Any prospects of
peace dawning on Manipur in 2006 have rapidly
receded, with 18 reported fatalities in the
first week of the New Year, while the last day
of 2005 saw the brutal killing of the state's
IG Police (Intelligence) summing up the year
gone by.
On December 31, 2005, Manipur Inspector
General of Police (Intelligence), T.
Thangthuam, was killed along with a constable
in an ambush by People’s Liberation Army (PLA)
militants in Manipur's Bishnupur District. In
an audacious display of power, heavily-armed
militants in a truck overtook the police
officer’s vehicle in the Oinam Bazaar area, 25
kilometers south of capital Imphal, and fired
indiscriminately, killing the two on the spot.
The officer was reportedly returning to Imphal
from Churachandpur District along National
Highway 153, when his convoy was attacked. The
incident, occurring on the last day of the
year, summed up the security situation in the
state, where the lives of common citizens as
well as of those responsible for protecting
them, stand equally threatened.
With 331 insurgency related fatalities (138
civilians, 50 security force personnel and 143
militants) in 2005, Manipur ranked second
among states worst affected by militancy in
the country, behind Jammu & Kashmir, where
1,739 lives were lost. In the fragile
northeastern region, over 46 per cent of the
total insurgency-related fatalities was
reported from Manipur, which accounts for just
6.3 per cent of the population, and 8.52 per
cent of the land mass of the region. Manipur’s
share of civilian fatalities in the Northeast
was 42 per cent, and 46 per cent of militant
fatalities also came from this state. But
fatalities among the security forces accounted
for a staggering 72 per cent of all SF
fatalities in the region, making it the most
unsafe place for the troops. These lives were
lost in sustained violence throughout the
year, with an astonishingly uniform
distribution through the year. Thus, the
first, second and fourth quarters of the year
recorded 83 deaths each, whereas the third
quarter (July-September) recorded 82 deaths.
The geographical distribution of the violence
was, however, substantially skewed. The four
Valley Districts, Imphal East, Imphal West,
Thoubal and Bishnupur, with just 11.14 per
cent of Manipur’s total area, accounted for 55
per cent of the fatalities, while the five
Hill Districts, Chandel, Churachandpur,
Tamenglong, Senapati and Ukhrul witnessed 149
of the 331 deaths (45 per cent). However,
while violence in the Valley Districts was
evenly spread, the two Hill Districts of
Churachandpur and Tamenglong, sharing their
borders with Nagaland, Assam and Mizoram, were
the worst affected, accounting for 99 of the
149 deaths. Churachandpur remained the most
violent district of the state, with 69 deaths,
followed by Imphal East, with 50 deaths.
Senapati, inhabited by the Naga and Kuki
tribes, was the least violent, accounting for
12 deaths in the year.
The situation has worsened considerably as
compared to 2004, with civilian fatalities in
2005 a full 176 per cent higher than the 2004
figure, and total fatalities up by 52 per
cent. Fatalities have risen steadily over the
past five years, and year 2005 recorded the
highest numbers since 1997.
Synchronized counter-insurgency operations
have remained central to the area-domination
exercises by Army in the state, as it competes
for tactical control against the militant
groups over vast stretches of ‘liberated
zones’. Several such operations were launched
during the year, including Operation Stinger
in October 2005, against militants holed up in
the Karang island of Bishnupur District; and
Operation Tornado in November to clear the
Belcra bowl in the Jiribam area of Imphal East
District. In October, Assam Rifles personnel
also launched another operation in the Chassad
area of Ukhrul District.
In terms of individual losses suffered by the
militant groupings, the United National
Liberation Front (UNLF) suffered the maximum,
losing 92 cadres (52 killed and 40 arrested);
the PLA lost 80 (26 killed and 54 arrested);
and the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) 68 (33
killed and 35 arrested) cadres. However, the
total neutralization of 449 militants (143
killed and 306 arrested) in 2005 had little
impact on the militancy, with 15 active
outfits operating in the state with an
estimated combined strength of 10,000 cadres.
