LT. Gen.(Retd.) Shokin Chauhan, ex-Director General, Assam Rifles, India’s oldest & largest para-military force, discusses the North-East and the Manipur conundrum

“Truly, we are a peculiar people. We are all equals. Men and women have equal status. We have no caste divisions, no high class or low class of people, we believe in that form of democratic government which permits the rule not of the majority but of the people as a whole. We have no land tax, no wine tax, no water tax. Forests, rivers and woodland belong to the people for their exploitation without paying taxes. We have no beggars, and wonders of wonders, we have no jails. We do not ‘arrest’ or ‘imprison’ anybody…. We fear nobody, individually or collectively. We are a healthy people and fear corrupts the health of man…. We talk freely, live freely and fight freely too. We have no inhibitions of any kind…. Wild? Yes … But free. There is order in this chaos, law in this freedom. If we were to choose a country, it would be my Nagaland, my fair Nagaland – again and again”
~ AZ Phizo
Northeast India is the easternmost region of India and comprises eight states: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura.
The Siliguri Corridor in West Bengal, with a width of 21 to 40 km, connects the North Eastern Region with Mainland India. The region shares an international border of 5,182 kilometres, with the neighbouring countries, 1,395 kilometres, with Tibet Autonomous Region, China in the north, 1,643 kilometres, with Myanmar in the east, 1,596 kilometres with Bangladesh in the south-west, 97 kilometres with Nepal in the west and 455 kilometres with Bhutan in the north-west. It comprises

in this chaos, law in this freedom. If we were to choose a country, it would be my Nagaland, my fair Nagaland – again and again”
~ AZ Phizo

Northeast India is the easternmost region of India and comprises eight states: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura.

The Siliguri Corridor in West Bengal, with a width of 21 to 40 km, connects the North Eastern Region with Mainland India. The region shares an international border of 5,182 kilometres, with the neighbouring countries, 1,395 kilometres, with Tibet Autonomous Region, China in the north, 1,643 kilometres, with Myanmar in the east, 1,596 kilometres with Bangladesh in the south-west, 97 kilometres with Nepal in the west and 455 kilometres with Bhutan in the north-west. It comprises an area measuring 262,230 square kilometres, almost eight per cent of that of India. They are predominantly inhabited by tribal people with a degree of diversity even within the tribal groups. The region’s population results from ancient and continuous flows of migrations from Tibet, the Indo-Gangetic region, the Himalayas, present Bangladesh, and Myanmar. What distinguishes these states from the rest of the country is the sensitive geopolitical location with the existence of diverse ethnic groups with different historical backgrounds.

The North East as a whole is not a single entity with a common political destiny; rather it comprises eight different states. The Tribal communities in Northeast India are living on the fringe of three great political communities, India, China and Burma.

Historically, some of these communities played the roles of buffer communities, and others the roles of bridge communities between these three great political communities. This region is of great geopolitical importance to the Indian sub-continent due to its terrain, location and peculiar demographic dynamics, and is one of the most challenging regions to govern. However, its 40 million population accounts for only 3.1% of the Indian population. Post-independence, the history of this region has been marred by bloodshed, tribal feuds and under-development. Protracted deployment and operations by the army and the Assam Rifles

have been instrumental in reducing of the levels of violence and restoring the security situation to ensure that civil governance elements can function. But over the years, the governance of the region continues to be a challenge.

In 1817, the Burmese empire invaded Assam and in 1819, annexed the independent Kingdom of Manipur. In 1823, they also annexed the Kingdom of Cachar, a strategic area for the impending invasion of Bengal. In March 1824, Britain officially declared war on Burma, a war which ended two years later with the signing of the Treaty of Yandabo. The Nagas emerged as a political entity on 24th February 1826, the day representatives of the Kingdom of Burma and the British military signed the Treaty of Yandabo, in which Burma renounced all claims to Assam and Manipur. This westward expansion pursued by Burma which was at that time, the most powerful kingdom in Southeast Asia had begun in the 1780s when Burmese troops occupied the independent Kingdom of Arakan and crossed for the first time the eastern border of the British Indian Empire, which corresponds with the present-day borders of Bangladesh and North Bengal. Gradually Britain occupied the whole of Assam and intensified its diplomatic and military relations with Manipur, which was intended to have a key position in monitoring and if need be defending the border between Burma and the British sphere of influence.

The Manipur Conundrum
“The situation in Manipur has not yet resolved, the violence not yet abated and the actual truth not yet clear. Much of the narrative you hear about the violence in the state depends upon who tells it to you and his or her ethnicity.”

