MANIPUR BURNING ISSUE

Introduction:

Manipur shares its boundaries with Mizoram, Assam and Myanmar. If you remember to see properly then Manipur's size is like a playground. And the small place in the middle is called imphal, the capital of Manipur, and the places around it are called imphal valley. Manipur 10% area is like plain field and remaining 90% is hilly. The KUKI and NAGA tribes live in the mountains, while the MEITEI tribes live in the rest of the plain.

1709:

Today's Manipur was known as kanglepak in 1709, and there were MEITEI people and they had a king named Pamheiba. And pamheiba himself was a meitei, and after some time came in contact with the teachers named Shantidas and converted to Hinduism. And changed the name kanglepak to Manipur in Sanskrit, and changed his name from pamheiba to Garib Nawaz, and changed the state religion of all Manipur to Hinduism. And later began to expand its empire, the kingdom next to it is called Myanmar today but then it was called Burma. And Burma which was next door kept doing it again and again and later annexed Burma to Manipur. Be it Manipur or Burma but then both the areas were hilly areas inhabited by small tribes they were mostly nomadic species as whenever the supply in their area was reduced they would move to other places. That is why all the tribes that live in Manipuri are also found in the surrounding areas of Manipur. The king of Manipur annexed his territory to Burma but pamheiba died on 13th December 1791 due to which Manipur slowly started to weaken and taking advantage of this weakness the Burmese started repeatedly attacking Manipur and occupying different places.

1819:

And in 1819, Burma Kingdom completely took possession of Manipur.And for many years, quarrels, fights, murders started. And this is the time when people of various castes started migrating from Manipur to Mizoram, Assam and Tripura. That's why in all these places you can see all the tribes who used to live in Manipur. All these things continued for five years .

1824:

Then came the year 1924. Raja Gambhir Singh of Manipur went to the British and said that the Burmese are oppressing us so please save us from this terrible danger. Then if it is seen then Manipur strategically location is a very great place, that's why the prayer request is accepted. And after fighting for the next two years, in February 1926, the British defeated the Burmese, and expelled the Burmese. So this was the period from 1819 to 1926 during these years the people of Manipur were exploited and oppressed the most. These times are called in Manipur as 'CHAHI TARET KHUNTAKPA' means (7 years of devastating) but the British did not only fight this battle, they allowed the king to stay in the place of the king but the British took control of it in their own regime and collected taxes through the king. kept Generally, the British ruled the kingdom either by taking over the whole empire themselves or by allowing kings to rule through them and leaving one British officer as the king's advisor, the whole process was called princely state. Manipur was a princely stead. The style of British rule was that they occupied the plains and ruled the hilly areas as princely states. Because the British Army could not work properly in the hilly areas. So that's why they took over the plains in the middle of Manipur and they left the hilly areas and they separated the plains from the hilly areas, that's the direct cause of today's situation.
so the hill area of Manipur, there were many tribes. these multiple tribes were given different names. so the plain area of Manipur, where the Meitei lived, The Tribe that's lived in the hill were multiple tribes in which the Tribes that were similar to this side were called the kukis by the Britishers for the first time like there are so many tribes in the kukis and the same tribes that lived in the Myanmar side here called the chins. Similarly the tribes that lived in the hills on this side of Manipur were mostly called the Nagas. so from then on, there were three major groups in Manipur meiteis, kukis, nagas. The kukis population was also on the hill outside Manipur, Similarly the naga's population was also on the Nagaland side outside Manipur. Speaking of the meiteis, when the kingdom of Burma attacked at that time,all meiteis went to Mizoram, Tripura and this side. So even today, their populations is in the these States. so in total, the population of the three tribes is not only restricted in Manipur, it is also found in the neighbouring States. These three also disagree a lot with each other.These three tribes sometimes had trouble, some tribes said we came first, some did not say we came first. But there is no proof of actual history, assumptions are made on the basis of some events.
Now what happens in that in the year 1914, the first world war begins and the Britishers take 2000 soldiers from Manipur to fight on their side. The Britishers also try to take the kukis, because they were very skilled in fighting, but the kukis refused to fight the Britishers. And because of this, the Britishers were very unhappy with them an attacked them. The fight lasted for a long time and kukis also suffered a lot. But the Britishers defeated the kukis, the fight is also called the Anglo-Kuki war. The Britishers had won the war with the kukis, but it was not easy to control the kukis. And the Britishers began to socially include them, So that it is easy to control them. The Britishers made a strategy in which they send Christian missionaries to the kukis areas. This was the time when the kukis became Christian, and even today the majority of population of kukis is Christians.
And if we talk about the meiteis, there Hindu's because of there king. Now the time passes slowly and the time of the Second World War cames, this was the time when the people of Manipur had an idea that the Britishers were going to leave from here and the Britishers gave the idea to the north east population in unset communication that they will stay separate and there will be no merger between them. So had this time the Britishers did not go they were talking about leaving, in the king of Manipur at that time was Raja Bodh Chandra Singh. The people of Manipur had put a lot pressure on the king, that you should give power to the people of Manipur and bring democracy. so the year July 26,1947 Raja bodh Chandra Singh beings Manipur state Constitution Act, in 1947 for manipur.
Now after a month in August 1947 the Britishers leave everything and go back.I said that the British used to rule this country in two ways, one they ruled as themselves and two they ruled the state through another king. So when the country became independent, such an agreement was signed that all the places where the British ruled directly would come under India, but all the places that were ruled as princely states, the instrument of accession would be signed and all those places It will govern itself but India will look after defense external affairs and communication in its own hands. After signing the Instrument of Exemption, Defense External Affairs and Communication India saw that the Manipur Act 1974 continued there but India could not accept it in any way. Since Manipur State is a very strategic location for India, India did not want to miss it in any way. That is why when Raja Bodh Chandra Singh of Manipur came to Shillong for some work, the Raj of India put him under house arrest.
And then they left him, when he signed the merger agreement with india. 21 September 1949 this agreement was signed and on 15th October 1949 this was implemented.
So Manipur Marg happened with India and Manipuri is kept as a part C state. Part C state means that, a dewan or a chief Commission will run Manipur.