The scale, intensity and focus of the
militancy were evident in the following major
attacks through 2005.
On January 16, UNLF killed six security force
(SF) personnel during an attack at a place
between Tuilaphai and Sijon village in
Churachandpur District.
On April 25, two Assam Rifles personnel were
killed and four others sustained injuries
during an ambush by UNLF militants on their
vehicle at Sonapur under Jiribam police
station in the Imphal East District.
On July 10, three Assam Rifles personnel were
killed and seven persons, including two
civilians, were injured as PLA militants
triggered a powerful bomb explosion and
subsequently ambushed an SF patrol in the
Waithou Area of Thoubal District.
On September 19, 10 SF personnel were killed
in an attack by KYKL militants at upper
Ngaryan Hills range in the Bishnupur District.
On September 21, two BSF personnel were killed
in an ambush by the PLA at Kumbi-Khodrak Road
under the Kumbi Police Station in Bishnupur
District.
On November 8, twenty-one persons, including
13 women, were injured in an explosion at the
Thangal market area in Imphal city. Two
persons subsequently succumbed to their
injuries.
On November 13, three CRPF personnel were
killed and two others sustained injuries in an
ambush by the UNLF at a spot between Kaimai
and Sibilong, under Nungba police station in
the Tamenglong District.
The reign of terror manifests in other forms
as well, as the rule of militants combines
with a complete retreat of civil governance.
The militants continue to terrorize and extort
with impunity, and people have little option
but to abide by their diktats. Refusal to
‘cooperate’ is rare, and invites immediate and
extreme penalties. On March 2, 2005,
unidentified militants shot at and injured Th.
Kulachandra, Principal of the Manipur
Institute of Technology, Takyelpat, at
Mongsangei in the Imphal West District for
refusing to meet an extortion demand of INR
500,000. On August 25, the Taxation Wing of
the state government ceased functioning for a
day following en masse leave taken by the
employees following threats from several
militant groups. On October 25 and again on
November 26, 3000 employees of the Manipur
government posted in Thoubal District took out
a silent rally at the District Headquarters to
protest against extortion demands by militant
outfits and the abduction of persons for
non-payment of ‘dues’. In the months of June
and July, the Kuki Movement for Human Rights (KMHR)
petitioned the Prime Minister to take steps to
stop the National Socialist Council of
Nagaland – Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) extortion
from Kuki villagers in the Tamenglong
District.
Militant power, evident in the numerous
decrees passed during the previous years, was
further consolidated through new demands and
decrees in 2005:
On January 6, the KYKL decreed that girl
students of classes IX and X must wear
eeyongphi phanek (the traditional local dress)
to school.
In February, the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP)
banned government doctors from working in
private clinics.
On March 1, the KYKL banned ‘cabin
restaurants’ in the state, terming them a
‘major factor in the moral degeneration of
society".
In May, the PLA banned the sale and
consumption of tobacco products in Imphal.
On June 21, the KYKL asked civilians not to
attend or take part in the civic action
programs of the Security Forces.
On September 16, the KCP banned shooting and
exhibition of digital movies and music albums
for a year.
In November first week, the KYKL banned local
fairs in the state, describing them as the
"bed rock of immorality, obscenity and drug
abuse".
Though there were some attempts by the
marginalized civil society to raise murmurs of
protest, the militants continue to hold sway
and browbeat all opposition into submission.
As a result, vast stretches of the state’s
territory, including some areas in the
immediate neighborhood of the state capital,
continue to remain out of the control of the
state machinery and are traversable only under
substantial armed escorts.
