Imphal Sos
Context:
- Arson, violence, and killings have recently returned to the ethnic turmoil that has plagued Manipur for almost a month after a brief calm. At least two persons were killed in the hours before Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in Imphal, one of them a police officer.
The main causes of tension in Manipur are:
Law and order situation is poor:
- Attacks on legislators’ homes, police stations, and armouries were carried out by unruly mobs while the administration was absent from the scene.
- So far, the violence has claimed the lives of at least 75 civilians.
Failure of the Executive Branch:
- Not being able to foresee how the Manipur High Court’s contentious March 27 judgement may lead to a religious clash and the ensuing concerns brought on by the Meiteis’ desire for the ST status, who are primarily Hindu.
- The authorities forcibly removed Kuki Tribe members from the hillside woodlands on the pretext of encroaching on the “reserve forest.”
- Apart from disagreement among Manipur’s drug warlords, the authorities destroyed poppy farming in the hills without offering any substitute jobs.
- The administration’s recent “verification drive” to find “illegal immigrants” from Myanmar disregarded the long-standing connections between Kukis in Manipur and Kukis of the “Zo” ethnic group in Myanmar, as well as Nagas on both sides.
- It also disregarded the fact that many of the refugees in Manipur are fleeing persecution in Myanmar.
Abruptly terminating the SoO agreement with two tribal insurgency groups in March for the following reasons:
- Its headquarters were in Myanmar.
- They were supporting the in-hill demonstrations.
- Crisis of governance, which is connected to more general issues of development, access to jobs and education, and property ownership and use.
- taking over the ancestral lands of the hill people without first consulting them or respecting their customary systems.
- Manipur’s Hill Area Autonomous District Councils, which are not subject to the constitution’s sixth schedule, have a problem with having insufficient autonomy.
Lack of social and intercommunal trust:
- There has been no attempt to facilitate a reconciliation between the Meiteis and Kukis, and the gap between them only seems to have gotten wider over time.
Judicial conflict:
- Despite the Supreme Court’s criticism of the directive, the legal dispute regarding the Meiteis’ granting of tribe status has not yet been resolved.
Domestic political posturing that is poor:
- The hill communities, who believe his administration to be pro-Meitei, view the Chief Minister as a more political character.
- Even legislative bodies appear to be divided along communal lines, with tribal or community memberships taking precedence over party allegiances.
Effects of International Cross-Border Spillover:
- Rumours of a demographic shift have been fueled by the post-coup unrest in Myanmar, which has resulted in an influx of refugees, including some with purported ties to anti-junta opposition groups.
Actions taken so far:
- When the Manipur government failed to stop the violence recently, the Union government invoked Article 355 of the Constitution.
- In order to bring about enduring peace in the area, the Central Government has declared that it is prepared to engage in conversation with insurgency groups in Manipur.
- Compensation packages offered in the event of injury or death.
- In the state, relief efforts including stranded passenger transportation are being made.
- To prevent any undesirable circumstance, law is following its own course through the filing of FIRs and the seizure of weapons.
- Over 47,914 people have received assistance through the opening of 318 relief camps.
- The district magistrates are in charge of arranging for the provision of food, water, rations, medical attention, and medications.
- Additionally, the state has approved a contingency fund of Rs 3 crore to cover any last-minute needs for relief efforts.
- In addition, the state has chosen to set aside 25% of the MLA Local Area Development Fund for assistance programmes in the corresponding assembly districts.
- Additionally, security is offered to places of worship, and specific security measures are implemented according to the requirements of each district and locality.
More Steps to Take:
- At the administrative, judicial, political, and societal levels, the response must also be multi-layered.
- Law and order must be reestablished as a priority.
- To maintain order and control the situation, centralised forces must be mobilised.
- This is crucial since the police force had also been affected by the erosion of community trust.
- Political discussion among communities:
- To overcome concerns of difference and create workable solutions, communication between the two communities must be encouraged with strong political will.
- Evidence-based Equal Opportunity Policy:
- To defuse the situation, it is necessary to maintain objectivity in the reserve policy by field research and swifter policy decisions.
- To replace the growing of poppies in the Hills, there is a need to provide alternate employment opportunities and markets for agricultural products, including growing aloe vera.
- To combat the threat of illegal migration and drug smuggling across the open India-Myanmar border from the Golden Triangle (Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos), technological infrastructure must be developed.
- To wean the kids away from this lethal drug problem, drug de-addiction campaigns and de-addiction facilities must be established.
- According to the 2007 rehabilitation policy, the purchase and eviction of forest areas must be done in accordance with the law, only after consultation, previous rehabilitation, and resettlement.
- Fighting illegal immigration requires a humane strategy that takes into account pre-independence cross-border tribal family ties and permits citizenship to be granted on a compassionate basis in circumstances of persecution.
- To resolve anxieties among the Hill tribes, think about giving the Hill District Councils more autonomy and maybe bringing the region under the Sixth Schedule.
Conclusion:
- To preserve peace in not just a city or a state but in the entire area, the Centre must intervene to win over the public’s trust. This vital border state is the entrance to India’s Act East dreams. In the spirit of cooperative federalism, there is a need for cooperation between the Union and State governments, and the Act East strategy of the Centre offers diplomatic, economic, and cross-border solutions to the problems of employment, market, and drug smuggling. Furthermore, power must be devolved in order to give tribe members the ability to address their ethnic and cultural issues. To maintain peace in the area, compassionate development and citizenship policies are urgently needed.