Manipur is a state in northeast India, geographically, bounded by the states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two very volatile regions of Myanmar, the Sagaing Region peopled mainly by the Bamar (Burmans), who mainly live the in the dry zone regions and along the Ayeyarwady River to the east and the Chin state to the south The term ‘Chin’ initially as used by the Burmese in Myanmar referred to all the hill tribes in the western frontier of Myanmar. However, in India the hill tribes are divided into two groups namely the Chin-Kuki and the Naga.
The official and most widely spoken language is Meitei language and is native to the Meitei people, it is also used as a lingua franca by smaller communities, who speak a variety of other Sino-Tibetan languages. Manipur has been at the crossroads of Asian economic and cultural exchange for more than 2,500 years. It connects the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia to Southeast Asia, East Asia, enabling migration of people, cultures and religions.

During the days of the British Indian Empire, the Kingdom of Manipur was one of the princely states. Between 1917 and 1939, some people of Manipur pressed the princely rulers for democracy. By the late 1930s, the princely state of Manipur negotiated with the British administration its preference to continue to be part of the Indian Empire, rather than part of Burma, which was being separated from India. On 11 August 1947, Maharaja Budhachandra signed an Instrument of Accession, joining India. Later, on 21 September 1949, he signed a Merger Agreement, merging the kingdom into India, which led to its becoming a Part C State. This merger was later disputed by groups in Manipur, as having been completed without consensus and under duress. The dispute and differing visions for the future has resulted in a 50-year insurgency in the state for independence from India, as well as in repeated episodes of violence among ethnic groups in the state.

Three distinct communities constitute the Stateof Manipur. Two of them are the Naga and Kuki tribes while the other is the non-tribal Meitei. Whenever demands are made by the Meitei, who is the dominant community representing more than half of the population of Manipur, the tribes have not stood on the way as they are just about 41% of the state’s population and have no real political power. The Manipuri language is in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution which has allowed the dominant community much benefit as Manipuri language, is allowed to be used in the Civil Services Examinations and also in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) Examinations.

The Meitei political establishment lay the blame of this violence entirely on certain segments of the Kuki community and their backing the illegal poppy cultivation as well as providing shelter and protection to illegal Myanmarese Kuki refugees who have entered the Churachandpur district with an aim of establishing a greater Kuki homeland within the state of Manipur.

The Kuki leaders on the other hand point out that the Manipur government’s continuing persistent attacks on the Kuki-Zomi people aimed at the unlocking of protected tribal land as the real reason for the recent conflict. In a recent interview, Mr. Ram Madhav, a BJP leader, has stated similarly, emphasising that the clash was “all about land.” “10 per cent of the Manipur is a valley and 90 per cent of which is hills and this 10 per cent of this valley is home to 60 per cent of the people…that is where the whole clash happened.” The BJP leader claimed that the people from the hills try to come down and take possession of the land as the valley is open whereas the hills are controlled by certain hill laws and this has been a constant reason of concern between hills and valley people.

A two-fold exodus has already occurred, the Meiteis have been driven out by the Kuki-Zomi community on the edges of the Imphal Valley and Kuki-Zomis by the Meiteis in Imphal. Meiteis living in villages adjacent to Kuki-Zomi land have fled to the Imphal Valley and the exodus was completed with the Kuki-Zomi tribes, leaving the Valley to head for the Kuki-dominated Churachandpur district.
Despite the devastation in Manipur this month, these are the early stages of a situation that could worsen unless the Centre takes quick, decisive and effective action, and the law-and-order situation is re-established.

If the insurgent groups engage with state or central forces, it would only work to the detriment of the tribals’ cause. The tribal groups need to be cautious not to get drawn into any stand-off and desist from retaliating in any way.

Steps to control the violence

To control the situation, the army immediately moved several forces, almost 200 plus columns from neighbouring Arunachal, where they were deployed along the Indo-China LAC and the Manipur government immediately imposed curfew under CrPC section 144 in several districts and suspended mobile phone data services for five days in the late afternoon. However, video clips, photos, and messages/information / rumours of killing, injuring, raping, plundering, taking hostage, burning or destroying villages had already gone viral on social media.

It added to the already pent-up communal resentment against one of the communities that have been growing for a few years. Manipur government suspended internet broad band services and authorised the civil authority to shoot at those who defy the law.

Further it is recommended that the political leadership must share power by including elected representatives from the hill areas. Manipur must allow the district councils in the hill areas to govern themselves under Article 244 and the sixth schedule of the constitution. They should enable the Hill Areas Committee (HAC) in the legislative assembly to function effectively for assisting the state and district administrations, and allow them to frame laws on various matters for the hill areas. Further, they must build new state and Union-level institutions as well as sports infrastructure in the hill districts, so that give equal opportunities are afforded for all the people of Manipur.

It also is clear that the threat from China today is real and has affected and altered the external and internal security environment of the North East. Further, coupled with its use of cyber – warfare, increased cross-border terrorism, the emergence of non-state actors, the growth of Islamic fundamentalism, the narcotics-arms nexus, illegal migration and left-wing extremism, gravely impact the security of our already fragile North East. Permanent peace in this region is absolutely necessary and cannot be delayed any further.