The situation has taken a particular turn for
the worse, and the Army’s image has taken a
severe beating, since the alleged rape and
custodial killing of Manorama Devi, whom the
Army described as a PLA militant, on July 11,
2004, in the Leipharok Maring village in
Imphal East District. Since then, the demand
for the withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special
Powers Act (AFSPA) has been interspersed with
demands for the complete withdrawal of the
Army from the state. While the latter demand
has been rejected as impossible to meet by the
union government, its vacillation on the
continuation of the AFSPA has attracted severe
criticism in the state. The Jeevan Reddy
Committee appointed to look into the working
of the AFSPA submitted its report in June 2005
recommending its withdrawal. A good six months
thereafter, Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee,
on December 27, 2005, remarked ambivalently,
"The recommendations of the high powered
review committee have been discussed with the
Home Minister and a decision would be taken by
the government soon." Further, the Ministry of
Home Affairs, in the first week of January
2006, stated that the Act was being "amended
and relaxed", in view of the Army’s opposition
to its complete withdrawal. It is not clear
whether the Army will be able to operate
effectively under the diluted Act,
particularly where the majority opinion within
the state supports the demand that it be
scrapped in its entirety.
Peace remains elusive in the state despite
some political initiatives. On March 7, Chief
Minister Ibobi Singh said that his government
has received proposals for peace talks from
two militant groups in the state. Two weeks
later, on March 21, the Chief Minister was
talking of ‘sending feelers’ to the UNLF. On
July 15, the state Legislative Assembly passed
a resolution urging the union government to
initiate peace talks with the militant
outfits. Policy makers and potential
‘negotiators’, however, had little to offer,
in the face of the total indifference
demonstrated by militant groups. Even though
the union government managed to affect
cessation of hostility with eight minor Kuki
militant groups in September 2005, the
non-involvement of and subsequent opposition
by the state government created an avoidable
and unwelcome schism between the security
setup and the state government.
In any event, peace deals with the fragmented
and marginalized Kuki groups had little
operational value; in the year 2005 the eight
outfits had been responsible for the death of
just five civilians and one SF personnel.
Major groups such as the UNLF, on the other
hand, either rebuffed intermittent appeals for
peace or prevaricated with fanciful demands,
such as UN mediation.
Evidence of a nexus between the political
classes and the insurgents continued to pile
up. Revelations by Outlook in December,
quoting the Army Chief J.J. Singh, claimed
that Chief Minister Ibobi Singh has
contributed INR 15 million to two insurgent
groups operating in the state, revived the
persistent question of political collusion and
infirmity in the history of insurgency in the
state. Earlier, on August 26, CRPF personnel
seized a vehicle being used by the Zomi
Revolutionary Army (ZRA), which belonged to
the Chairman of the Manipur Assembly’s Hills
Areas Committee. In both the cases, the
accused denied charges.
The imposed isolation of Manipur from rest of
the country through blockades, which
intensified after the Manorama Devi episode in
2004, took a new turn when, reacting to the
state government’s decision to observe June 18
as ‘state Integrity Day’, the influential All
Naga Students Association of Manipur (ANSAM)
imposed a month and half-long economic
blockade . The state government was trapped in
a vicious dilemma of either easing the
economic hardships of the people by taking
back its decision, or protecting the demands
of ultra-regional civil society organizations,
and the blockade on National Highway 39,
apparently blessed by the NSCN-IM under its
objective to create a greater ‘Nagalim’,
dragged on till it was eventually lifted
following appeals from different forums and a
series of meetings between the state
government and ANSAM representatives. In fact,
the unresolved Naga conflict continues to
reverberate constantly in Manipur. The NSCN-IM
enjoys a free run in the Naga dominated Hill
Districts of Manipur, with the help of
sympathetic Manipuri Naga organizations like
the ANSAM and the Naga Students Federation,
internally polarizing the state between the
majority Meiteis, who live in the Valley, and
the Nagas and Kukis, in the Hills.
Any prospects of peace dawning on Manipur in
2006 have rapidly receded, with 18 reported
fatalities in the first week of the New Year.
While other states in the region are showing
sustained signs of improvement and some
significant steps towards peace, Manipur
appears to be spiraling into the abyss.
Astonishingly, the union government continues
to pay scant attention to the rising anarchy
that is Manipur.*** The
article was originally published at
www.satp.org
affiliated to the Institute for Conflict
Management.
*** The author is
Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict
Management.
*** The article has been published with due
permission from the Institute for Conflict
Management (ICM).
*** You
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