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The Waqf Act passed by Parliament is also seeing opposition from the Muslim community in Manipur. On Sunday, protests were held in different parts of the Imphal Valley against the Act, with the house of BJP Minority Morcha Manipur president and Meitei Pangal leader Asker Ali’s house in Thoubal district set on fire by a mob for remarks supporting the legislation.
Following the incident, Ali put out a post, saying: “I sincerely apologise to the Muslims and Meitei Pangal community. I will not repeat such an act in the future. I oppose the Waqf Bill passed in Parliament, and it should be repealed immediately.”
Security has been strengthened in the Muslim-dominated areas of the Valley now and additional forces have been deployed.
The Meiteis are the largest ethnic group in Manipur, making up 53% of the state’s population. More than 80% of the Meiteis are Hindu and just under 10% follow Islam, as per Census 2011.
The first Muslims are believed to have settled in Manipur around the early 17th century. Though some scholars believe there was a small Muslim population in Manipur before the 1600s, the first major wave of Muslim settlement began after a failed invasion of the Manipuri kingdom, then known as Kangleipak.
An army of Muslim soldiers from Sylhet (in present-day Bangladesh) was defeated and captured by King Khagemba, the Manipuri ruler between 1597 and 1652. Khagemba is said to have allowed the soldiers to settle in Manipur, where they eventually assimilated into the local communities, marrying into Meitei families and adopting the Meitei language as their mother tongue.
Muslim migration from Bengal and other regions continued under Khagemba’s reign and continued until the mid-19th century. The Manipuri kingdom employed many Muslims in its military and administration. Muslim soldiers helped repel invasions from Burma in the 18th century and by the British in the 19th century.
The descendents of the early Muslim migrants came to be known as Meitei Pangals.
Though they have belonged to the same ethnic group for centuries, the Hindu Meiteis and Pangals have clashed in the past, most notably in the 1993 riots.
There are conflicting reports on what sparked off the violence, with most accounts attributing it to actions by Meitei rebels. On May 3, 1993, Meitei mobs attacked Muslim settlements and businesses in the Muslim-dominated area of Lilong in Thoubal district.
The government put the death toll at around 100, though Pangal groups say it was closer to 140.
Following the riots, in September 1994, the Manipur government granted Other Backward Classes (OBC) status to Meitei Pangals and introduced 4% reservation for them in government jobs and higher education.
Data from Census 2011 shows that Hindus and Christians make up about the same proportion of Manipur’s population, at 41.4% and 41.3%, respectively. Muslims, including Meitei Pangals, account for 8.4% of the population.
There are four districts with sizeable Muslim populations – Thoubal, Imphal East, Imphal West and Bishnupur. All four of these districts, however, have a Hindu majority.
Nearly half the state’s Muslim population lives in Thoubal, while accounting for only a quarter of the district’s total population.
In August 2023, three Meiteis were killed in Bishnupur district’s Kwakta town, where the Meitei Pangals make up more than 90% of the population, according to Census 2011. Though they are not directly involved in the conflict between the Meiteis and Kukis, they have been caught in the crossfire.
