As Ernest Hemingway writes in his A Farewell to Arms (1929), “The world breaks everyone, and afterwards many are strong at the broken places”
The state and central government intentionally ignoring to neutralise the so-called ‘Ethnic Crisis’ in Manipur and with the series of attacks and sporadic unrest in the state, what has been happening since 3rd May, 2023, can never be called a simple ethnic crisis. Moreover, a few had claimed ‘it was an asymmetric warfare against civilians’.
As we mourn the loss of three innocent souls, a seven-year-old child in the relief camp was raped and inhumanely killed. While a five-year-old and a five-month-old child were killed at Tronglaobi by the brutal attack of suspected Kuki militants in their home when they were fast asleep in the warmth of their mother’s bosom, leaving their mother wounded and traumatised. The people of Manipur cry with anger with the state and central government failing to guard the children when their father, a BSF, was away guarding India.
The thought of losing two innocent children who knew nothing about the ethnic conflict sends shivers down everyone’s spine. Our hearts are heavier than strength can bear. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters of Manipur stand wounded yet fighting stronger and resilient. However, there is an unanswered question that lingers in every sensible soul: what wrong had these innocent lives ever done to deserve such cruelty? Moreover, we are left to wonder who will answer for their deaths and where justice shall be found.
We often hear the phrase “Sanaleibak Manipur” used as a term of endearment for Manipur. However, at moments like this, the expression feels deeply paradoxical. There is no denying that Manipur is a place of remarkable beauty; its landscapes, especially the breathtaking views from the Selloi Langmai hills, have the power to captivate any heart. Its rich cultural heritage and graceful dance forms further add to its charm. However, can scenic beauty and cultural brilliance alone define a land as “Sana Leibak”? When morality and humanism begin to erode, and such atrocious acts take place, the very essence of that endearment comes into question.
If one examines the political instability in Manipur, one may feel that someone, somewhere, is constantly instigating unrest. The peace and stability of the land have been repeatedly undermined. State leadership has frequently faced questions of accountability and governance. Political disagreements and internal party contradictions, including instances where administrations have distanced themselves from prior decisions these have further complicated the situation. The recent killing of two children has also raised renewed questions about the effectiveness of ongoing peace efforts.
There is a growing scepticism and distrust among the public regarding who actually instigated the Tronglaobi attack. Various Kuki-Zo groups, including ITLF, UPF and KNO, have condemned the attack, rejecting allegations against the Kuki-Zo community as baseless and false. Even the UKNA, whose four cadres were arrested by the state in connection with the incident, has denounced the attack, stating that the organisation neither condones nor engages in violence against children under any circumstances. Meanwhile, some expressed during a live television discussion that the incident may be linked to a power struggle between those in power and describing it as an act of terrorism allegedly engineered by elements within the government.
The Chief Minister’s recent visit to Jiribam, travelling by road through sensitive areas, was accompanied by the claim that he is the only Chief Minister to have made such a journey since the outbreak of ethnic violence. At the same time, the government has presented the visit as part of efforts to normalise the situation and as an initiative to promote peace through trust-building. But it has been widely perceived by the masses as symbolic, particularly as it involved a Meitei leader entering a Kuki-dominated area leading many to question whether the visit represents a genuine step toward conflict resolution or merely a symbolic gesture aimed at securing a place in history as someone who initiated dialogue during an inter-community crisis.
Everyone wants peace and a stable state this is undeniable. People across Manipur, whether in relief camps, vulnerable areas, or elsewhere, feel a deep sense of abandonment as both the state and central governments have failed to protect its people and their identity, including their land. The unrest that erupted in response to the killing of two innocent children, which subsequently led to the deaths of three civilians, has further intensified public anger and raised serious questions about the tactics used by central forces to control the mob, and this has further eroded public trust in state machinery. The ongoing cycle of attacks, killings, condemnations, and the transfer of cases to the NIA, often followed by slow investigations, has deepened public despair and anger.
As students of sociology, we often encounter theories suggesting that society’s norms and values shape individuals’ sense of self and behaviour within the social context. Our thoughts, emotions and behaviours are not isolated but are influenced by the social world around us. In “Mind, Self, and Society”, George Herbert Mead explores the dynamic relationship between an individual’s mind, the development of self-identity and the broader societal and cultural context in which they exist. In short, society is reflected in individual consciousness. Thus, individual deviances in conflict are shaped by reflections of psychophysiological conditions resulting from the systematic collapse of the social order and cannot be seen merely as an individual deviance.
