tribes in hill areas. We are now living in a modern era and all thoughts of ancient brutal existence needs to be banished. The time has come for magnanimous thinking of sharing power with tribes in the hill areas if the idea of Manipur as a single entity is to survive and flourish for peaceful coexistence of the Meitei valley people and various tribes in the hill areas.

Ngaranmi Shimray

shimray2011@gmail.com