Fires abate in Imphal, not fear: ‘Mob had people we knew, from our locality’

After a tumultuous 48 hours that saw fierce clashes between the state’s majority Meitei community and the Kuki tribe, Friday brought some calm though the Defence spokesperson said there were sporadic incidents of arson in Imphal.

(ENS adds from New Delhi: A CRPF constable, who was on leave, was shot dead Friday afternoon when he tried to stop men setting a village on fire. The control room of 204 CoBRA CRPF said it received information about the incident from the constable’s brother at 5.50 pm.

“The deceased was identified as CT/GD Chonkholen Haokip, who was posted with the 204 CoBRA in Chhattisgarh. He was currently on casual leave and was supposed to join on May 7,” the control room said. The body has been kept in a mortuary of a hospital in Churachandpur.)

Remains of a car that had been torched during the clashes at Haokip Veng. (Express Photo: Jimmy Leivon)

Going by the torched vehicles and burnt homes that dot the battered Imphal landscape, the scale of devastation is now sinking in.

In a relief camp in the city centre – one of  many sheltering an estimated 20,000 people across the state – 32-year-old Paul Haokip recalls seeing Haokip Veng “go up in flames”.

A resident of a locality next door, he and his family, also Kukis, were evacuated immediately. “Our area had not seen violence then, but it really felt like we would be next, that our houses would be burnt,” he said.

Haokip is alarmed by the “swelling numbers” in the camp where buses and trucks full of people have been moving in and out all day.

“The camp is getting overpopulated… We are not getting enough food and there are long lines for toilets,” he said. “But most of all, with such a large number of people, we wonder if it’s safe at all.”

Others in the camp are still trying to come to terms with the events that transpired.

The destruction caused in Haokip Veng, a long-time settlement of the Kuki tribe, in the heart of Meitei-dominated Imphal valley. (Express Photo: Jimmy Leivon)

Thangminlen Haokip, a 23-year-old whose house was torched Wednesday midnight, said, “We got a call saying that a mob was heading towards us. We rushed out and took refuge in another neighbourhood,” he said, adding that the mob included “people whom we knew, from the same locality”.

On Friday, across Imphal, all shops, except a few pharmacies, remained closed. There was no money in ATMs, and a scarcity of fuel led to a serpentine line at the rare petrol bunk that was open.

Panic-stricken people have been seeking shelter in other parts of the city, or trying to make their way out of the city to the hill districts. A group of approximately 170 people from Tamenglong have been taking refuge at a legislator’s Imphal residence.

“Once the violence erupted, my Meitei landlord said he would not be able to protect us,” said Jose, one among them.

There is still no official death toll, but staff at the state-run Regional Institute of Medical Sciences said “multiple people” have succumbed to injuries.

Hospital authorities said they were working beyond capacity.

“Normally, by afternoon, we get around 400 cases in the emergency (section). In the last two days, it has not been that high because of the curfew… around 50-60, but all of these are serious cases. So we need all hands on deck to treat them,” Medical Superintendent Sanjib Singh Nepram said.

Director General of Police P Doungel said the situation “slightly improved” on Friday. Kuldiep Singh, former DG of CRPF, has been appointed as security advisor to the government.

Doungel also made an appeal for all weapons, stolen from police outposts during the violence, to be returned. “Even if you want the police to collect the stolen weapons from certain places, we are willing to do that. They (people who stole the weapons) don’t need to reveal their identities,” he said. He declined to reveal how many weapons had been stolen.

Asked about the number of casualties, he admitted that there were some, but declined to give a figure citing security reasons.

Meanwhile, a Defence spokesperson said the situation was “brought under control through coordinated actions by all stakeholders”. In another statement later, the spokesperson said that the hill areas of Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, Moreh and Kakching were all stable, but there had been sporadic incidents of arson in Imphal, which were tackled through a “synergized response” and normalised.

Doungel said 14 companies of paramilitary forces (RAF, CRPF, BSF) have been deployed in the state so far, while 20 more will reach in a day or two.

While it is the Kuki tribe that has been targeted in Imphal, the Nagas, Manipur’s other major tribe, say they too are feeling the heat.

Among those who arrived at the camp on Friday afternoon was a group of 14 teenage students from the Tangkhul Naga tribe, living in rented accommodation in Imphal’s Querengay.

Relief camps have been set up, sheltering as many as 15,000 people. (Express Photo: Jimmy Leivon)

“We can’t stay there any longer. We don’t even know how to get food as we can’t move around. We want to go back home to Kasom (Kamjong district) but we heard there are mobs blocking the way. We are hoping the police or Army here can help us get there with some security,” 18-year-old Arvina said.

Adjacent to the now-torched Kuki settlement of Haokip Veng is the Maha Kabui village, where Rongmei Nagas reside. Women squatted in groups and chatted as children played football in the locality’s lanes. The residents said while they have not faced any violence, they are “insecure”.

“There’s a sense that anything can happen any time. Even though we are a Naga tribe, we don’t feel secure,” said 37-year-old Peter Gangmei, who works in the state Home department.

And there’s a reason. Because these residents saw Haokip Veng being razed to the ground.

“It started in the morning and went on until midnight. The mob was too large for the police to control,” Gangmei said.

Clashes between the Meitei and Kuki groups were first reported in an area bordering Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts on Wednesday, following a ‘tribal solidarity march’ organised by the All Tribal Students’ Union of Manipur, the apex tribal body.

The march participants were protesting the demand for inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe category, following an April 19 directive of the Manipur High Court.

The development reopened an old ethnic faultline in the state between the plains-dwelling majority Meitei community and the hill tribes. While the Meiteis have been demanding inclusion in the ST list for more protection, the tribes, primarily Nagas and Kukis, have strongly opposed it, arguing that it would lead to encroachment in the hills, and deprive them of their lands.

Moreover, there has been unrest among the Kukis against the state government’s policies over the last few months, including eviction drives in forest lands. Attempts to label the Kukis of Churachandpur as “outsiders” has also angered the community.

The march to protest the Meitei community’s inclusion in the ST and these factors culminated in the violence that spiralled Wednesday.

With Mahender Singh Manral in New Delhi