"50 Men Came To My House": Manipur Rights Defender Raises Concern Over Meitei Leepun Threat

A top human rights activist in Manipur has raised concern over threats by the Imphal-based group Meitei Leepun (ML) after he gave legal aid to a Norwegian national, who, he said, was misidentified as a "Christian Chin" by the ML.

Human Rights Alert (HRA) executive director Babloo Loitongbam in a statement on Tuesday said some 50 men came to his house in the state capital Imphal on Monday and threatened his family.

"This [threat] is following a press conference by Meitei Leepun (ML) the previous day levelling false charges on me as well as warning people against working with me," Mr Loitongbam said in the statement.

The ML has alleged the longtime human rights defender has taken money from the Kuki tribes to work against the interest of Meiteis. At Monday's press conference, the ML members also alleged Mr Loitongbam has been helping a "PDF Women Wing Commander" identified as Mya Kyay Mon, who the ML claimed was a Myanmar national of Chin ethnicity.

The PDF, or People's Defence Force, is the armed wing of Myanmar's National Unity Government that is fighting the junta.

Mr Loitongbam has refuted all these allegations. Citing his three-decade work as a human rights defender, the father of three daughters said he stood up for the right of every person to seek asylum in another country when they are facing persecution in their own country.

"This includes asylum seekers in India from Myanmar through the medium of appropriate institutions like a functioning Regional Foreigners Registration Office or by giving access to the UN High Commissioner for Refugee to offer its humanitarian services in Manipur," Mr Loitongbam said in the statement.

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He said Mya Kyay Mon was referred to HRA as a woman prisoner in distress, and as an empanelled lawyer under the Manipur Legal Services Authority, the HRA offered legal aid, secured her bail and referred her to a woman's home in Imphal pending her trial.

"She is a citizen of Norway, and is of Burma-Buddhist origin. She is not a Chin nor a Christian as widely circulated online. The only charge levelled against was that of overstaying her visa. There is no other charge against her. To the best of our knowledge, she is still detained in Imphal jail," Mr Loitongbam said in the statement.

"The allegation that I have accompanied her to the UN and the US to raise funds is factually incorrect as she is still placed under judicial custody by the state authority," he added.

Mr Loitongbam called a "figment of imagination" another allegation by the ML that he was in touch with the civil society group Manipur Meitei Association Bangalore to be part of a "Naga-Kuki-Meitei meeting" to frame the Meitei community for genocide.

The association, too, in a statement denied any such meeting was planned, and asked people to guard against "misleading information being shared by vested interests seeking to divide the Meitei community and tarnish our reputation".

Caught In Crossfire

The ethnic tension between the valley-dominant Meiteis and the Kuki tribes, who are dominant in some hill districts in southern Manipur and a few other areas, have sharply divided the two communities to such an extent that both sides have publicly attacked and harassed any member of their community who held views not popular with their respective communities.

Mr Loitongbam is duty-bound to help anyone from any community as part of the Manipur Legal Services Authority empanelment. The case of Mya Kyay Mon being referred to HRA was, however, seen by the ML as working against Meiteis since the ML had already decided that Mya Kyay Mon was a Myanmar national of Chin ethnicity and the Kuki tribes share ethnic ties with the Chin people.

Mr Loitongbam's house was vandalised in October 2023 after he discussed the ML and the Meitei village defence group Arambai Tenggol in a media interview. He later withdrew the comments following threats.

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Members of the Kuki tribes have also attacked a prominent Thadou tribe leader for his views that the Kukis saw as unhelpful in their narrative against the Meiteis. Thadou tribe leader T Michael Lamjathang Haokip's house was vandalised twice and set on fire in Kuki-dominated Churachandpur district in August last week.

Mr Haokip has said he has been raising awareness about his tribe, Thadou, being inaccurately referred to as a Kuki tribe amid the ethnic tension in Manipur. This had angered "Kuki supremacists" as they do not want to accept the Thadou tribe's distinct identity, Mr Haokip has said.

Three Kuki-Zo MLAs from among the 10 who have been demanding a separate administration carved out of Manipur had clarified they want their own tribes to be called by their correct names, instead of being associated only with the term "Kuki-Zo".

On social media, the three MLAs received threats of boycott and other "consequences" for allegedly weakening the Kuki tribes' resolve to persuade the Centre to create a separate administration. One of the BJP MLAs had told NDTV everyone should feel free to state facts about the tribe they belong to. "I fail to understand why threats are coming my way for simply saying to which tribe I and the people I represent belong," the leader had told NDTV, requesting anonymity.

Right after the attack at Mr Haokip's house on August 31, a video appeared on social media of a man showing a gun and a bullet and threatening to kill Mr Haokip. Another video shows a man in black tactical wear surrounded by three in camouflage battle dress carrying AK series assault rifles - all of them masked - saying they will kill Mr Haokip wherever he is, whether "Delhi or Guwahati".