MANIPUR VIOLENCE
INTRODUCTION
The Manipur, hilly north-east Indian state sits east of Bangladesh and borders Myanmar. It is home to an estimated 3.3 million people. More than half are Meitei’s, while around 43% are Kukis and Nagas, the predominant minority tribes.
Previously from the beginning of element before independence and after independence also there were many issues happened, in 1993 there was great flick between the nagas and Kukis communities this flick leads to 300 people dead and 500 got injured, there are many issues for battle mostly about religion; the Kukis and Nagas who are tribes converted into Christianity, because of this many Meitei’s were converted into Christianity. So the population of Hindus in Manipur became low percentage the Christianity percentage was high. So Manipur is go
Tensions had been simmering between the two communities recently, driven in part by the Meitei-controlled state government. The government was accused of pursuing policies that discriminated against Kukis, including forced evictions that threatened the security of their land, and through an attempt to cast them as illegal immigrants. The violence was sparked by a court ruling in March that granted the majority Meitei “scheduled tribal status”, entitling them to the same economic benefits and quotas in government jobs and education as the minority Kuki.
‘Unprecedented magnitude of violence‘
The conflict between mostly Hindu Meitei’s and largely Christian Kukis first broke out in May. Over 150 people have been killed and more than 60,000 people have been forced to leave their homes as the army, paramilitary forces and police struggle to quell violence. Tensions boiled over when Kukis began protesting against demands from the Meitei’s to be given official tribal status, which the Kukis argued would strengthen their already strong influence on government and society, allowing them to buy land or settle in predominantly Kuki areas. The Kukis say a war on drugs waged by the Meitei-led government is a screen to uproot their communities; illegal migration from Myanmar has heightened kuki and Meitei’s tensions. There is pressure on land use from a growing population and unemployment has pushed youth towards the various militias.
MEDIA COVERAGE – Mainstream media channels from India ignored the Manipur conflict for a while, and covered it only after a viral video surfaced showing two naked women being paraded by a mob. Major newspapers and broadcast media from Manipur and the rest of India have avoided reporting on violence faced by the Christian-majority Kukis, while highlighting violence by Kuki militants. Three of the most read English newspapers in the region did not even report on the incident of a mob burning a woman and a boy alive. The Sangai Express referred to Kukis by the adjective “aliens” in an editorial, while an editorial in the Imphal Free Press justified the villagers looting arms from the security forces in the state.
On 21 July, ANI incorrectly reported that a Muslim man has been arrested in connection to the incident in which two naked women were seen paraded forcibly by a mob in a viral video. ANI later apologized for the tweet, saying that it was based on an erroneous reading of previously published tweets by Manipur Police.
According to local media, the attack in May came after fake reports a Meitei woman had been raped by Kuki militiamen. This unleashed “a new, deadly cycle of reprisal violence on Kuki tribal women allegedly by Meitei mobs”,
The Print says.
AUTHOR: SHAHEEN MOGHAL, a Student of JAGARLAMUDI CHANDRAMOULI COLLEGE OF LAW
