Manipur's Only Remaining Lifeline Blocked, Huge Challenge For Top Cop

Nearly 60 trucks carrying fuel, medicine, baby food and other essentials are stranded on Manipur's second lifeline (National Highway 37) that connects the state capital Imphal with Cachar in Assam, after protesters from the hill-dominant Kuki tribes blocked a bridge in Jiribam's Leingakpokpi today, the police said. Jiribam, bordering Assam, is 240 km from Imphal.

Civil society groups of the Kuki tribes said it is a counter-blockade to members of the Meitei community setting two trucks carrying building material for a bridge in Churachandpur on fire in Bishnupur last week. Churachandpur is a hill district 60 km from Imphal.

The highway blockade comes on a day Union Home Minister Amit Shah met state, central and military officers to review the Manipur situation. On May 29, 2023 too, the day Mr Shah landed in Imphal, wave after wave of coordinated attacks by suspected insurgents had hit villages near the foothills.

The other lifeline that connects Manipur with the rest of the country is National Highway 2, which also remains blocked in Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi district since ethnic clashes with the valley-dominant Meitei community began in May 2023. This highway goes to Assam via Nagaland.

Challenge For Top Cop

The latest blockade of the only remaining lifeline by the Kuki tribes has presented a huge security challenge for Manipur police chief Rajiv Singh, who was given intelligence inputs as far back as January about "movement of armed miscreants from Churachandpur towards Vangai range bordering areas of Jiribam", government sources said today. The police chief faces questions over the road blockade despite ample time to prepare for any situation along National Highway 37 that may worsen the Manipur crisis, sources said. There are many Kuki villages along this highway.

"... Director General of Police (DGP) is requested... to take up effective countermeasures including domination of strategic locations using central/state forces," Secretary to the Chief Minister N Geoffrey had written to the DGP on January 27.

Government sources said the Chief Minister was not made a part of the unified command which was set up in May last year after the outbreak of the ethnic clashes. The unified command has elements from both state and central forces.

In the meeting with the Home Minister today, Mr Singh made a presentation on the current situation. "State police posted adequate forces in Jiribam after clashes started," a senior officer who attended the meeting said, adding the Centre is making all efforts to bridge gaps in the existing structure in Manipur.

The Centre is worried about tension in new theatres in the state, Jiribam being the latest example, sources said.

The civil society group Kuki Women Union in a statement said their action is also a counter-blockade to members of the Meitei community in Jiribam allegedly stopping essentials from reaching the hill areas.

"20-30 People Blocking Highway"

Visuals sent by truck drivers from Jiribam show a long line of goods vehicles near the bridge, where 20-30 protesters have blocked the road. A paramilitary force team approached the protesters and held talks to open the highway, but it did not work out, a truck driver said.

"We are stuck in Leingakpokpi. There is a bridge ahead of us where the Kukis have set up a blockade. The central force asked them to end it, but they did not listen. The Kukis say no food or water should reach Imphal because Meiteis burned the building material for the Churachandpur bridge," the driver said. He alleged police action in the state capital is "disproportionately" strong during protests, while "there are no laws in these parts."

Another driver questioned the police and central forces over what he alleged was an obvious lack of action on their part. "Only 10-20 people are blocking the bridge, while some 60 trucks with medicines and essentials are stuck. What are the forces doing? What joke is this?" the driver said.

Another driver who is stranded on the highway in a video posted on social media said this blockade was the last thing they expected to happen on the highway to Jiribam, given the large number of central forces posted along the highway.

"We have to pay illegal 'tax' to armed groups. We get shot every other day. The money we get from driving is also not enough to run a family. The least the police chief can do is to order the forces to set an example to troublemakers," the driver said in the video that has been shared widely.

A little known insurgent group United Kuki National Army (UKNA) on April 17 had claimed responsibility for an ambush on fuel tankers on this very highway. Visuals of the attack had shown a truck driver with an injured, bleeding foot after bullets shattered the bones, and oil and gas leaking from the tankers. The UKNA is not a part of the tripartite suspension of operations (SoO) agreement - a kind of ceasefire - signed between over two dozen Kuki-Zo insurgent groups and the Centre and the state.

Jiribam Violence

Suspected insurgents of some sections of the Hmar tribes had attacked police outposts and set homes of the Meitei community on fire in Jiribam on June 8. Tension had been building up for nearly a month before the June 8 attack. The decomposed body of a Kuki teen was found in a Jiribam river in May, and the mutilated body of an elderly man from the Meitei community was found on June 6. Both sides had accused each other of the killing.

After the mutilated body of the 59-year-old farmer was found, members of the Meitei community had set on fire empty Hmar homes and a church, which was doused before the blaze could spread to the entire building. The next day, the suspected Hmar insurgents launched their attack. Over 1,000 Meiteis and nearly 500 Kukis have taken shelter in neighbouring Assam and relief camps in Jiribam - a logistically important town that was also a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities till violence broke it apart.

Other Voices

A section of the Hmar and Thadou tribes and their leaders have said they do not identify with those who participated in the violence in Jiribam.

Manipur social activist T Michael Lamjathang Haokip, who is a key leader of the Thadou tribe, had offered to facilitate peaceful dialogue between communities following the Jiribam violence. "Our only request is for every individual and organisation to refrain from violence as violence in any form and of any nature does not benefit any community," the Thadou Students' Association had said in a statement.

The Rongmei Naga tribes, too, had opposed a 24-hour shutdown of National Highway 37 called by Kuki groups in protest against the Jiribam violence. The Rongmei Nagas had said the highway belonged to all communities, and condemned the shutdown call as "unwarranted".

The ethnic clashes between the Meitei community and the Kuki-Zo tribes began over cataclysmic disagreements on sharing land, resources, affirmative action policies, and political representation, mainly with the 'general' category Meiteis seeking to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category. Over 220 have been killed, and more than 50,000 have been internally displaced.