Ethnic identities have always played an important role in the socioeconomic life of Manipur — they have influenced landownership patterns and shaped the contours of the state’s political faultlines.
Nov 16, 2024 01:30 IST First published on: Nov 16, 2024 at 03:30 IST
In the 19 months since Manipur has been roiled by ethnic conflict, the state government’s actions have been restricted to empty rhetoric, blaming outsiders, imposing internet bans and issuing vague promises of dialogue. The Centre’s moves to bring the warring communities to the negotiating table too have not inspired confidence. Now, after a fresh spell of violence, the Union Home Ministry has reimposed the Disturbed Area status under the Armed Force Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in six police stations of the state. The area covered under the Act may not be large. However, given the history of opposition to AFSPA in Manipur — and other parts of the Northeast — the move could aggravate the atmosphere of distrust in the state.
Ethnic identities have always played an important role in the socioeconomic life of Manipur — they have influenced landownership patterns and shaped the contours of the state’s political faultlines. The latest conflict began with a Meitei demand for ST status and a Kuki-Zomi pushback. The conflict has displaced people from both sides and taken a heavy toll of lives and livelihoods of people. Today, volunteers from both communities reportedly patrol villages as part of “defence committees”. More than 5,000 weapons looted during the early months of the conflict remain missing. The police and the army have not been on the same page in how to deal with the warring groups. The problem also is that the state government continues to view the problem from the sole prism of law and order. Its blinkered outlook could compound the difficulties of the Armed Forces in the Northeast, at a time when neighbouring Myanmar and Bangladesh are embroiled in political turmoil.
AFSPA was first imposed in Manipur in 1958 in the Naga-dominated districts of Senapati, Tamenglong and Ukhrul. In the 1960s, the Act was extended to the Kuki-Zomi-dominated Churachandpur district. The rest of the state came under its sway in 1979, when groups in the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley began an armed insurgency. The sweeping powers it provides to the Armed Forces made the Act unpopular. In 2000, activist Irom Sharmila began a hunger strike against AFSPA that would continue for 16 years. In 2004, the then-UPA government set up a five-member committee under former Supreme Court Justice Jeevan Reddy. The Commission recommended the repeal of AFSPA a year later, describing the Act as “highly undesirable”. The Second Administrative Reforms Commission endorsed these recommendations. In recent years, the Centre has been rolling back AFSPA from several parts of the Northeast. As Union Home Minister Amit Shah rightly pointed out in 2021, these moves have been guided by the decline of militancy in the region, fast-tracked by the government’s development projects. Manipur, it appears, has been an outlier. Once amongst the most prosperous regions in the Northeast, the state now brings up the rear in most socioeconomic listings. It’s imperative, therefore, that the Centre and state government address political and administrative failures, and not resort to blunt measures such as the restoration of AFSPA.