1956:
Then in 1956 Manipur was made the union territory.And then in 1972 Manipur was given the status of a complete state within India.

1960:

But 12 years before 1972 Indian government bought land Reform Act of 1960 within Manipur.In which it was written that,the people of Manipur Valley area could not buy land in this hills. But The Tribe leaving in The Hills, couldn't buy land in imphal valley.
The way the British ruled the plains and hilly areas of Manipur separately. As a result, the Indian government treated Manipur in the same way as all the tribes that were there. All those expedients say that we have to be placed in ST category, but the Indian government directly informs them that as per Article 342 of the Indian Constitution, all decisions about who can fall under ST category will be taken by the President alone. For this a Locker Committee was constituted in 1965, according to the rules of this committee those who fulfill the parameters of these five categories will be placed in the ST category. These five categories are - PRIMITIVENESS, DISTINCTIVENESS, ISOLATION, INHABITATION, BACKWARDNESS. The link on who has been placed in ST category and who has been expelled is on page number 24 and 25 respectively. Then the KUKIS who were in the hills were given ST category doors and the MEITEI's were given SC and OBC categories.
Given all these categories, many were unhappy with the government. Many were unwilling to accept the decision given by the government, and many attacked government officials, and many organizations were formed that would take up arms against the government, and those organizations were - United National Liberation Front (UNLF), People's Liberation Army(PLA), People's Revolutionary Party Of Kangleipak (PREPAK), Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP). All these organizations feel that Manipur has been illegally annexed to India, it is not talking about any group in any way but the majority of people in the group were from meiteis.
After that those who lived in Pahara also continued to form their organizations but the Naga tribes first of all wanted to form a group and that was not a state but all the places where the Naga tribe lived like Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Myanmar. They formed a group called the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCA) to build the Greatest Nagaland country, and from this organization occasionally launched armed attacks on Myanmar and India. Seeing them, the Kukis also continued to form their groups and sometimes there was a fight between these groups of Kukis and the Nagaland group. This was the time when India declared Manipur as a disturb area, when the Indian government declared an area as disturbed, then they create a disturbance and the government had to create the disturbance in this region. If the military has only doubts Din they can killed someone for the basis of doubt. In this rigion the government stand in the position of stalement because every group's demands overlapse with other groups.

2001:

The government and the nagas and the meiteis feared that. The Nagas who demanding Manipur will get their share. After some time protest started in Manipur in 2001. Lots of violence even the Assembly of Manipur was set on fire, many people lost their lives.
After that incidents, the conflict between the meiteis and tribals has increased. And kukis also said that they want autonomous state and it's demand has increased very fast.When the government makes a peace agreement with one group, another group comes in and starts stirring, and because of that, the peace agreement is broken.

Suspension of operation:

In 2008 Manmohan Singh government prepare the group of Kukis in Manipur find a tripartite agreement. In this agreement, the state government, the central government & kukis group. And an agreement called Suspension of operation. According to this agreement the government sign and agreement called suspension of operation with 25 groups out of 30 insurgent group of kuki, in which a total of 2266 people were identified and 14 camps were formed. There movement was restricted, and their weapons were locked in an area,and only key was with the armed forces & The Other key was the kukis leader.

