'Ethnocentric Homeland Demand Untenable, Obsolete': Manipur Academics At UN Event

The demand for an ethnocentric homeland is untenable and obsolete in Manipur, where at least 35 communities co-exist, a group of activists and academics from the violence-hit state bordering Myanmar has said at a side event of the 57th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.

Manipur is seeing the growth of divisive forces that play the cards of myopic ethnicity leading to the undermining of historical and legal foundations of the state's pluralistic demography and territoriality, said Dr Arambam Noni, associate professor at Imphal-based DM University.

"Due to the increasing weaponization of ethnicity by a section of elites and academics, as seen in the case of an exclusive narrative for a Kuki Lebensraum in India-Myanmar-Bangladesh region, there is an apparent design to proliferate inter-ethnic tension as an instrument to segregate people exclusively on ethnic lines," Dr Noni said.

He said such ethno-centric claims were not only obsolete, but also Balkanized the multicultural polities and undermined democratic foundations of modern states. "There is a need for discouraging ethnocentric claims and politics," he added.

Nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis - a term given by the British in colonial times - who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, and the valley-dominant Meitei community have been fighting since May 2023 over a range of issues such as land rights, political representation, and share of state finance. The conflict has killed over 220 people and internally displaced some 50,000.

The tension in Manipur is a byproduct of ethnic weaponization and a desire to sanitise demography in favour of exclusive ethnic homelands, Dr Noni said, adding transborder factors such as drugs trade, shifting of massive poppy cultivation from Myanmar to Manipur, human-trafficking, displacement due to turmoil in Myanmar, and congregation of new ethnic groups in Manipur had played significant roles in
escalating inter-ethnic anxieties in the state.

Dr Noni highlighted what he alleged were dangers of weaponizing ethnicity for the reason that in the name of "ethnic homelands", micro tribes in the India-Myanmar border region were either suppressed or coerced to submit to the dominant ethnic ambitions. He appealed for urgent restoration of normalcy in Manipur.

The internally displaced people from both communities in Manipur are yet to return home. The 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs and Kuki civil society groups have said talks are not possible unless Chief Minister N Biren Singh quits. The Kuki tribes also blame him for allegedly starting the Manipur crisis; they have reinforced this allegation with the leaked tapes controversy.

Kuki leaders have demanded a political solution in the form of a separate administration before any other issues, including the return of thousands of people living in relief camps, can be discussed. Meitei leaders have cited this condition to allege that Kuki leaders are engineering an ethnocentric homeland demand; their argument is that talks can go on while at the same time people living in difficult conditions in the camps can also return home since no territory is ethnic exclusive.

At the Geneva event, Khuraijam Athouba, working president of the civil society group International Peace and Social Advancement, alleged several Chin-Kuki insurgent groups have transnational origins.

The session was moderated by Dr Elangbam Bishwajeet, visiting professor at Britain's Aston University. The other speakers were human rights defender Punam Duhotia and Dilara Malique, adviser to the Swiss Bangladesh Women Association.