Peace after ethnic and communal conflicts remains like a mirage or an illusive bird, says a Meitei educationist in Jiribam.
"Peace you are looking for cannot come with 100 per cent efforts of one or two people....But it can come with one per cent effort of 100 people," he maintained.
Manipur’s cycle of violence has halted for a while. Jiribam adjoining Assam is also calm but what we have on ground is an unease peace. The silence does not look good as of now.
"Life is tough....Our life without Boksha (pork) was unthinkable even a few months back," said a villager at Zairawn not far from Jiribam town area where Meiteis are in substantial numbers.
Daniel Hmar says - "We have to take a longer route ... and go to generally peaceful Bengali dominated areas in Barak valley of Assam in Silchar or Fulertl only by hiring an auto and then take a local boat or a steamer... One person spends about Rs 500 for to and fro journey and reaching out the market to buy essentials, Chaol (rice) Dal and Boksha (pork)".
Moreover when shop keepers in Fulertol or other pockets see them, they are charged much higher.
According to a local elder K Khuma, "these are fueling bitterness and the bitterness is never good for normalcy and reconciliation".
The Meitei-Kuki conflicts started in May 2023 in Imphal-Churachandpur region. but Jiribam was untouched. But in June and later in November 2024 this region also witnessed violence.
David Haokip, spokesman of Kuki Inpi Jiribam and Tamenglong region, says: "The outside elements were responsible for triggering the clashes...they have their own motives to fuel the crisis here".
According to him the violence was kicked off to ensure 'Meitei domination' on the National Highway 37.
But in Jiribam region, the Meitei citizenry deny any such motive. The clashes actually happened accidentally, they insist.
"It is time all of us should work for peace....," says a student leader at Jiribam.
However, he counsels 'strangers and visiting journalists' to travel carefully beyond Lal Pani locality.
The hamlet Lal Pani and adjoining places are dominated by Bengali Muslims. But beyond it are two Kuki-dominated villages Sejang and Mongbung and hence his 'indications' are clear.
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| Daniel Haokip |
There is another version to the cause of violence in Jiribam - the presence of a faction of Meitei armed militant group UNLF.
Daniel Hmar and others say the Arambai Tenggol (Meitei militia) and the UNLF (the insurgent group) attacked the Hmar villagers and houses were ransacked.
Hence a good number of them have left with women and children but about 100 others are putting up together eating from a general common community kitchen.
"We are alive today because Assam Rifles came on time," says Daniel.
"Initially a group of Meitei people and armed militants attacked the village and a few women were attacked," says Khuma adding gradually things became tough as the number of armed Meitei men had swelled rather quickly.
"Our complaint is against the state police and some other forces who did not came to our rescue...But when Assam Rifles soldiers came things were brought under control," says Khuma.
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| Life goes on !! |
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| Deserted houses |
Parts of a woman body were found later, he says. An FIR was of course registered later and the charge was that the woman victim was “raped and burnt alive”.
The Manipur People’s Army (MPA), the armed wing of the UNLF (Pambei), is also suspect, sources allege.
Obviously such killings can only set off a chain of events, with more than 25 people ultimately killed in separate incidents in just a few days.
Asked about the need to make efforts to bring in peace, Khuma and other Hmar people say - things are too early for that.
"But the peace should prevail with better sense working on both sides.... It may need six months to six years to revive the past harmony and it may need much longer time too" -- is a refrain.
Was there a conspiracy to pull Jiribam into a whirlpool of violence -- is a question everyone is asking.
But answers are not available. And even if some people think they should speak out - they speak vaguely.
Analysts say as the months passed by, Manipur saw a "proliferation of weapons" and there is still regular raids by central forces and police and arms are being recovered.
arms recovery snaps
Obviously when armed men from either group got killed, tension is bound to escalate.
One retired arm officer who visited his in-laws in Silchar in Assam told this blogger during the train journey between Badarpur and Lumding:
"There have been instances where civilians from Meiteis as well as Kukis or Hmars have ventured into the so-called enemy territory and probably got attacked mercilessly and robbed and some even had gone missing".
According to him, every wave of violence has followed almost a same pattern; and this only shows the malady is much more serious.
ends
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