It's time Modi, Shah wake up to resolve Manipur mess

For Manipur, the month of September 2024 began on a turbulent note. Since May 2023, Manipur has been engulfed in severe ethnic violence primarily between the Meitei and Kuki communities. The conflict began after the Manipur High Court recommended granting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Meitei community, which led to protests by the Kuki community.

Over 16 months have passed but the Central government headed by Narendra Modi has turned a blind eye to ensuring peace in Manipur. It has not shown any inclination or urgency in resolving the issue. This lack of interest by the NDA government has led to a situation where the conflict between communities is assuming dangerous proportions. On the first day of September, a violent clash between Kuki-Zo armed groups and security forces erupted along the border of the Meitei-dominated Imphal West and Kuki- dominated Kangpokpi districts.

Now, Manipur has witnessed a surge in violence involving drone and rocket attacks. After back-to-back drone strikes, the state was jolted last Friday by suspected tribal militants carrying out the first reported rocket attacks in the state’s Bishnupur district, resulting in the death of a 70-year-old man, reported to be a priest, and injuries to at least five others with three Indian Reserve Battalion barracks destroyed. These attacks followed the use of drones to drop crude bombs on villages in Imphal West, which had already caused fatalities and injuries earlier in the week. The rocket attack has triggered unrest in the Valley districts. The Coordination committee on Manipur Integrity has declared a “public emergency.” These attacks have also angered the protesters across five districts of the Imphal Valley who formed human chains to protest the heinous attacks. They condemned the Manipur government’s timidity.

The use of drones and rocket attacks should serve as an eye opener for the NDA government at the Centre to curb violence in Manipur which is rooted in long-standing ethnic tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities. The conflict has escalated over issues related to land, political representation, and cultural identity. The Prime Minister, the Union Home minister and the BJP government in Manipur should take this development of suspected militants using air attacks on the civilian population seriously. They should realise that the use of advanced weaponry like drones and improvised rockets marks a dangerous escalation in the conflict, leading to increased casualties and displacement of people. One hopes, this will not take a turn like we see in the West Asia conflict where there are large-scale killings and displacement of human lives. It’s time that both the prime minister and the Union home minister take these deadly incidents seriously in Manipur and act responsibly.

They should show urgency in the matter to avoid the situation going out of hand like it happened in Punjab in the early 1980s and in Jammu and Kashmir where thousands of human lives were lost and people displaced. This should be a pointer for the government to wake up and not turn a blind eye to the volatile situation in Manipur. The Prime Minister is keen to ‘end wars’ in Ukraine and Gaza. Good intentions no doubt but also look at the human suffering in Manipur. Amit Shah is absolutely right when he says that “Talks and bombs cannot go together.” At the same time, letting the use of ‘drones and rockets’ by militants in Manipur continue unfettered is also dangerous. Hope Mr Shah will take note of this development which is dangerous no doubt. It’s time the Manipur mess is resolved to save human suffering and the use of aerial weaponry not allowed to become the new norm.