‘More like an abduction’: Last Kuki-Zomis in Imphal locality say forced to evacuate

They had kept their New Lambulane locality, close to the heart of Imphal, blockaded against the rest of the city. Its six entry points were blocked by walls that its remaining residents had erected out of large wooden planks with sharp ends.

Around 300-odd Kuki-Zomi residents of the locality had earlier left amid the violence. Touthang and his wife, Neikim, had stayed back to guard their home. They said they were not given any prior notice about the evacuation early Saturday.

“I don’t know what was going on. As soon as we stepped out of the house, we were herded into the vehicle,” Touthang said.

In just a T-shirt and shorts at the time of the evacuation, he said security personnel denied his request to pack some of his belongings. “We were not given time to pack our things. We were not even informed where they were taking us. When the vehicle stopped, we found ourselves in Motbung,” he said.

Motbung is located in Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi district, 25 km from New Lambulane.

Before Saturday, Touthang said, personnel from Assam Rifles or police would pay them a visit from time to time, asking them to evacuate. But the 24 residents chose to stay put.

“Why should we abandon our homes? We had already made it clear to ourselves that we would take the risk, and die in our homes if the security forces cannot protect us,” Touthang said.

A source in the security forces said the evacuation had been requested by the administration on the grounds that the presence of the Kuki-Zomis in New Lambulane had made them a vulnerable target, and that authorities had received inputs regarding threats to the group of residents.

The strife-torn state witnessed a fresh round of violence last week, with at least nine people dying in intense firing along the Bishnupur-Churachandpur border.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said in a post on the social media platform X that Saturday’s “forceful” evacuation “means that ‘ethnic cleansing’ is complete in the Imphal Valley that is dominated by the Meitei people”.

“A State Government presides over ‘ethnic cleansing’ and the central government claims that the government of the state is being carried on in accordance with the Constitution,” he posted.“There can be nothing more shameful than this development. It marks a new low in India’s descent into lawlessness.”

Before the evacuation, the 24 people left in the locality had been taking turns to guard it through the night in makeshift shelters in open areas of the settlement, with nets and repellants at hand to keep mosquitoes at bay. A large number of security personnel had also been guarding the surroundings of the locality.

New Lambulane was one of the first Kuki-Zomi settlements to be attacked when the violence engulfing the state spread to Imphal on May 3. The locality is surrounded by settlements of the Meitei community to its east and south, of Muslims to its north, and of a small group of Nagas on its western side. It has been a constant target of attack through the months, and inevitably becomes a target of arson or attempted arson when violence flares up in peripheral areas of the valley.

Most recently, on July 27, six houses – four of them abandoned – that belonged to Kukis and two houses that belonged to Meiteis were burned despite the presence of security forces in the area. The two burnt Meitei houses were in close proximity to the Kuki houses.

Mamang Vaiphei, one of the 24 residents evacuated, claimed that security forces were not capable of protecting the locality, and that this was why the residents insisted on staying back.

Vaiphei said he and a friend were sitting in their usual spot for night duty when a large number of forces entered their locality. “It was around 12.30 am. They approached the two of us and asked us to call out all the people for verification,” he said. When the residents were subsequently herded into the security forces’ vehicle, the personnel did not respond to any of their questions, he said.

“We are citizens of the state and we have every right to stay in Imphal. It is very unfortunate that they forcefully evacuated us against our wish,” said Vaiphei.

“For a moment I forgot about the violence, as we were taken out of my locality. I was overwhelmed with the very thought that I had been driven out of my own house and locality where I was born and brought up,” he said.