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Hindustan Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Two Young People. Two Camps. One Dividing Line. A Story of Conflict in India's Northeast
By Angana Chakrabarti Lamjahat Haokip and Kshetrimayum Dinesh live nearly identical lives. The young adults each come from a community that opposes the other, both were forced from their homes by the violence, and both now live in relief camps that are just 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) apart. Kshetrimayum Dinesh and his father run a food stall outside the Khoyol Keithel relief camp in Moirang. (Angana Chakrabarti/GPJ India) Dinesh is from the dominant Meitei community, and Haokip is of the Kuki-Zo group. In May 2023, violence erupted along the border between their communities in India's northeastern Manipur state. The clash followed a protest earlier that day led by several tribal groups who opposed efforts by the Meitei community to attain Scheduled Tribe status, which could help Meiteis benefit from quotas for government jobs and college admissions. Opponents say the move would lead to the larger community getting more preferential treatment. 'I was involved in the stone-throwing,' Dinesh admits. He and his family left their home overnight, for fear that the people from the Kuki-Zo group would attack. They've been living in a relief camp since then. Lamjahat Haokip collects laundry at the Sadbhavna Mandap camp in Churachandpur.(Angana Chakrabarti/GPJ India ) Haokip, meanwhile, feared that day that a mob of Meiteis looking for Kuki-Zos would attack the hostel where she lived while attending school. The mob did come, and Haokip managed to escape to a friend's house. Then, she too landed in a relief camp, this one for Kuki-Zos. The feud is the longest-running of its kind in 21st century India; it has left 260 people dead, nearly 60,000 people displaced and thousands of people injured. Police monitor a checkpoint at Gwaltabi village, on the route from Imphal to Ukhrul, ahead of the Shirui Lily Festival. Tensions were high at the time as travelers from the Meitei-dominated valley passed through areas controlled by the Kuki-Zo and Naga communities.(Angana Chakrabarti/GPJ India) Over the course of two months in 2023, entire villages, including Dinesh's and Haokip's, were razed. Weapons were looted from police stations. Meiteis living in the hills fled to the valley, and Kuki-Zos living in the valley were forced to the hills. The conflict shifted to intermittent gunfire in the foothill areas, prompting civilians to tote firearms. On the stretch of road that separates Haokip's and Dinesh's camps are at least four checkpoints manned by five different security forces who have been standing guard day and night. The short distance is nearly impossible for either to cross, yet their days mirror each other. Dinesh and Haokip both wake at the crack of dawn; Haokip to prepare for recruitment exams for public sector banks, and Dinesh to train for the Indian army. After classes, Haokip helps younger children with their homework for 4,000 Indian rupees (about US$46) per month. A few months after the conflict began, Dinesh started a food stall outside the relief camp, where he earns an essential 700 rupees (about US$8) a day for his family. Kshetrimayum Dinesh trains around a nearby army unit from the Khoyol Keithel relief camp in Moirang. Displaced by the May 2023 conflict between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities, Dinesh is now trained by a unit of the Indian army in the hope it will help him qualify for the Agnipath Scheme for short-term contractual military service.(Angana Chakrabarti/GPJ India) Lamjahat Haokip tutors children near the Sadbhavna Mandap relief camp in Churachandpur, while keeping up with her college botany studies.(Angana Chakrabarti/GPJ India) The government 'completely abdicated its responsibility to protect the civilian population,' says human rights activist Babloo Loitongbam. The violence has wound down in the past year with the resignation of Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh. Singh, a member of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, was accused of playing a partisan role in the conflict. The state has had no popularly-elected government since February. Efforts to resolve the crisis are made in 'bits and pieces,' says GK Pillai, India's former home secretary. Peace will take time, he says. There's been no major violence in recent months, but protests in May and again in June underscored how fragile the peace remains. For Haokip and Dinesh, the true challenge lies ahead: rebuilding their lives and returning home, across a line that remains, for now, uncrossable. This story was originally published by Global Press.
