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Kuki-Meitei ethnic clash-2023

The prevailing crisis in the state which has taken several lives and displaced thousands of people from both communities resulted after the communal clash erupted on May 3, 2023 in the state. However, there are a series of incidents and chain of events which eventually caused the ongoing strife in the state. As the state government started taking up a series of initiatives such as identifying the illegal immigrants, intensify War on Drugs and eviction drives against illegal encroachers, these initiatives drew strong reactions from the Kuki community, mainly under the instigation of Kuki Militants which became hostile towards the state government and the Meitei community. The incident is further worsened by painting a communal angle against the Government.

Origin of the crisis ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

1. The sub-committee for identification of illegal immigrants

llegal immigration from Myanmar poses significant threat for Manipur due to various reasons such as potential security threats, strain on limited resources, and socio-political tensions arising from demographic changes. To deal with this issue a Cabinet Sub-Committee comprising three ministers, Shri Letpao Haokip, Shri Awangbow Newmai, and Shri Th Basantakumar Singh, was constituted to oversee the issue of illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries like Myanmar and Bangladesh. The committee was formed based on a decision made by the State Cabinet on January 18, 2023. The Committee under the chairmanship of Shri Letpao Haokip, a Kuki Minister began the preparations for conducting. verification drives in five hill districts, namely Chandel, Kamjong, Tengnoupal, Pherzawl, and Churachandpur, which share a 398 km long international border with Myanmar. Within just one week of this exercise, a whopping 2480 illegal immigrants were detected in various districts. On the other hand, the committee also found out various new settlements. established by the illegal immigrants. The details are as follows:

2. The War on Drugs The War on Drugs campaign severely affected the cartels run by the illegal immigrants in the hill districts. During the period from March 2022 till March 17, 2023, as many as 3420.371 Acres of poppy cultivation have been destroyed while 529.23 Kg of Opium and Heroin, 567. 12 kg of brown sugar were seized. Drugs worth Rs. 1338,04,84,350 (One thousand three hundred thirty-eight crores, four lakhs, eighty-four thousand, three hundred and fifty) in International Market were seized during the mentioned period. A total of 691 persons were arrested and 568 cases were registered during the said period. As many as 16 village chief, 62 cultivators and 2 investors have been arrested. The massive crackdown against the drug cartels have naturally brought animosity against the state government.

3. Eviction on Reserved Forest (RF) and Protected Forest (PF) Manipur has been witnessing massive decline in forest cover due to illegal encroachment and poppy plantations. The decline in forest cover is closely linked to massive influx of illegal immigrants as they require land to settle and expand the poppy plantations. These fact are further substantiated by data collected through surveys conducted using satellite imagery and aerial surveys. To fight this alarming situation, the state government have identified various illegal encroachments both in the hills & the valley and subsequently eviction drives were carried out by strictly adhering to the law. This move further affected the drug cartels and began to label the government as anti-kuki.

4.	Schedule Tribe demand

On 27th March the Manipur High Court directed the state government to recommend inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list. This directive of the Hon’ble High Court has been made the tipping point of the violence that happened in Manipur but the fact of the matter is that the Manipur Government have never acted on this directive given the complexity of this issue. Therefore, targeting the Government on this issue is not only baseless but also expose the poor attempt the portray the government as anti-tribals.

5.	Kangpokpi peace rally

To further push the hatemongering against the state government in retaliation of the eviction drives and surveys, a so-called ‘peace rally’ was carried out on March 10 in Kuki settled areas in the state. According to the Kuki Inpi Manipur, the rally was an appeal to the Governor of Manipur to intervene in the issue pertaining to the Reserve Forest, Protected Forest, Protected Sites, Wildlife Sanctuaries and the extension of Land Revenue in the Scheduled Hill Areas of Manipur. This was one of the main event that began to showcase resistance against the Government’s moves on eviction drive.

6.	Torching of open gym in Churachandpur As the hate campaign escalated, the proposed Open Gym at PT Sport Complex in Churachandpur, which was scheduled to be inaugurated by Chief Minister N Biren Singh on April 28, was torched by unknown miscreants on April 27, a week before the crisis erupted on May 3. This was the beginning of the direct and personal attack against Hon’ble Chief Minister, Shri N Biren Singh who had caused so much heartburn and pain to the drug cartels.

7.	The Tribal Solidarity March, the 3rd of May

In continuation of the hate campaign against N Biren Singh led state government, the ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ on May 3 was called by ATSUM in all the 10 hill districts of the state to oppose the demand for inclusion of Meitei community in the ST category. The ATSUM said it was organised to express dissent to the ‘persistent demands of the Meitei community for its inclusion in the ST category’ gaining momentum. However, this March participated by several Kuki militants by openly carrying arms was not against the ST Demand at all. It was an open call for violence against the Meiteis. During this rally, violence began in Churachandpur as early as 10:30 am where the miscreants burnt down a Forest Beat Office at Bungmual village, followed by similar destruction of Forest Beat Offices at Mata Mualnam village at 12:30 pm and Saikot village at 1:30 pm. Along with it, the Kuki militants began burning of Meitei houses in different parts of Churachandpur district. It was only at around 7:30 pm that the Meitei community reacted and torch houses, shops, vehicles and government quarters in Paite Veng of Sangaiprou in Imphal West district. It may be pointed out that the reaction from the Meitei community came after a gap almost 10 hours after the violence began at 10.30 am Bungmual village in Churachandpur district. The list of events that followed this fateful day are enclosed as annexure for your kind reference.