The picturesque Indian state of Manipur, which borders Myanmar, has been thrown into chaos by ethnic conflict. After more than two months of constant fighting, both the Meiteis and the Kukis feel like they are under siege. It would appear that the nearby villages to these communities are easy targets. Soutik Biswas of the BBC visited a picturesque valley where Meitei villages have come under attack in part two of a two-part series on Manipur.
The men descended from the slopes above at night in early May
They were shooting bullets into the warm air and yelling slogans loud enough to be heard over the night’s silence. Among their arsenals were swords, bottles of fuel, and bottles of diesel.
A war cry of “Kill them, burn them!” resounded through the air and into the mind of Khunaijam Shanti forever.
She and the other villagers feared an attack as rumors and reports of ethnic violence circulated rapidly through word of mouth and cell phones. They fled their homes at midnight to avoid the wrath of the mob.
Manipur, a state in northeastern India, experienced an outbreak of ethnic violence on May 3 due to tensions over an affirmative action dispute. Since then, over 130 people have been killed in fighting between the dominant Meitei and the indigenous Kuki minority. About sixty thousand people are now strangers in their own country.
The Meitei, who are predominantly Hindu like Ms. Shanti, have established communal villages throughout the vast valley, which includes the capital city of Imphal. The Kukis are a Christian people who live in villages led by their chiefs among the rolling hills.
As a terrible result of the continual bloodshed, the two communities have become increasingly isolated from one another. Ms. Shanti’s hamlet of Dolaithabi was one of four in the Imphal East area that were assaulted by Kukis in a violent night of burning and looting. The other three villages were Ekoi, Yangkhaman, and Leitanpokpi.
Nearly 3,000 people made their homes in these Meitei-dominated villages, and they were especially at risk because of their proximity to Kuki communities and the fact that they were tucked against the hillsides. The distance between the villages of the two groups is only 1,500 meters. Security officers have established buffer zones here and in many other comparable sites in an effort to restore calm. The civilian population on both sides, dubbing themselves “village defense forces,” has constructed bunkers and staffed them with armed volunteers.
A setting so beautiful and peaceful cannot possibly be in the middle of a terrible fight. The Iril River, which has been dammed, flows peacefully amid settlements of sloping, corrugated tin dwellings. The floodplains are covered in hand-tended rice fields, with hills of oak and pine rising to meet the clouds.
There are hills on all sides of this valley. It’s a weak spot. Perspective is on the side of the Kukis. They’re able to take cover in the hills and fire away. “Anything can happen at any time,” said Lenin Lamabam, a senior officer in Manipur’s military police. He is currently conducting patrols in the area with the help of eighty of his troops and hundreds of border forces.
