All is Not Well.
The breach of trust and confidence remains.
However, the candle of hope of reconciliation flickers.
A meeting between 'Meitei Chief Minister' Y Khemchand Singh and Kuki-Zo community leaders could not be held either at Imphal (Meitei stronghold) or Churachandpur (Kuki hub).
It was held in Guwahati --- in Assam on Saturday, March 21.
(An elderly internally displaced person gets emotional during an interaction with Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand, PTI photo/ The Deccan Herald )
This is the first time that a Chief Minister of the state has met and engaged with Kuki Zomi Council since ethnic violence broke out in May 2023. Insurgent groups under Suspension of Operations (SoO) arrangements with the government have been engaged in talks with representatives of the Union government’s Ministry of Home Affairs, during which they have been demanding a separate administration in the form of a Union Territory.
KZC leaders who attended the meeting, which lasted around an hour and 45 minutes, called it an “ice-breaker” and “introductory” one and indicated the possibility of more interactions in the future.
A refrain has gone that this meeting would not have been possible had N Biren Singh remained the chief minister. Hence; at least the Govt of India and the BJP central leadership was right about two things -- replacing Biren and lifting President's Rule and bringing Khemchand (an amiable personality) to be the new chief minister.
Yet, there remain ... miles to go; and one may not be still sure on what's there at the end of the tunnel.
For small trader Laithangbam Noren, the Central government's decision to withdraw President's Rule and restore a government led by a new chief minister on February 4 raised hopes of returning home to Churachandpur, reports 'The Deccand Herald'.
Earlier this week, the Secretary to the Chief Minister wrote to Henlianthang Thanglet, chairperson of the KZC, requesting a meeting with him and other members of the KZC in Guwahati to “discuss matters related to bringing back peace and normalcy in Manipur”.
“We would not have agreed to the meeting if Biren Singh was still the Chief Minister. Since there is a new government, we agreed to come,” said Thanglet.
The KZC had announced a “social boycott” of MLAs from the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar community who had decided to participate in the new government when it was formed in February after a year of President’s Rule.
Thanglet said, “There was no resolution or agreement as such in the meeting. We discussed our demands, and maybe there will be more meetings to discuss them.”
In a statement, the KZC said that the issues they had raised in the meeting included the need to de-escalate tensions between Kuki and Tangkhul communities in Ukhrul district, which has been seeing violence since last month.
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| Blogger in Churachandpur ::: Writing on the wall |
The Kuki demands also include -- “maintaining the sanctity of the buffer zone” – areas between Meitei inhabited areas and Kuki-Zo inhabited areas.
These areas have largely been heavily manned by security forces through the course of the conflict.
It also stated that it raised “the imperative of ensuring justice for the victims of the conflict as a fundamental prerequisite for any meaningful peace and reconciliation process”.
Obviously, the new Manipur government's inability (under Khemchand) to thaw relations between the Meiteis and the Kukis since Febuary this year has also left many people upset.
Stating that these issues were “attentively heard by the Chief Minister”, the KZC said he “shared his concerns, commitments, and the steps undertaken by his government to restore peace and normalcy in Manipur”.
"The KZC has not changed its demand, but we are keeping an open mind,” KZC spokesperson Ginza Vualzong has been quoted as saying by 'The Deccan Herald'.
There is the other side of the story. The Meiteis demand that the "illegal migrants" — mainly Kuki-Zo — be detected with 1951 as the cut-off date.
The Kukis want a "separate administration" in the form of a Union Territory, comprising Manipur’s Kuki-dominated areas.
The clamour for a National Register of Citizens (NRC) has grown among the Metei population.
These are diametrically opposite stances and hence the talk about Reconciliation is actually easier said than done.
Misrepresentation by generalisations like ‘Meitei vs. Kuki’ or ‘Meitei vs. Kuki-Zo’ are repeatedly perpetuated, complained a 20-something youth working with a private transport operator at Churachandur.
Her complaint was something quite similar -- one has heard probably a few decades back in Assam or even in eastern Nagaland.
"If New Delhi discriminates north east.... Dispur or Imphal discriminated Kokrajhar and Churachandpur. In the process, vested groups and political stakeholders have marginalised smaller communities Hmar and Zomi," she says.
The root of the prevailing discontent is perhaps in unresolved land issues.
Unless these disputes are meaningfully addressed, unrest will persist.
The Kuki, Naga, and Meitei communities all have competing claims and concerns over land, making it a deeply complex affair.
In the meantime, Naga-Kuki clashes have resurfaced.
Sinakeithei village in Ukhrul district came under sustained firing on Saturday afternoon, with villagers alleging that armed Kuki militants opened fire from bunker positions overlooking the area reported 'UKhrul Times', a newspaper ru from Naga-dominated Ukhrul region of Manipur.
The Kuki-Naga clashes have old scars of the 1990s when hundreds were killed on both sides. The Kukis were targeted in 1995 in Nagaland as well.
Fresh leaked footage linked to the latest attack on Sinakeithei villagers in Ukhrul district has intensified concern over what local sources describe as the continued impunity of armed Kuki militants allegedly under Suspension of Operation (SoO).
Villagers reportedly told 'Ukhrul Times' that the firing began around 1:30 pm on March 21. A Tangkhul Naga woman and her son, who were out in their fields, were caught in the open and pinned down for several hours as gunfire continued from the Lungter Kuki village side.
ends
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