Time of India
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Kuki-Zos resolve not to take part in govt formation
Imphal: Manipur's Kuki-Zo community has taken a unanimous political resolution that its MLAs will not participate in the event of a govt formation ending the current President's rule. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now There are 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs in the state of which seven belong to BJP. The meeting also resolved that the Kuki-Zos will not compromise their 'ancestral land, culture, identity, and political, social and economic rights under no circumstances'. The decisions were taken during a joint meeting of the Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) along with its federating units — Kuki Students' Organisation-General Headquarters (KSO-GHQ), Kuki Khanglai Lawmpi-General Headquarters (KKL-GHQ), Kuki Christian Leaders' Forum (KCLF), Kuki Women's Union-General Headquarters (KWU-GHQ), Kuki Women Organisation for Human Rights-General Headquarters (KWOHR-GHQ), Kuki Chiefs' Association-Manipur (KCA-M) — and all district units of Kuki Inpi and heads of departments at the conference hall of KIM secretariat in Bijang on Friday.
Indian Express
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Manipur plans to get thousands displaced by conflict back home. Here's the state's 3-phase plan
Manipur Chief Secretary P K Singh on Friday announced that efforts are underway to resettle people displaced by the ongoing conflict in the state in three phases by the end of the year. For over two years now, thousands of people from the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities have been living in relief camps since the start of the ongoing conflict in May 2023. According to the Manipur Home Department estimates, around 57,000 people are currently in over 280 relief camps across the valley and the hills. Chief Secretary Singh on Friday said that the current plan is to shut these camps by the end of this year and that around 5,000 people have already returned to their homes. 'We have had a good number of discussions amongst ourselves and the Central government and Ministry of Home Affairs. We have come up with a three-phase plan. The first is for those who want to immediately go back, that is, by July. A good number will go back (in this phase), they have already started going back. The number (of people in relief camps) was 62,000 in the beginning; now it is around 57,000… The second round will be by October and the third by December,' he said, speaking to reporters after an event in Imphal. A senior Home Department official explained that the people who have already returned to their homes and those who are expected to return in this first phase are mainly those living in 'fringe areas', or areas at the border of the Meitei-majority valley and Kuki-Zo majority hills, close to settlements of the other community, whose homes have not been damaged in the conflict and who evacuated their villages out of fear and apprehension of violence. While making the announcement, the Chief Secretary said that the displaced people are broadly being considered in three categories for rehabilitation plans: the families whose houses have not been damaged; those whose homes have been damaged and will require repair; and those who will not be able to return even at the end of the year because of security concerns. 'There are about 7,000-8,000 houses that have been destroyed. In these cases, we are planning to give Rs 1.3 lakh plus 1.73 lakh so they have money to build their houses wherever they want. Second, there are around 7,000 cases where people have fled, but the houses have not been destroyed; rather, they are dilapidated after two years of neglect. So there will be some kind of monetary help for people to set up their houses. And third is that even after December, there will be around 8,000-10,000 who will not be able to go back immediately… They will be allowed to stay in pre-fabricated houses, which we are building 1,000 more of. But the plans are to shut the camps by December,' he said. The Home Department official said that the last category of displaced people includes Kuki-Zos who had been displaced from Imphal and other towns in the valley, and Meiteis who had been displaced from the Indo-Myanmar border town of Moreh and towns such as Kangpokpi and Churachandpur. 'These are people who still cannot move back because of security reasons and will have to be housed in pre-fabricated houses. 3,000 such units had already been commissioned to house displaced people earlier, and more are being set up. It is likely that these people will only be able to move back when the situation is completely normalised,' said the official. There have been months of relative peace in the foothill areas where the Meitei-majority valley meets Kuki-Zo majority hills, which had been among the worst-hit parts of Manipur in the ongoing conflict. The last major cycle of violence took place in November last year. Last month, a Meitei farmer was injured in gunfire at a foothill area in Bishnupur district, and a Kuki-Zo woman was killed when security forces launched operations in response, which prompted increased security measures in 'vulnerable farming areas.'