Elyne Mitchell writes in her book Soil and Civilisation, “Divorced from his roots, man loses his psychic stability.” Although she writes from an environmentalist perspective, this statement holds when we consider people who are uprooted from their homes and homesteads by the ongoing ethnic crisis. Another thinker, Edward S. Casey, explains that people who have lost places they once inhabited but can no longer reenter experience what he calls “place pathology,” including symptoms such as disorientation, memory loss, homelessness, and various forms of estrangement from the self and others.
The people living both in relief camps and in violence-affected, insecure areas experience a form of “place pathology” and are rendered powerless. The ‘solastalgia’ people face is marked by a deep sense of melancholy, a lack of solace, and intense desolation, and is worsened by the government’s unwillingness to provide a comprehensive support policy. This condition has, in some cases, driven individuals to commit suicide inside as well as outside the relief camps, due to the pain they experience when they recognise that the place they live in and love is under assault. In the recent incident an advocate, identified as Sinam Appollo, attempted self-immolation in front of Lok Bhavan. The 32-year-old lawyer from Imphal West allegedly attempted the act following the Tronglaobi bomb attack, which had triggered widespread anger and unrest across the valley. Such an act reflects the deepening psychological distress among affected populations.
The dynamics of the breakdown in relationships between individuals and their communities have long been the subject of psychological and sociological investigation. As J. Douglas writes, social instability, as manifest in either too much or too little solidarity with others, can be a root cause of psychic instability and be manifested in drug abuse, mental illness and suicide. As reported by The Wire, one resident living in a relief camp in the Moirang area shared that he had attempted suicide after struggling to meet even the most basic needs of his family. There are many other similar cases. This situation can be understood as a form of “existential suicide,” where individuals seek to escape a profound sense of meaninglessness and purposelessness in their lives. There is also a broader social dimension to this condition, reflected in the breakdown of the relationship between humans and their environment, which contributes to psychological instability.
In Suicide, Émile Durkheim introduces the concept of anomie, a state in which the erosion or absence of social norms leads to intense personal distress, often resulting in psychiatric disorders and what he terms “anomic suicide.” The ongoing ethnic crisis has shattered the norms in our society, disproportionately increasing social problems. As people grow increasingly hopeless and powerless in their search for employment, income, and stability, issues such as alcoholism, substance abuse, and violence against women have become more prevalent. In extreme cases, this has led to sexual violence and rape, contributing to a broader pattern of community dysfunction and deepening social crisis.
At times, one is compelled to wonder whether the uprooting of people from their homes and placing them in relief camps for so long, with nothing to call home without a sense of belonging, has made them so inhuman that they have lost their sense of compassion and basic humanistic moral values that lead to the rape and killing of children within these spaces. And this raises a concern whether the perpetrator should be viewed as an individual deviating from societal norms, or as an anomic product of a system shaped by displacement, trauma and prolonged instability?
A proper institutional psychological support system is the need of the hour as part of a sustainable peace-building project. In view of the fact that after leaving relief camps and returning to their homes, many continue to live in fear, uncertain of when the next attack might occur, even within the supposed safety of their home. The state’s responsibility to maintain law and order has repeatedly come into question. As a result, public trust in state institutions has significantly eroded. In contrast, confidence in government institutions can only be restored when violence is effectively controlled, with armed groups prevented from carrying out further attacks. Thus, military camps must be dismantled through an intensive operation and restore the state’s monopoly and legitimate use of power. The investigations and judicial procedures must also be fast-tracked and transparent, with no space for impunity. Meanwhile, free movement must be restored across the state’s community only through sustained security and confidence-building measures, including peace initiatives with legitimate stakeholders rather than merely symbolic ones. So the government must identify who truly represents each side and engage with appropriate stakeholders in meaningful dialogue.
The ongoing crisis in Manipur has gone far beyond the boundaries of a conventional ethnic conflict. It reflects a deeper breakdown of trust, governance, social order, and human security. The prolonged existence of relief camps, continued violence, and the inability of the state to restore normalcy have left entire communities in a condition of fear, displacement, and psychological distress. What is unfolding is not only a political crisis but also a profound humanitarian and sociological emergency that has disrupted the relationship between individuals, society, and the state. In such a context, symbolic gestures or partial measures are no longer sufficient. The lived realities of displaced populations, ongoing insecurity, and repeated cycles of violence demand a comprehensive and sustained resolution. Above all, justice cannot be reduced to “forgive and forget.” The demand for truth, accountability, and justice remains central to restoring public trust and social healing.
The author is a PhD Scholar in the Department of Sociology, Manipur University, Canchipur
