Fragile peace broken, Manipur on the boil again

Tronglaobi is a nondescript little but ancient village finding mention in ancient Manipuri folklore. Inhabited by Meiteis, it is located in the southern fringe of Bishnupur district bordering the Kuki-dominated Churachandpur district. On the night of 7 April, 37-year-old Binita Oinam had just put her two children to sleep. Her eldest son, five-year-old Tomthin, had just kissed her good night, whispering “I love you”. Along with his five-month-old sister Oinam Leisana, he soon fell asleep. A nurse at a hospital in Guwahati, Binita had returned to the village with her children and was awaiting the arrival of her husband, a BSF jawan posted in Bihar.

The family was reuniting for the ‘chagumba’ (the first rice-eating ceremony) of her daughter. But unknown to her, a few Kuki terrorists were making their way across the field towards her house. At around 1.30 a.m, they stopped a short distance from the window of her bedroom and, at almost point blank range, fired a bomb inside the room. The blast echoed through the area, shattering the night’s calm. Tomthin didn’t get to hear the blast as he was killed instantly. Young Leisana lay seriously wounded, clutching her mother for protection. But she was unconscious, being badly wounded herself. By the time local volunteers arrived, Leisana was dead.

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They shifted Binita to a hospital in Imphal, where emergency operations were carried out. She survived, but with a trauma and grief that will be with her for as long as she lives. By dawn, the valley was already shut down with various civil society organisations calling for an indefinite bandh. Soon after 10, when offices were supposed to open, the state government had declared curfew over the five valley districts, and this was followed by the shutting down of mobile internet service. At Tronglaobi village, news had spread like wildfire. Over 1,000 people had gathered at the site.

They found a rocket-propelled grenade fitted with a shell along with a remote mechanism from the vicinity. The attackers had no time to fire it. The crowd spotted a CRPF post located nearby off Golmol village in Churachandpur district. Their ire soon turned against the CRPF, accusing them of conniving with the Kuki terrorists and giving them free access to carry out the blasts. Seeing the charging crowd, the CRPF personnel opened fire from their fortified post, killing two villagers on the spot. A third succumbed to his injuries at a hospital later. Eight others sustained injuries. That Manipur is again living on a short fuse became evident on 14 April.

A person identified as Md. Sabir Ahmad and hailing from Kwakta village was apprehended at Imphal airport by the Manipur Police, the CISF and the Assam Rifles while he was attempting to carry narcotic drugs – 6 kg of Brown Sugar – outside the state. On interrogation, he allegedly revealed that more drugs and arms were stored in his house at Kwakta village in Bishenpur district. It is not known if the Assam Rifles personnel at the airport got their movement order from their superiors or acted on their own to get hold of the drugs and the guns at Sabir Ahmad’s house, but they acted in an indiscreet manner, donning civilian clothes and moving in three civilian cars along with the service weapons issued to them. The roads were deserted on account of the curfew but the three cars were stopped at Thinungei village by a group of Meitei women vigilantes.

They were asked to identify themselves and, without producing their identity cards, said that they were Assam Rifles personnel. But one of the women noticed a tribal-looking man, whom she thought was a Kuki. She immediately yelled there is “a Kuki in the car”. Her shout soon reached out across the valley in minutes. They dragged out the occupants, showered blows on them and burnt two cars and seized their weapons. The third car turned and sped towards Imphal but was apprehended at Ningthoukhong. Its occupants also met the same fate. Soon, Manipur Police commandos, led by the SP of Bishnupur district, arrived and rescued the Assam Rifles personnel from a house where they had been detained. But while they were speeding away, irate mobs that had turned out attempted to stop them.

Rapid Action Force personnel of the CRPF turned up, and Thinungei soon turned into a battle field. Tear gas shells and blank bombs and rounds were fired, filling the evening air. By 8 pm, thousands took to the streets in and around Imphal, where pitched battles were fought between security forces and stone-pelting crowds. The next day, state Home Minister Govindas Konthoujam held a Press conference to say that five cadres of the United Kuki National Army (UKNA) believed to be involved in the Toronlaobi killings, had been apprehended. He also clarified that the suspected Kuki in the Thinungei incident was in fact a Naga from Chandel district.

But the Home Minister was silent as to whether a court of inquiry had been ordered into the Toronglaobi incident involving the CRPF, which resulted in the death of three Meitei civilians. He was equally silent on the movement of the Assam Rifles personnel to Kwakta, and did not say whether the unit had the Kwakta area under their operational jurisdiction. An explanation as to why the personnel were moving incognito in civilian vehicles and refusing to produce their identity cards was also absent. Observers of the incidents felt sure some heads would roll, as their action had resulted in many wounded and confusion amongst the general population. But Yumnam Khemchand, just months into his chief ministership, has been making strides in clearing the Kuki blockades along the National Highways. Last month, he flew to Guwahati to meet representatives of the Kuki-Zo Council. This was the first time since 2023 that any Kuki body was meeting the state or any Meitei leader for that matter. A significant part of the meet was that there were no agreements reached or any accords signed. It was just a meeting of minds breaking the ice. Both sides agreed to meet again and praised each other for instilling hope. At the beginning of this month, Khemchand decided to visit the Senapati district headquarters, not by helicopter but by road. Senapati is a Naga-dominated district but to reach it, one has to pass Kangpokpi, which is the seat of the Kuki uprising. It has been an area which was absolutely “persona non grata” for Meiteis of all hues and colour. Recently, a transgender activist cycling from Delhi and seeking peace in Manipur, was deliberately told by the Committee of Tribal Unity (COTU), which holds the gun in Kangpokpi, that she cannot enter Kangpokpi. In the early hours, she was picked up from Senapati in a BSF Casper truck and brought to Imphal via Kangpokpi. COTU and the Kukis were infuriated with her passing through Kangpokpi without their knowledge. When Khemchand’s convoy drove through Kangpokpi, he was given a hero’s welcome in Senapati by the Naga Leaders. On the way back, he stopped at the residence of Kuki leader and MLA Haokholet Khongsai at Hennbung village. A tete-a-tete, with the pictures of the two shaking hands, flooding social media. This infuriated the COTU even more, and their office bearers started resigning one by one. To a query at a function as to whether he plans to go to Tengnoupal and Moreh (the other Kuki areas which have been out of bounds for the Meiteis since the May 2023), he said: “Yes I will go there as it is a part of Manipur.” Fringe Kuki groups have come out saying don’t go to Tengnoupal, as it is “Kukiland”. This has evoked reaction from Naga groups, who have reiterated that Tengnoupal was a Naga district till the Kuki refugees came and settled down there. In the meantime, Oinam Binita, the mother who lost her two innocent children while they were in her arms, lamented that while her husband in the BSF was defending the country, there was no one around to protect her children. She has since been discharged from hospital and has returned to a shattered home. The fragile peace that Manipur saw over the last nearly two years of President’s Rule has been broken, and this time it was the Kukis who did it. After all, peace is a costly affair, as it would ruin their poppy economy.

(THE WRITER IS A SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE STATESMAN IN IMPHAL)