Manipur’s gathering storm

Anil Bhat

WITH no respite from different Meitei insurgent groups indulging in extortion, abduction and murder despite the detention of about 300 of them under the National Security Act over the last two yeas, the Manipur government found it necessary to seek the Army’s help. A brigade was deployed in April-May 2004 and it launched its first operation in October in Sajik Tampak (Chandel district), which insurgent groups claim as a “liberated zone”.

Forty insurgents were killed in the operation conducted in cooperation with the Assam Rifles and police. Some were captured, some crossed over to Myanmar and some fled to Churachandpur and Tamenglong districts, shattering the peace there. The Chandel deputy commisioner, who had been operating from Imphal for years, was finally able to function from district headquarters and toured some areas, including Sajik Tampak.

After the killing of Manorama Devi in July 2004 while in the custody of the Assam Rifles, a campaign was launched for withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and removal of the Assam Rifles from Kangla. The later was evacuated and the Ibobi government withdrew the Act from the Imphal municipal areas, When the Army launched operations in Churachandpur district where the United National Liberation Front had laid landmines in 2005, the militants fled to another part of Chandel district, where Kukis alleged they started harassing them, this time reportedly with the assistance of the Myanmarese army.

The landmines issue is disturbing: where do these come from and how many? The mines, which are of Chinese make, could have been handed over to the UNLF through Pakistan’s Bangladesh-based Inter Services Intelligence or from Myanmar’s Peace and Development Council with which the UNLF has established a rapport.

If the LTTE in Sri Lanka is causing jitters because of its having acquired and using aircraft, then landmines in the hands of militants in Manipur should cause alarm requiring immediate action. Landmines are far more dangerous than conventional small arms and no country should allow militants to acquire these. In fact, it is time sophisticated surveillance equipment, as is used in Jammu and Kashmir, is deployed in Manipur too.

Meanwhile, the Kukiforum website has reported that those of its refugees who were allegedly abducted to Lallim in Myanmar on 13 March have returned to Moreh, thanks to efforts made by the Kuki Movement for Human Rights, Kuki Students’ Organisation, the Hill Tribal Council and other officials. Manipur cabinet minister Phungjathang Tonsing visited Moreh on 5 May to see the conditions of the returnees sheltered at a camp.

Numbering about 600, they need to be taken care of and persuaded to return to their villages after the landmines are cleared. They must also be assured of jhum chultivation, which they missed. The Kukis are generally peaceful and fun-loving. For ages they had lived in peace with the Meiteis. They are not known to have taken to armed militancy except maybe for self-defence during their feud with the Nagas in the early 1990s.

But if the conditions do not improve there is every likelihood of their taking up arms in the event of which it might snowball into a communal Meitei/Hindu-Christian conflict. The Centre and the state govenment can ill afford to ignore this.

(The author, a security analyst, is chief editor, WordSword Features & Media.)