The horrors of violence in Manipur. the ban on the internet has backfired and access to guns is easy

Manipur has been burning for more than 75 days now due to ethnic conflict between two communities, Meitis and Kukis. More than 150 people were killed, corpses were mutilated, women were raped, many villages were razed to the ground, and more than 50,000 people fled their homes to seek refuge in relief camps. Two months later, there is no sign of peace or normalcy. Now, due to the viral video, tension is increasing in different parts of the state. Fault lines are deepening and there is massive mistrust between the two communities. Manipur remains a tinderbox.

Why has the violence continued for so long? There are three reasons for this.

First, both the state and central authorities have failed to restore law and order. More than 30,000 security personnel from paramilitary forces were brought into Manipur in May. Additional forces were brought in last month. However, the violence continued unabated. Last month, the Prime Minister announced an unprecedented agreement with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Under it, the valley areas were to be administered by the state government and the hills by the Union government. This was similar to an unofficial declaration of presidential rule in certain areas. Despite this unique arrangement, the massacre continued.

Second, the internet ban, including broadband services, has not yet been lifted in the first week of May. The government has blocked the internet to control the spread of fake news and misinformation on social media. But in the long run it has done more harm than good. Without internet access to fact-check, the land was rife with rumours, hate speech and fake news. Any miscreants from community X trying to create trouble may resort to spreading rumors of an attack/assault by members of rival community Y in some remote village. With passions heating up, such talk becomes a basis for one community to “take revenge” by attacking nearby villages of the other community. This leads to a backlash. Thus, the vicious cycle continues.

The viral video appeared on the Internet two months after the incident. The internet ban has suppressed violent atrocities in Manipur, hidden from the rest of the world. However, the government has no intention of lifting the ban. The petition submitted to the Supreme Court was also unsuccessful. The petitioners were asked to approach the Manipur High Court.

Third, easy access to weapons and ammunition, mainly for self-defense, has prolonged the conflict. Looting of government armories and the uncontrolled flow of arms across the Myanmar border have ensured that most rural volunteer groups are armed. Young people are taught to use weapons and build bunkers to defend themselves against any provocation. When everyone is stuck in this situation, the slightest provocation can turn into an all-out gunfight, resulting in deaths and destruction of land and livelihoods. The environment of Manipur is nothing less than the environment of civil war.

The common people of the two communities have suffered a lot in the last two months. In conflict zones, men and women live in constant fear for their lives, land and property. They haven’t had a proper night’s sleep or a quiet meal for over two months. Due to the conflict, they could not cultivate rice, the staple food of the state, this cropping season. This created fear of famine the following year.

As I argued in my previous article (“Calming the Manipur storm: Lessons from Gandhi for central leadership”, IE, July 13) the way forward is an enigma that will take years of concerted effort to recover, and there are lessons to be learned from Gandhi’s Noakhali experience. I hope that the growing public pressure will finally make the government wake up and work towards restoring normalcy in the state.

The writer is the founder of the Femme First Foundation