Cut off

In Keirao Makping,a tiny Muslim hamlet surrounded by paddy fields that is an hour’s drive from Imphal,Rehman’s family lives in the semi-pucca house he built for them from his earnings as a contract driver. The three-room house is painted a smooth green,one of the only painted houses in the village. A motorbike stands in the verandah of the house—Rehman had bought it for his youngest brother who will appear for his class X board exams next year. Rehman himself had studied till class IX.

“When Rehman was younger,I used to tell him to get married and that I would find him a bride. But he refused. For the last two years,he had started living with Moi,a Kuki girl,whenever he went to Jiribam. He was to bring her over after roza so that the family could meet her. But this incident took place before that and I lost my son,’’ says Rehman’s father Mohammad Muffizuddin who used to drive a cycle rickshaw before Rehman started working.

Rehman’s fiancé Moi has subsequently come and spent time with the family,says Muffizuddin. Rehman’s love story is an unusual one in these parts where inter-tribal and inter-religious marriages are frowned upon. A CD in his room,The Concept of God in Hinduism and Islam—a Dialogue between Dr Zakir Naik and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is testimony to the fact that Rehman thought differently from the rest.

“He had been felicitated a number of times by the Truckers’ Union—for not only being a good person but also for being dependable. When the blockade started,many truck drivers opted out,but he was always there. During the previous two blockades,he would come back and tell me stories about how the trucks were surrounded by protesters and stoned. He would gloat about how he got away despite many close encounters. He was not that lucky this time,’’ says Rehman’s cousin and neighbour Mohammad Janab.

History of tension

This isn’t the first time—and it won’t be the last—that Imphal Valley and the nearby hill areas have been hit by a blockade resulting from the Kuki-Naga standoff. This year,the crisis began when the United Naga Council opposed a longstanding demand of the Sadar Hills District Demand Committee to turn Sadar Hills,a Kuki-majority area in the Naga-dominated Senapati district of Manipur,into a separate district,ostensibly for more efficient administration and services. The Kukis protested and on August 31,like so often in the past,boulders cut through NH-39 (Imphal-Dimapur-Guwahati) and NH-53 (Imphal-Jiribam-Silchar). Manipur had been cut off,again.

The blockade lasted 92 days,crippling the economy of the state. It was finally lifted on the intervening night of November 1 and 2 after the state government assured the Sadar Hills Committee that their demands would be looked into. But in Manipur,one strike ends and the other begins. Now the Nagas in Senapati,Ukhrul,Chandel and Tamenglong districts have put in place a number of smaller “counter-blockades’’ to oppose the Kuki demand. The United Naga Council has called for a three-day bandh across all hill districts.

The quarrel between the two tribes dates back to the 19th century when in 1840,the then British Political Agent William McCulloh and the Manipuri King brought the Kuki tribe from neighbouring Burma and settled them on the exposed frontiers. The Kukis,essentially a nomadic tribe,were to act as a buffer between the Manipuri Kingdom and the Nagas in the north who would periodically raid the capital of Imphal.

In due course,the lines between the Naga and Kuki settlements blurred. In Senapati district,a Naga village sits next to a Kuki village along NH-53. In the early ’90s,the standoff between the tribes arose as the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) initiated its demand for a Greater Nagaland (Nagalim). It had become “essential” for the NSCN then to rid the entire region of the Kuki tribe and to declare these areas as “purely Naga” to achieve the goal of a separate Naga country.

In the period between 1992-93,the NSCN slaughtered nearly 1,000 Kukis while Kuki militants accounted for more than 300 Naga deaths. In September 1993,13 Kuki children below the age of seven were allegedly butchered at Taloulong village in the Naga-dominated Tamenglong district,176 km from Imphal.

As the NSCN continued its demand for an independent country spearheaded by its leader Muivah,the Kukis began to demand a separate Kuki Land,leading to the rise of Kuki militancy in the state. In the nineties,they set up base in the border town of Moreh,from where they would recruit cadre members from across the border in Myanmar.

The incident that escalated the ethnic tension was the killing of Onkholet Haokip,a member of the Kuki National Army,in June 1992. The Kukis claimed that the NSCN had kidnapped Haokip and that he was shot dead while trying to escape. The resultant retaliation by the Nagas led to a full-fledged confrontation. On September 13,1993,Kuki militants torched 47 houses belonging to the Nagas at Tokpa and Tubum Kabui villages in Senapati district,an incident that later came to be known as the Zoupi massacre in which 105 people were said to have been killed in under 36 hours.

A recurring theme

Just as Irom Sharmila’s 11-year-old hunger strike has become a trademark of protests in Manipur,with smaller hunger strikes taking place whenever an issue arises (including during the recent blockade when numerous small camps came up along the two national highways,where women sat on relay hunger strikes),economic blockades are used by opposing camps to get the government to bend in their favour.

While this year’s 92-day economic blockade has been the longest-ever witnessed by the people of the state,last year the state faced a 62-day blockade called by the United Naga Council that was opposing local Autonomous District Council elections—their demand was that Naga areas be given complete autonomy and not fall under the Manipur state government at all. The blockade was intensified when Naga leader Muivah,who hails from Manipur’s Ukhrul district,was denied permission to visit Manipur.

In 2004-5,Manipur witnessed a blockade that lasted over 50 days. This blockade was again called by the United Naga Council. The Manipur government had declared a state holiday to celebrate June 18 as the day that Naga militant groups had called for a ceasefire in Manipur—the Council was protesting the celebrations.

Amar Yumnam,professor of economics at Manipur University,says blockades are a recurring phenomenon in Manipur and will continue to be so until the state government addresses some core issues. “One of the reasons why these blockades continue to happen is because there is absolutely no development in the hill areas. Despite the ethnic nature of most of these blockades,if development issues were addressed and infrastructure put in place,these blockades are unlikely to occur. Blockades have happened almost every year for the last 50 years and have slowed down the economy. At the end of the financial year,the direct loss to the state may be around Rs 200-300 crore but the indirect loss would be approximately Rs 700 crore,’’ says Prof Yumnam.

Deepak Shijagurumayum,a 24-year-old freelance photographer and cinematographer in Imphal,says he and his friends have taken to cycling around in the city—even after the economic blockade has been lifted,petrol continues to sell at Rs 150-200. “Due to the geographical location of Manipur,the two highways are really the only means of connecting to the rest of the country. Once these are blocked,there is little anyone can do. This happens every other year and it is the middle class that has to suffer. It doesn’t help that NH-53 is in such pathetic condition and goods vehicles cannot ply on it. So besides petrol,onions sell at Rs 60,potatoes for Rs 30 and rice for around Rs 55.’’

At Shija Hospitals,Imphal’s largest critical care hospital,oxygen supplies are running low and so is the emergency stock of anaesthesia.

Dr Sorokhaibam Jugindra,Medical Superintendent of Shija Hospitals,says that ever since the blockade began,the hospital has had to twice publicly announce that they can no longer take in any more ICU patients due to the lack of oxygen.

Sevachandra Hijam,a 31-year-old taxi driver,says business has been affected due to the blockade and there seems to be no relief even after it has been lifted. “No cars can travel to the Naga-dominated areas as the situation is quite tense. We have heard that after the three-day strike,the Nagas will begin an economic blockade in the state. It is unlikely that there will be any relief,’’ he says.