The Hindu
20-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Manipur districts tense after day of violence
GUWAHATI Two districts of Manipur remained tense on Friday (June 20, 2025), a day after unknown gunmen injured a Meitei farmer and a Kuki woman was shot dead later. A shutdown was observed across the Churachandpur district, dominated by the Kuki-Zo people, to protest the woman's killing. She was identified as Hoikholhing Haokip, the wife of the chief of Langchingmanbi village adjoining the Bishnupur district, where the Meitei farmer was attacked. The Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum had called the shutdown, demanding 'immediate action against those responsible for this atrocity, concrete steps from the Centre to ensure the protection of tribal lives and territory, and an independent investigation into the repeated buffer zone violations.' The people of Bishnupur, one of the five districts comprising the Meitei-majority Imphal Valley, continued to block a highway leading to the Churachandpur district. They demanded the arrest of the assailants of farmer Ningthoujam Biren Singh, who was shot in his left arm on Thursday. Earlier, the Manipur Police said the security forces came under fire from unknown armed miscreants after the farmer was shot in Bishnupur's Phubala area. '...the forces retaliated accordingly. During the crossfire, one woman from Langchingmanbi village was found dead with a bullet injury,' it said. Manipur, scarred by the ethnic conflict between the Kuki-Zos and Meiteis, was relatively calm after the imposition of the President's Rule on February 13 this year. More than 250 people had died and some 60,000 were displaced in the clashes that had erupted on May 3, 2023. Also read | Manipur marks two years of ethnic violence by remembering victims Meanwhile, the All Manipur United Clubs' Organisation (AMUCO) condemned the Phubala incident, saying it suspected a conspiracy between the attackers and the security forces. It said the incident happened near a bunker of the Sashastra Seema Bal, whose personnel were inactive. The organisation underlined the importance of holding accountable the security personnel found complicit or negligent, apart from the attackers. 'The people of Manipur express deep dissatisfaction with the Ministry of Home Affairs' performance, as the region continues to grapple with ongoing conflicts and violence despite the government's claims of working towards restoring normalcy,' the AMUCO said. The organisation also questioned the work done by security adviser Kuldiep Singh, who was sent by the Centre to resolve the ongoing crisis plaguing the State.
The Hindu
19-06-2025
- The Hindu
Woman killed in fresh Manipur violence
A Kuki woman was killed in Manipur's Churachandpur district on Thursday (June 19, 2025), a day after suspected extremists fired at and injured a Meitei farmer in the adjoining Bishnupur district. There were no official statements on either incident, but the Kuki Women's Organisation for Human Rights (KWOHR) blamed the death of Hoikholhing Haokip of Langchingmanbi village on Meitei militants. In the afternoon of June 18, a man identified as Ningthoujam Biren was injured after suspected Kuki extremists fired at farmers on the border between Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts. Eyewitnesses said Mr. Biren and two other farmers were working on a paddy field at Phubala in Bishnupur district when five rounds were fired at them from a hillock in the adjoining Churachandpur district. 'He was taken to the district hospital after a bullet struck his left forearm,' a villager said. The Phubala villagers slammed the government for failing to ensure the security of the farmers working close to the vulnerable 'buffer zone', which separates the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley from the surrounding hills where the Kuki-Zos are in the majority. After the incident, angry Bishnupur locals blocked a highway leading to Churachandpur, demanding action against armed Kuki fighters. A women's group threatened a total shutdown across the Imphal Valley from Friday (June 20, 2025) if top State government officials did not visit the affected area. In a statement, the KWOHR condemned the killing of Ms. Haokip allegedly by Meitei militants. 'Despite the presence of a government-declared buffer zone intended to prevent clashes between Meitei and Kuki communities, Meitei militants have repeatedly violated and crossed the buffer line, provoking tensions and directly endangering the lives of innocent civilians,' it said. The organisation demanded the immediate arrest and punishment of the perpetrators of the crime, strict enforcement of the buffer zone with equal accountability on both sides, deployment of neutral Central forces to ensure peace and a judicial inquiry into this incident as well as all recent buffer zone violations. This was the second incident involving farmers working on fields along the buffer zone. On June 15, a confrontation between Kuki and Meitei villagers on the border between Imphal East and Kangpokpi districts sparked tension. According to the Manipur police, the Kukis objected to Meitei farmers working on a paddy field they claimed as theirs. Shooting at farmers working on fields along the buffer zone used to be frequent after the ethnic conflict between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo people broke out on May 3, 2023. Such incidents have not been reported after Manipur came under the President's Rule on February 13. The ethnic conflict left more than 250 people dead and some 60,000 others displaced.