2008:

From 2008 to today, this agreement was extended and the armed force groups of kukis were stopped,

2023:

The government extended this agreement in every year. But there is no other solution. So by 2017 Congress was delaying it and after that the government if BJP came to Manipur. In 2017 BJP won only two times, 2017 BJP joined Congress Birain singh and he join BJP. And the BJP also doing that same things repeatedly. But in 2022 when there are election again then home minister Amit Shah went to Manipur and said that if BJP win again, then we didn't 5 years kuki will get a solution. And then BJP win again, and everyone had a allegation that the Chief Minister are supported meiteis because, that because he also Meiteis.
The CM of a Manipur always have an elevation that in Manipur here abnormally birth rate has increase, and he also as allegation that from Myanmar, Thailand, laos, China area which is called the golden triangle there is a lots of business of drugs here and the hill areas especially the Reserve Forest is used for farming Opium. And the golden triangle area, where there are a lots of drugs is supplied in here. When government of Manipur also said that within Manipur the population is abnormally increasing, if you talk about all over the India, then the population growth rate is 24.66%. In Manipur the population growth rate is 32.46%. If you go to the hill area, the population is increasing by 100.18%, So the Growth rate is abnormal.
The boundary between Myanmar and Manipur is made up for a very complex mountains, it is very easy to illegally go from this country to that country. And it's very difficult to track it.So the tribes who find the situation of the country rights they keep going and going. It is very difficult to track them. Many time it is also say that gold is purchase from Myanmar and sold in India. Along with this CM of Manipur has said that in the last 5 years, the maximum number of drug traffic in arrested in Manipur and the drug treffikers are mostly form Myanmar.
In 2018, CM in N. Biren Singh said in an interview of India today Conclave that ‘There is no a single person in Manipur he is an illegal immigrant.’ there statements have changed a lot in the past and now the illegal immigrants and the drug Angel. This year in February, the state government decide that in the hill area will conduct a survey of the forest. In earlier someone cut down the please illegal so under the provision of Section 29 of the Indian forest act 1927, the state government property rights are taken over by the reserve forest. And when the people of the forest department come here, the zomie students Federation expels them. And the government doesn't stop there they start burning houses and everything. And 200 family members have been homeless.
In the month of March 2023, a rally was held between the Chief Minister and a protest was held and at that time the Chief Minister was present at that place for his event, only that day there was a lot of trouble, fights and attacks.After that curfew was then imposed there and mobile signals were turned off for 5 days.
The government said that all this violence is because of this KNA & ZRA two groups. And they broke the suspension of operation agreement. So this 2 groups should be removed for this group. And after the removing this 2 groups, rupees agreement was also violated.
After this on 11th April 2023, in the tribal Colony of Imphal valley 3 churches which were build on the government land where also illegal and broken that. This made the kuki more angry because of the majority of the Kuki tribes are Christian. So, now the topic was a that was going on but it didn't stop here. And another topic was also rised actually in the year 2012, meitei was also trying multiple time to get the position of ST for this they need a committee. And submitting request to the governor G. S. Singh and CM Okram, and they get the status of ST. Show this year the high court said that meitei has made multiple time requests for the status of ST since 2013. So this is what the high court said to the state government that they should give the recommendation to the Meitei community give the ST in the list or not. And give decision in 4 weeks.
And with this decision of high court, The old brutality between meiteis and kukis has returned.Kukis and buy the land anywhere in Manipur but other meiteis can't do. Meiteis also shared data and says that in 1901, the total population of Manipur was 60% and in year 2022 total population was 49% but the other hand side the kukis were 1%in 1901 and in year 2022 total population 29%,The population rate is increasing abnormally. The reason of behind this matter is the illegal immigration from Mayanmar. Meitei want that they should have the full rights to Manipur, otherwise they will lose their identity. But kukis said that, meitei is 53% of the population so they are majority and lived in plain area and economic active and had take hospital and education, good infrastructure facilities and financially good. And also they had 40 seats Legislative Assembly out of 60. They make the CM who they want. Only 2 times in a row a CM has been appointed who is not from meiteis caste. so Meiteis is politically more powerful and financially very strong. And if it's in the category, the all our land will to go them. So the government doesn't want to make them unhappy because there are elections in 2024.
