Two recent Manipur related events demonstrated how dangerously touchy prolonged conflicts can make stakeholders. The first was a statement by the Director General Assam Rifles, Lt. Gen. Vikash Lakhera, during an August 20 Manipur University seminar. The AR chief, in his address said 42,000 immigrants had crossed over from Myanmar since December 2024. He also said AR, which is in charge of the 1643 kms Indo-Myanmar border, has biometric records of all these immigrants.
Quite tellingly, there were two contrasting sets of responses to the officer’s statement. Many Meitei organisations, and very prominently the former chief minister, Nongthombam Biren Singh, took to the social media proclaiming that their claims all along that there have constant influxes of illegal populations from across the border into Manipur, has been vindicated. Biren Singh also claimed that these 42,000 were in detention camps.
The other set, essentially Kuki-Zo organisations, straight away presumed Gen. Lakhera’s statement was directed at them and came out with a string of press statements in denial and called for a white paper on the matter to prove the “allegation”.
Those who were at the seminar, or watched the video recording of the event, know Gen. Lakhera never used the adjective “illegal” in naming these immigrants, or said the crossover happened only in Manipur, or named Kuki-Zo tribes as those crossing over.
Quite obviously, after two years of bitter conflict, people are extremely touchy, making them prone to reading between the lines even at the cost of missing what are actually in print, to then jump to conclusions preconditioned by their sensitivities. The AR made a press clarification, and the parties withdrew from their respective stances. The episode is reminiscent of Bertrand Russell’s essay, “The harm that good men do”. In this tense atmosphere, caution is called for even while making innocent statements.
The second event is a little more sinister. The non-profit People’s Union for Civil Liberty, PUCL, came out with its own version of the causes and consequences of the Meitei-Kuki-Zo conflict in a report that it pompously described as an independent people’s tribunal.
This report, has stirred the proverbial hornets’ nest, opening up old wounds. Again, the responses are broadly from two opposite camps. Amongst the prominent organisations which have praised the report publicly, is the Kuki National Organisation, KNO, an umbrella group of 17 Kuki militant outfits now under a Suspension of Operation, SoO, agreement with the Central and State governments. By contrast, those who feel the PUCL report is motivated are Meitei organisations who see it as a cover up for the alleged involvement of Kuki militants in the conflict.
The report is nearly 700 pages, and most would have read only its non-documentary reportage and commentaries sections. A four-page executive summary by PUCL also gives an overview of the thrust of the report.
Some of the damaging allegations against it are: The report did not take cognizance of photos and video clips showing the presence of Kuki militants with lethal assault rifles taking part in the May 3, 2023, rally in Churachandpur against the demand by a section of Meiteis for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribes list. The report is also silent on why Nagas, who also took out the same rally in districts dominated by them, did not join the conflict.
It also implies violence started in the valley and spread to the hills, although pictures and video footages, viral on internet hours before riots in some pockets in Imphal began, point otherwise. The major mayhem in Imphal was on May 4. It further plays down poppy cultivation menace as a factor behind the conflict, and instead implies this crop covertly had the blessings of people in the administration. Most of the report’s claims also suspiciously echo past public statements by KNO’s suave spokesperson in interviews and press releases. The report does appeal for peace, but its many seeming insinuations have made the appeal bland and farcical to many.
Gen. Lakhera was able to put to rest tension arising out of his statement with just one clarification, but it does look PUCL will need much more to convince all it did not cherry pick data to ratify its preconceived picture of Manipur’s conflict.
The article was first published in The Telegraph. The original can be read HERE
Editor, Imphal Review of Arts and Politics and author
