5 Tribal Villages at the Center of Ongoing Ethnic Conflict | Latest Indian News

They are also the epicenter of an investigation into a heinous crime and a possible new rift in a state riven by 18 months of ethnic conflict.

The state government and security forces are convinced that five villages are home to militants who have traveled nearly 250 km. JiribamOn November 11, the town, which borders Manipur and Assam, attacked security forces and killed two elderly residents of Meitei. It is believed that there were 30–40 of them; 10 people were killed in the ensuing shootout with security forces. The survivors managed to escape, but along with six Meiteis, women and children (the youngest was eight months old), whose bodies were found at various places in Jiribam and across the border in Assam. The protests that rocked Imphal last week, including vandalism of the homes of lawmakers and ministers, are a sign of public frustration over the state’s failure to save women and children.

For the people of the Kuki-Zo-Khmar tribe in Manipur, these 10 people are heroes and martyrs. The city of Churachandpur is dotted with photographs of these 10 men. There are posters that say “Welcome Home.” Others say: “Honour to our fallen heroes.”

On November 18, as security forces airlifted the bodies to Churachandpur, Kuki Zo Khmar legislators, including local MLA L.M. Khaute, also a former Manipur police chief between 2016 and 2021, who received the bodies, denied the state government’s allegations. and security forces that the men were militants; their families claimed that the men were all civilians who took up arms to defend their villages following ethnic conflict in the state.

Read more: Murders in Manipur: Post-mortem conducted on all six bodies; families are not ready to accept them for last rites

Thinneylam, the wife of Lalseyemlin Khmar (34), one of the slain militants, said her husband was not a militant but a computer graphics designer. “We have a computer accessories store in Churachandpur. Last year he went to the front line to protect villages. He is a civilian who took up arms in this conflict. Before the 2020 pandemic, he was in Delhi and took computer courses there. He’s not a fighter.”

Ramkhmasum, the elder brother of slain militant Laltanei Infinate (23), the youngest of the 10 suspected militants, said his brother was an artist.

“I refuse to believe that my son and his friends kidnapped and then killed women and children. Before the conflict, he wanted to study and was ready to take the National Institute of Open Learning’s Grade 10 exam,” said Vantleifui, mother of Ruolnesiang (22).

At least 250 people have been killed and more than 50,000 left homeless in ethnic conflict between the Meitei and Kuki Zo Khmar tribal groups that began on May 3 last year.

Five villages are under the radar of security forces who believe they hold the key to identifying the men behind the murder of six women and children.

“The truth about the murder of six women and children is in these villages. These are famous villages of Khmara, so all the militants come from here. All 10 killed Khmar men came from these five villages, so it can be assumed that the 30-40 militants who came to Jiribam that day were only from there. If the NIA succeeds in conducting raids in villages, the identities of all other militants will become clear,” said a senior police officer posted in Imphal Valley in Manipur.

Following the protests in Imphal, the cases were transferred to the federal agency NIA. Images of decomposed bodies, such as one showing the decapitated body of a two-and-a-half-year-old child, have heightened tensions in Imphal, prompting the government to shut down the internet.

The five villages are also being closely monitored by security and intelligence agencies as they have suddenly become the meeting place for all the Kuki-Zo tribal leaders.

The leaders met to discuss the killing of 10 people, protest what they say are the killings of civilians by central security forces, ways to encourage young people to remain on the front lines defending their villages, and rebut allegations that Hmara militants killed six unarmed women and children.

The Hmar community refused to bury the 10 men until they received copies of the autopsy reports from the government. After the shootout, the Kuki-Zo-Khmar tribes were quick to call the 10 men “martyrs” and announce that the bodies would be transported along the road from Silchar (Assam) to Churachandpur for the tribes to pay their last respects to them; In response, security forces moved the body directly to Churachandpur, fearing a possible breakdown of law and order.

“We believe the men were tortured and killed. That’s why we’re asking for autopsy reports. If this is not done, we will not bury the bodies. If they refute our reports, a second post-mortem will be conducted at Churachandpur district hospital,” said Ramneisang Faihan, development secretary of the Khmara Students Association (HSA).

Each of the villages of Churachandpur sent teams of 15-20 people to guard the Churachandpur district hospital to ensure that there were people to look after the mortuary.

On the road leading to one of the villages, Mulowaifei, the road is dotted with black flags and a photograph of one of the 10 suspected killed militants, Laltanei Infimate (22). “We did this for all the villages. They are not militants. These are rural volunteers who went to protect our villages because on November 7 a woman from our community was raped and killed there. Ferzawl district, sparsely populated and bordering both Churachandpur and Jiribam, became vulnerable to attacks from Jiribam, so our village volunteers went there to protect the people of Kuki Zo,” said an HSA official.

The murders of six women and children may have turned public opinion against Kuki.

A senior security officer stationed in Churachandpur said, “During a peace meeting with local tribal leaders, we told them that they had made a mistake by killing these unarmed women and children. No one will forgive them for this crime. There is a war between these communities in the state, but even so, there is a code that must be followed. We told them that the national press and neutral people were now speaking out against them for the horrific murders. If they object to central authorities conducting raids on their village, they will end up on the wrong side of national public opinion.”

The state government under Biren Singh, which has made little effort to hide its allegiance (Singh is himself a Meitei), insists on what it considers an advantage. In a November 18 resolution, the government asked that the militants be declared members of terrorist groups. The Center has already deployed over 70 companies of paramilitary forces in the state to ensure that communities do not cross the buffer zones between the valley and the hills and attack each other. Most residents of these villages believe that this will lead to massive military operations. The anti-Biren Singh Kuki-Zo-Khmar MLAs on Wednesday objected to a resolution calling for massive operations against just one community and instead demanded dialogue to restore peace. “The Center and the state government must take all necessary steps to restore peace and normalcy in Manipur by initiating political dialogue to bring lasting peace to the troubled region,” the 10 rebel MLAs said in a statement.

The sentiment on the streets of Imphal against the Kuki Khmar Zaw community is clear. A spokesman for the prominent Meitei group, COCOMI, said: “Until security agencies arrest all the militants and flush them out of hiding, the protests will continue. It will continue to intensify.”

A senior paramilitary officer in Churachandpur, who asked not to be named, said: “The violence in Manipur came in waves. In this wave, the Kuki-Zo tribes lost when it came to public opinion. Young people and civilians on both sides took up arms. Tribal civil society organizations are suddenly hiding behind the age of the militants and making accusations that they are farmers, artists and innocent civilians. Perhaps the village defense volunteers got angry…”

The officer said there are many unanswered questions.

“These people are from five villages of Churachandpur. What were they doing in Jiribam, almost 250 km away? The road there takes 10-12 hours. Whose villages were they defending there? And most importantly, how will they explain the RPG seized from them? Where did they get this from?

He, other security officials and the state government believe the answers lie in five villages.