IMPHAL: Burnt and damaged houses on either side of a national highway stand in sordid testimony to the bloody ethnic conflict that unfolded in Manipur in May 2023. The incidents of arson, gunfights and killings have stopped but the fear of the return of violence is far from over. There is uneasy calm and I got a sense of it right after crossing Moirang, 45 km south of state capital Imphal, home to the Meiteis.
This arterial road leads to Churachandpur, the Kuki heartland. Few vehicles and people were on the road. However, some young and unarmed members of a Meitei radical group were seen on an open jeep by the roadside, talking to one another. They were wearing the ou fit’s attire. I could see the movement of people, albeit only a few of them, at Kwakta, which is eight km away from Moirang.
Kwakta is a Meitei Pangal (Meitei Muslim) village, located less than 2.5 km short of Kangvai. The Meitei Pangals had remained neutral during the violence, yet they bore the brunt of it. A mosque at Kwakta had come under an attack during a gufight. As I was heading towards Kangvai, which somewhat separates the Imphal Valley from Churachandpur, I could feel an eerie silence.
The hills in the vicinity on either side come under Churachandpur district. The paddy fields stretching towards the corrugated hills are all empty. The land is tilled by Meitei farmers. There have been several incidents during the conflict when they were fired upon by the miscreants.
At Kangvai, our vehicle was intercepted by a policeman. He asked us where we were heading to. I showed my identity card and answered his queries. The cop asked my driver, a Meitei Pangal, to share his details at the check post. There, he was given a two-digit secret number and asked to share it following return so they know this vehicle had passed through the road earlier in the day.
Within a few hundred metres from the police check post, there were seven other check posts – some 20-30 metres apart. The personnel saw us showing our identity cards at the last gate, yet they asked for the same when we reached them. They had similar queries – where we are from, where we are travelling to and why.
This was followed by the frisking of the vehicle.These posts are manned by the personnel of Army, Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Central Reserve Police Force. Several vehicles of the personnel were seen parked by the roadside in a row. At one place, a vehicle was seen blocking the road partially. At every check post, there is a barricade. You will be allowed to go further only if the personnel are convinced. When I asked a jawan about the multi-layer security, he said it was done to prevent the miscreants from either side from engaging in violence.
“Most houses here were attacked and burnt down. It was horrific,” the jawan says. “Things have normalised now but we are not taking any chances. We hope the election passes off peacefully,” he adds.
As per 2011 census, Kangvai had a population of 939. Both Meiteis and Kukis lived here. It is where the violence had broken out. Most residents have abandoned the lage.
‘Tight security, multiple checkposts’
Within a few hundred metres from the police check post, there were seven other check posts – some 20-30 metres apart. The police personnel saw us showing our identity cards at the last gate, yet they asked for the same when we reached them. They had similar queries – where we are from, where we are travelling to and why. This was followed by the frisking of the vehicle.