So what was have done againstly in here that will be done again, the decision was not taken. And in the evening the Anglo- Kuki memorial gate in today Churachandrapur district is brunt. Normally when there are riots, the common people raise stone and sticks but the situation in Manipur is completely different. In this situation the insurgency group they break all the agreements and pick up the weapons again. In this situation the police are totally divided. Kuki police are left the station and go to their kuki station and meiteis also do that same things. And the weapon Inventory of the police was looted in two phases. On the 1st may, around 16000 weapons are looted and on 27th - 28th more than 2557 weapons are looted. Maine officials also said that they did not loot but the police give it's to the community to see if it belongs to their community or not.
The violence of Manipur spread when a girls fake picture which was wrapped in a polybag started to circulate after seeing the picture the violence increased and everyone started targeting each others women. Later it was found that, that picture was of Delhi and that too was of 2022. Now the situation has become that no matter is it is the areas, houses, police, government official if you are has divided into two groups and targeting each other. Only Churachand district more than 1700 FIRs were filed.
So many people died, then the Supreme Court was said that the state of Maharashtra vs Mellon case in 2000 the order passed by the supreme court in Manipur the High Court has no right to pass this order. According to the constitution article 342 the Supreme Court has said that according to the constitution article 342 all this can only be done on the recommendation of the President that who has to recommendation for the ST who doesn't have to. When all these things were going on video viral in which girl is paraded without clothes. You must all have seen that video. Actually on 4th May 2023, when the riots where taking place some riots entered thubul settlement and started looting and beating. Five people run out of the settlement and 3 of them were female and 2 male. One of these 3 females was the wife of retired officer, they go to police station they can't help them. Then they beat up one of these 5 women and let them go 1 women of these but the rest of the women what happened on them you already know, they crossed all limits and killed 2 male person.
After 14 days of that incidents on 18th May 2023, at thubul police station a girl wrote a report. But nothing happened. In that meantime, Honorable Home minister Amit shah also came but he also didn't know anything but even at that time this didn't came out. After 79 days the video of this incident gets viral in the whole country. And honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was quite since 80 days who didn't say anything on these riots he also had speak. After this, there is action and those who were behind this are arrested. But on the same day On 4th may, more girls were killed but to get action the video had get viral. So they couldn't get justice. After 48 hours Manipur government was in the hand of riots. The chief minister has also asked about the video got viral. So he said that there were many video search cases and that's why the internet was shutdown. The government has failed in stopping all these things. in fact, the credibility of the state government has been completely destroyed for one group. In the rule, the CM should have resigned and the president should have imposed the rule because he was unsuccessful in stopping things and the Chief Minister goes to resign on 30th June but the women tore the resignation. Many people on Twitter says that you should resign and they replied and deleted it later. And the media did this the some kind of stupid,nonsense, and unsensible thing that doesn't have any sense.
Meitai says that they only trust the police and not anyone and they have also alleged that Assam Rifle, the Indian Army is supporting the kukis. That's why meiteis is not letting the in the enter their area. They are digging the road so that the Army doesn't enter their area. so the army took the help of the local police, to help them and find a solution here so that they can go. But the solution is far away, the police and the army got together and the situation got so bad that the police and the Army shot each other. So the central government made a committee on 4th June which is headed by Ajai Lamba, formal Chief Justice of the Guwahati High Court. How did the violence happen?, what were the reason behind it?, how did it spread?, we have to prepare all this report and give them in 6 months. And there are 6 cases that have been kept under conspiracy to violence which will be seen by CBI. For 4 days meet the both the committee in Manipur and he say that there will be peace now but there are no any peace, now the thing is spreading in the surrounding States.

Conclusion:

The situation has gotten very bad. If it is left Behind thinking that it will be get better with the time, then it's the North East things don't get better with time but get worse.

---------------------------------------------X------------------------------------------

References:

Instrument of accession : https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Instrument_of_Accession_and_Standstill_Agreement_of_Manipur_to_Dominion_of_India.pdf

Manipur state Constitution Act 1947: https://kapilarambam.blogspot.com/2016/08/manipur-state-constitution-act-1947.html?m=1

Manipur merger agreement 1949 : https://kapilarambam.blogspot.com/2016/08/manipur-merger-agreement-1949-full-text.html?m=1

Manipur state Hill regulation 1947 (Administration) : http://www.e-pao.net/manipur/images/History/Dominion/Jhalajit_2009_2.jpg

Lukur Committee reports : https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/library/resource/the-report-of-the-advisory-committee-on-the-revision-of-the-lists-of-scheduled-castes-and-scheduled-tribes/

THE MANIPUR LAND REVENUE AND LAND REFORMS ACT, 1960 : https://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/1531/1/196033.pdf

More references: https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/16zBtorn3toLqDiSQCrT6soEFL_lHrLiKkMWDuLocDHQ/mobilebasic

PRINT PDF