Imphal/Hyderabad: The ethnic violence between the Meiteis and the Kuki tribe, that rocked Manipur will complete one year on Friday, May 3. Manipur plunged into a frenzy of violence in May 2023 over a High Court order directing the state government to consider including the non-tribal Meitei community in the list of Scheduled Tribes (ST).
The violence in the northeastern state has so far claimed the lives of 221 persons and over 1500 have been injured. 60,000 people have been displaced due to the ethnic violence, while 28 people are missing.
As many as 13,264 structures have been reported to be destroyed, while 4,786 houses have been burnt. 386 religious structures including temples and churches have been vandalised, while 10,000 FIRs have been registered. Since the violence began, the Manipur Police took 1.87 lakh persons under preventive detention and released them after legal formalities.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is investigating 29 of these cases and the National Investigation Agency is probing one case. The state lost Rs 800 crore during the 2023-24 financial year due to the ethnic rife. The Manipur state government has spent Rs 200 crore on relief operations.
It may be noted that on May 3, 2023, violence erupted in Imphal and Kuki-dominated districts, during the tribal solidarity march against a High Court order on Meitei status. The Manipur government suspended mobile internet services across the state for the next five days and imposed a curfew in eight districts following the violence.
On May 4, 2023, BJP MLA Vungzagin Valte was attacked by a mob in Imphal and about 9,000 people were evacuated. On the same day, the Army was deployed in the state as violence escalated. On May 7 2023, the Army evacuated over 25,000 affected by the protests.
On May 8, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said 60 people were killed and over 200 injured wounded in the ethnic clashes in the state. The Supreme Court asked the Manipur government to proactively provide relief, rehabilitation and medical help to violence-affected people.
On May 17, 2023, the Narendra Modi-led government and the Manipur government told the Supreme Court that the genesis of ethnic violence in the state was the crackdown on illegal Myanmar migrants, who were indulged in illicit poppy cultivation and drug business in the hill districts.
On May 24, 2023, a mob on the evening vandalised the house of Manipur PWD Minister Konthoujam Govindas in Bishnupur for the state government’s alleged failure to take steps to protect locals from armed tribal extremists. On May 29, Union HM Amit Shah reached Manipur on a three-day visit. He met Kuki MLAs and representatives of civil society organisations. He also visited Imphal, trouble-torn Kangpokpi and other districts.
On June 3, 2023, the Narendra Modi-led government set up a three-member Commission of Inquiry, headed by former Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court Ajai Lamba, to probe the violence in Manipur. On the next day, the private residence of Congress MLA K Ranjit Singh was among a cluster of houses and shops set ablaze by suspected militants at Serou Bazar near Sugnu in Kakching district.
Also on June 4, 2023, a wounded seven-year-old boy of mixed Kuki-Meitei parentage was burned to death along with his mother and another woman inside an ambulance taking him to hospital in the Iroisemba area of Imphal.
The CBI on June 9 took over the investigation of six cases pertaining to the violence that broke out in Manipur. On June 10 last year, the Centre formed a 51-member peace committee under Manipur Governor and N Biren Singh as one of the members to broker peace among the various ethnic groups.
On June 14, 2023, Manipur lone women minister Nempha Kipgen's official residence in Imphal was set ablaze and on June 15, 2023, Minister of State for External Affairs RK Ranjan's residence was torched.
The violence continued in the state with armed mobs targetting BJP politicians, their houses and offices. A BJP mandal office in Imphal was torched. The High Court on June 19, 2023, admitted a review petition seeking to modify its contentious March 27 order.
However, the violence continued unabated as a mob burned down a warehouse and a farmhouse of Manipur cabinet minister L Susindro at Kangla Sangomsang in Imphal East district on June 24, 2023.
On June 25, 2023, a mob of 1500 led by women interrupted a counter-insurgency operation in Manipur Imphal district and forced the Army to release 12 cadres of the banned Kanglei Yawol Kunna Lup including a wanted militant.
The Manipur government on June 26, 2023, invoked the "no work no pay" rule against nearly one lakh employees, who were away from work without authorised leave since the violence erupted.
Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi arrived in Manipur but was not allowed to go to Churachandpur by road. He then took a chopper to Churachandput after the stand-off in Bishnupur.
On July 3, 2023, the Supreme Court asked the Manipur government to submit a report within a week detailing the steps taken to curb the violence. The violence continued in the state and on July 6, a mentally ill woman was shot dead in an Imphal neighbourhood.
On July 19, 2023, a video clip of women being stripped and paraded by a mob in Manipur surfaced on social media and the issue was condemned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Two months after the incident, Manipur Police registered a case of gang rape and abduction. The Supreme Court also directed the Centre and the state government to take immediate steps and apprise it on what action has been taken in this regard.
On July 20, 2023, the prime accused and three other suspects from the Manipur mob that paraded two women naked and allegedly gang-raped one of them on May 4 were arrested 63 days after a Zero FIR was registered.
However, the violence continued and on July 20, 2023, women set fire to the house of the main accused in the May 4 brutality in Thoubal.
The issue of Manipur violence had reached the Parliament and in an attempt to force Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak on it, the Opposition parties decided to move a no-confidence motion against the BJP government.
In the last week of July 2023, a 21-member delegation of the opposition alliance INDIA visited relief camps in the conflict-hit town of Churachandpur and other places in Manipur and accused the Centre of being asleep.
On August 3, 2023, tensions escalated in Bishnupur after the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum announced its plan to honour the 35 people killed in the violence since May 3. The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an apex body of civil societies in Imphal, objected to the mass burial, considering it an 'affront to the people'.
On August 4, 2023, a mob looted LMGs, mortars, grenades from the 2nd India Reserve Battalion headquarters in Manipur’s Bishnupur and a 500-strong mob targeted the armoury, looting 298 rifles, SLRs and LMGs along with mortars, grenades, and 16,000-odd rounds of assorted ammunition.
There was no decrease in the violence on August 5, six people were killed and 16 wounded by gun and mortar fire in one of the worst attacks and counterattacks between two groups.
Developments were happening thick and fast in the strife-torn state as the Centre despatched 800 additional central security personnel and the Kuki People's Alliance withdrew their support to the BJP government in the state.
In the first week of August, the Supreme Court appointed former Mumbai Police Commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar to be the 'overall monitor' of a CBI probe into the instances of sexual violence in Manipur.
On January 21, 2024, 32 of the 60 MLAs in the Manipur Assembly unanimously adopted resolutions for immediate abrogation from Suspension of Operations (SoO) with armed militants who have allegedly killed civilians and calling for a replacement of the Assam Rifles.
On February 22, 2024, the Manipur High Court modified its 2023 order in which it recommended the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the Meiteis community. The High Court deleted the paragraph from its March 27 judgment and said that the ruling was passed in "misconception of law."
Sporadic incidents of violence continued to take place in the state. On February 27, 2024, around 200 armed men stormed and ransacked the residence and kidnapped senior police official Moirangthem Amit Singh, the Imphal West Additional Superintendent of Police. The SP was however rescued by security officials from the Kwakeithel Konjeng Leikai area.
On March 11, the Supreme Court directed the Manipur government, CBI and the NIA to file reports elaborating on the status of the probe and the charge sheets filed in cases of ethnic violence.
