How armed foreigners and radical militias broke the peace in Jiribam, Manipur.

On June 7, Ngurthansang escaped from his home in Manipur’s Jiribam district; Violence then broke out in a region that has been relatively shielded from ethnic conflict in the rest of the state for more than a year.

Ngurthansang, along with 80-odd Hmar families, moved to Lakhipur in neighboring Assam, just across the Jiri river. The 33-year-old man, along with his wife and three children, spent four months in a relief camp in Hmarkhawlien, Lakhipur’s Hmar village.

In October, as peace slowly returned to Jiribam and the school where his wife worked reopened, the family returned to their home in the Hmar village of Zairawn. “It was peaceful but all the villagers were staying together at night and some men from the village were protecting us,” Ngurthansang said. Draft.

However, on November 7, the village was attacked, allegedly by members of the armed Meitei group Arambai Tenggol. Ngurthansang’s 31-year-old teacher wife was tortured, allegedly raped and burned to death.

The raid on Zairawn was the beginning of a new cycle of violence in which women and children were brutally targeted.

Four days later, a group of armed Hmar men attacked a relief camp in the area and kidnapped six women and children (including an eight-month-old baby) from the same Meitei family. their bodies there was He was rescued from the rivers near Jiribam a few days later.

Ten of the attackers were killed in reprisal fire after they allegedly attacked a Central Reserve Police Force post near the relief camp in Borbekra.

Security guards told Draft He said the attack on the Meitei settlement was “revenge” for the killing of the Hmar woman in Zairawn.

They also described the initial attack on the village of Hmar as “unprovoked” and “surprising” and designed to disrupt the fragile peace of the past few weeks.

“Why did they kill the Hmar woman without any provocation?” said a senior Meitei police official, who is part of efforts to defuse hostility between the communities. “Because Arambai Tenggol wanted to send a message. They targeted Zairawn to disrupt the peace.”

Arambai Tenggol is a Meitei vigilante group with cadres. alleged He is believed to have carried out brutal attacks on the Kuki-Zo community during the ethnic conflict in the state and has close ties with Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh.

The long-running conflict between the majority Meiteis and minority Kuki-Zomi-Hmar tribes in Manipur has led to 255 deaths and the displacement of 60,000 people.

A gathering of armed men

According to a senior police official, Arambai Tenggol has gained strength in Jiribam since the outbreak of violence in June and a large number of cadres have arrived in the area from Imphal Valley to defend Meiteis.

An Assam Rifles official stationed in Jiribam said: Draft It is stated that armed foreigners from both communities flocked to the region as reinforcements. “Since the violence in June, there has been a buildup of armed men from Imphal valley and Churachandpur,” the official said.

None of the 10 Hmar men killed during the raid on the Meitei settlement on November 11 were from Jiribam. Seven men had come to the area from Churachandpur and three men from Pherzawl district adjoining Jiribam.

Security officials and community leaders noted the alarming militarization of both communities in Jiribam.

“The number of young people taking up arms on both sides has increased significantly, mostly under the influence of outsiders,” said a political leader from neither community.

A recession that doesn’t last long

Jiribam is a small district that is home to many communities, from Muslim and Hindu Bengalis to Meiteis, Pangals, Kuki-Zomi and Naga tribes.

When ethnic clashes spread from Churachandpur to Imphal in May last year, a peace committee comprising people from different communities, security forces and district officials kept violence at bay there for nearly 13 months. However, the killing of a Meitei man in June broke the peace and led to the exodus of both communities.

Despite the odds, the Jiribam Peace Committee persuaded representatives of the Meitei and Hmar communities to return to the negotiating table. They met twice in Cachar and an agreement was signed on 1 August with the aim of restoring normality and “preventing incidents of arson and fire”.

“We believed that some Meitei also wanted peace,” said a Hmar leader who was on the peace committee.

A senior Meitei police official said that the groundwork for the third round of consultations between Hmars and Meiteis has been prepared in Guwahati.

But not everyone wanted the violence to end. “The Meitei are a house divided,” said a senior Meitei police official. “Some people wanted to derail the process of gaining political gains. This is the case with the attack on Hmar village. “It is unfortunate that the people of Jiribam are affected by external influences.”

A Meitei leader who was part of the peace committee said: Draft He said that following the violence in June, several Jiribam residents joined Arambai Temggol “as it was for our protection and defense”.

Central security official told Draft He said that “the number of weapons reaching Arambai Tenggol cadres has increased” in recent months.

While most of Jiribam appeared peaceful, the Kuki-Zos and Meiteis were often caught in the crossfire in two villages around the town of Jiribam.

‘Help’ from the Hills

​​As the violence intensified, reinforcements also started arriving in the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar tribes from Churachandpur and Pherzawl.

“Jiribam is our district, but we have fewer resources and people there,” said a Churachandpur-based Hmar leader. “Therefore, armed village volunteers need to go there to prevent the enemy from invading our areas.”

Growing ethnic conflict in Manipur has led civilians from warring communities to take up arms to protect their villages. They are often described as “village volunteers.”

Twenty-two-year-old Lalthanei Hmar was one such armed civilian.

Lalthanei Hmar was working as a daily wage painter in Churachandpur town before taking up arms last year.

He set out for Jiribam two weeks ago; a day trip consisting of two vehicles and a river crossing.

“Our villages in Ciribam were attacked. So the volunteer committee here selected two-three men from each village and sent them to Jiribam to guard the villages,” said his cousin R Hmar, who lives in Churachandpur.

Lalthanei Hmar was allegedly among the armed group that attacked the relief camp in Borobekra on 11 November.

Borobekra, a sparsely populated area, is surrounded by Bengal and Hmar villages. More than a hundred Meites, displaced by the violence in June, had taken shelter in the relief camp. Security guards told Draft He said this was an area where the Meitei were “vulnerable” and “easy targets”.

To repel the attack, CRPF personnel opened fire on the attackers, who, according to many eyewitnesses, set fire to shops and houses and opened fire on a CRPF post in the area.

Lalthanei Hmar was one of 10 gunmen killed in the gunfire.

However, Kuki-Zo-Hmar groups dispute this version and criticized the CRPF for shooting the men. They also claimed that armed Meitei and perpetrators of the violence in Zairawn village were hiding in the camp; this claim was denied by the Assam Rifles.

One measure of the deep divide between ethnic communities is that many Hmar people defend the actions of the aggressors, even violence against unarmed civilians, arguing that “the existence of the Meiteis is a threat to the lives of the Hmar.”

“Village volunteers did what they had to do in a civil war or ethnic conflict,” said one Hmar resident. Draft. “And so they attacked the remaining Meitei in that area.”

‘Cycle of violence and counter-violence’

Security guards and police officers told Draft He said restoring peace to the region was now an almost impossible task.

One of the reasons for this is that both communities decided to arm themselves.

“Everyone is either a village volunteer or a member of Arambai Tenngol or UNLF (United National Liberation Frontan armed separatist Meitei group),” said the central security official. “Most of them are armed. Or they are informants.”

The official added: “The mentality is confined to the cycle of violence and counter-violence. Young people cannot think beyond this.”

The political leader, who belongs to neither the Meitei nor the Kuki-Zo groups, added: “The young men stopped working and took up arms to protect their homeland.”

A senior police Meitei official pointed out that “prolonged violence” lasting more than 18 months was responsible for Jiribam being dragged into a spiral of conflict. “If you think it will automatically heal, you are wrong.”

He said he was not optimistic that peace would return. “Jiribam was once hope, but now it is the epicenter of violence.”

All photos belong to Rokibuz Zaman.