Bad Santa of Manipur, India

The volatile situation in Manipur was overed in these columns earlier; Chief Minister N Biren Singh using Arambai Tenggol (AT), UNLF and police for ethnic cleansing, his cross-border links; the Manipur Tapes saga, no dialogue with Kuki-Zo MLA’s; rape, torture and killing of Zosangkim Hmar, followed by 10 suspected Kuki insurgents killed by the CRPF unleashing fresh wave of ethnic violence; gunfights, arson and shutdowns rocking Manipur despite additional central forces pumped in; AT caught on camera giving orders to the CRPF, NSCN (IM) general secretary threatening to resume armed resistance, and the like.

Post-mortem reports of 10 Kuki-Zo youths allegedly killed in an encounter with the CRPF on November 11 shows they received multiple fatal bullet injuries – most of them fired from behind. The bodies were brought to a hospital in Assam only on November 14 were in early stages of decomposition; four bodies each had one eye missing – indicating torture. The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) maintains they were village volunteers. After the burial ceremony, with a Mizoram delegation in attendance, in Manipur’s Churachandpur District on December 5, 2024, the ITLF reiterated its demand for a separate administration in Manipur.

If the encounter involved the Army, there would have been hell to pay, a string of court martials and the mainstream media rubbing the Army’s face in mud. But central and state administrations remain soft and silent on police forces for reasons well known. Not surprising that the Telangana High Court has ordered a second post mortem of suspected Naxalites killed by the CRPF in an encounter amid allegations that the victims were poisoned and/or sedated and shot dead in cold blood.

Extortion and anarchy in Imphal Valley by the AT became the order of the day amid the ongoing violence with shopkeepers and businesses hurt the most. There were numerous extortion threats by the AT, especially in urban areas such as Imphal city and the district headquarters in Churachandpur and Kangpokpi during October 2024, as reported by locals to the media. The Centre has pumped in 288 additional companies of central forces in Manipur but violence and extortion continues. On November 25, 2024, Lashiram Kamal, a Meitei went missing from the Army Camp at Leimakhong and is still missing.

The takeover of Imphal by AT armed cadres roaming freely in vehicles is on record, with no security forces in sight under obvious instruction of Biren Singh. Same was the case when the AT forced the MLA’s and a junior union minister to congregate and take an oath of allegiance, Biren Singh can hardly absolve himself of this default with a large number of security forces at his disposal.

Now the AT chief Korounganba Khuman Is reportedly on the radar of the National Investigation Agency for the above with the Supreme Court transferring the case from the NIA Court in Imphal to the NIA Special Court in Guwahati. Khuman and eight others are also involved in two other cases (shifted from Imphal to Guwahati) of attacks on police, looting arms and accusations by Kuki-Zo groups of orchestrating attacks on their community since the start of ethnic violence in May 2023.
With the strong bond between Biren Singh and the Korounganba Khuman-led AT, all these cases are expected to be shoved under the carpet. The so-called “looting” of arms from police/IRB armouries happened in mid-2023 with full knowledge of the state administration and according to ground sources these 4,000 plus weapons and 50,000 rounds of ammunition were “distributed” to Meitei militants (read AT) – looting was misnomer.

Concurrently there is news of action being taken against three AT cadres for extortion and possessing firearms. Is this to show a semblance of justice? AT maintains it began as a youth group of valley-dominant Meitei and took up arms when violence broke out in May 2023. But how did the organization expand to an incredible armed strength of 10,000 plus? Biren Singh will not dump AT although a lawyer indicates he has raised another group (EYOOM); his personal elite 200-250 strong militia of well trained, heavily radicalized fighters drawn from police commandos and foreign trained outfits . The veracity of this would be known to Biren Singh and the Centre but EYOOM was raised in January 2024 as a socio-cultural group. Will it be expanded and armed like the AT?

A dicky bird in the core of the national hierarchy says our aim is that every Hindu must be armed. Fair enough, but why in Manipur alone, why not pan-India and why by looting police/IRB armories? Why not systemize it and tap the illegal weapons business in the country, imports included like narcotics under political patronage? Is Gaffar Market in New Delhi still selling Soviet-origin AK-47 and AK-74 assault rifles and cheaper ones of Bulgaria, Pakistan or China origin?

In a recent article, GK Pillaii, former union home secretary with a reputation of being an upright officer, has called for criminal charges to be filed against CM N Biren Singh. But this is not possible by any stretch of imagination because Biren Singh is the blue-eyed boy of the Centre, especially of the union home minister. Despite the burning state, Manipur doesn’t even have a full-time Governor, giving a free hand to the chief minister. Not only this, nothing will come of the Manipur Tapes which purportedly show Biren Singh giving instructions for ethnic cleansing and related actions.

The story earlier circulated was that Islamists under the interim Bangladesh regime are helping the Kuki-Zo; indicating the spin doctor’s brain was dislocated – radical Islamists assisting Christians instead of killing them? Having fallen flat, Biren Singh posed like a movie star, accusing P Chidambaram the root cause of the crisis in Manipur and the entire northeast.

The question is what has Biren Singh done as chief minister in the last seven years (since 2017) other than branding indigenous tribals as infiltrates and indulging in ethnic cleansing? Does he realize killings of tribals in Manipur affected outcome of the recent elections in Jharkhand?

Biren Sigh began his chief ministership as Santa Claus of the Meitei but never realized that the Kuki-Zo, being tribal fighters, will not take it lying down; the backlash was inevitable. So, now the Meitei are also suffering and call him the “Bad Santa of Manipur”. Multiple questions are being raised by them, like – we don’t understand what is the policy of the Centre – why the intransigence to burning Manipur – why the prime minister is scared to visit Manipur when he picks out small countries to visit in Africa – is it because we cannot honour him with the highest Manipur Award which Biren Singh perceives as tribal-free Manipur?

Finally, Manipur’s future is difficult to predict with the Centre and Biren Singh giving no indication of changing their stance, other than political chest thumping about developing the northeast. Continuing the game of ethnic cleansing of tribals, placing more restrictions on them and abrogation of the SoO agreement will only exacerbate the situation.

The author is an Indian Army veteran. Views expressed are personal.