Caught In Crossfire, Manipur Muslims Ask Meiteis, Kukis To Stop Fighting

It has been over 100 days since ethnic violence broke out in Manipur. The state is slowly returning to normal and no big incident has been reported for the past few days.

But in the epicentre of the clashes, the area between Kuki-majority Churachandpur district and the Meitei-majority Bishnupur district, constant gunfire and bomb attacks have become the new normal.

On the strip of land, 35 km apart between these two districts, are some Meitei Pangals, or Muslims, who are caught in the deadly crossfire between the Kuki tribe and the Meiteis.

Muslims comprise 9 per cent of Manipur's estimated population of 32 lakh. As the fighting rages between the Kukis and Meiteis, people from the Muslim community are desperately calling for peace, stuck in the violence between the two sides.

When NDTV went to village Kwakta in Bishnupur district, the roads were barricaded by the police, effectively marking the frontline as beyond that lies Churachandpur, the Kuki-dominated area.

On August 6, three people including a father and his son were shot dead and butchered while they were sleeping at their village home in Bishnupur district. The Meiteis have alleged miscreants from Churachandpur infiltrated the village at night and attacked the family.

"Because of the situation, two of the masjids in Kwakta were used for a few hours by the security forces and firing happened. But we explained our situation to them, after which they left," Salauddin Qasimi of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind in Bishnupur district told NDTV.

Kwakta is a multiethnic locality where once Meiteis and Kukis lived as neighbours. However, Muslims comprise 90 per cent of the town's population. Although not involved in the conflict, the Muslims of Manipur find themselves helplessly caught in the crossfire between the Meiteis and Kukis. Their livelihoods at Kwakta are shattered.

"People in Kwakta have been living in panic. There is a massive price hike of edibles and essential items, lack of livelihood, life is at the extreme. Students can't study as there are no schools left due to a huge number of bombings," Muslim scholar Nasir Khan told NDTV in Kwakta.

The Muslims have appealed to their Kuki and Meitei neighbours to stop fighting.

"We Meitei Pangals are a minority community, and like Nepalis and others, we have been hit badly. Life has been disrupted. We appeal to our Meitei and Kuki brothers and sisters to bring back peace," a local Muslim leader Hazi Rafat Ali told NDTV.

Muslim leaders from Manipur had come to Delhi to ask the centre for more security cover in their areas.

Kwakta town itself - given its location in Meitei-dominated Bishnupur district's border with Kuki-majority Churachandpur district - has been at the crosshairs of the conflict for the past three months, leaving at least 12 injured.