Manipur Violence

MANIPUR’S ’S IMPLOSION WILL HURT THE INDIA STORY https://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/manipurs-implosion-will-hurt-the-india-story-101690034526283.html By Avinash Paliwal Jul 22, 2023 - Hindusthan Times

Manipur, and the rest of the Northeast, are central to India, and state collapse there is already hurting the India story. Any approach to resolve this cannot be driven by narrow electoral calculations.

The BJP’s error has been to confuse electoral dominance emanating from such pragmatic arrangements with ideological and political hegemony. The moment the BJP’s Manipur branch under chief minister N Biren Singh pushed the Meitei agenda of demanding Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to win more resources for this community at the cost of Zo-Kuki interests, the arrangement collapsed. Even in the illicit drug sector, which is connected to regional electoral finance, cross-community cartels began colliding violently to retain monopolies over cross-border routes, products, and suppliers...

In the past, the Congress let Manipur down by its divisive tactics and fostering a political economy dominated by dependencies on central grants and cross-border smuggling. The BJP today has failed Manipur by overplaying its assimilationist hand without altering such toxic dependencies.

r. The fact that the conflict is being framed around an attack on Christian minorities could mobilise new constituencies in western capitals. But there are more serious, practical security-strategic concerns too. With an ongoing military standoff with China, New Delhi can ill-afford state collapse and extreme social polarisation in a northeastern border state.  societal fracture offers a ripe ground for covert interventionism by India’s regional adversaries...

The possibility of China and Pakistan’s interference to exacerbate India’s domestic faultlines has always lingered in this region.

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To The Point Witrh Preeti Choudhry: Meiteis Vs Kukis- The Ethnic Fault Lines! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yje8jQ4Tff0 India Today 21.7.23
Manipur, which was slowly limping back to a sense of normalcy, is once again gripped with tension after a May 4 video surfaced on social video platforms, showing two women being paraded naked by dozens of men. The video emerged on social media late Wednesday night. The women in the video belonged to one of the warring communities in the hill state. The mob also allegedly gang-raped one of the women and her brother was killed when he tried to intervene.

Collapse of Governance in Manipur -Senior Journalist Patricia Mukhim on Manipur conflict https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QGOi3RaSAA The News Minute Jul 21, 2023 
The nation is grappling with shock and outrage as a distressing video emerges, capturing the harrowing sight of two women being paraded naked on the streets of B Phainom village, Manipur, by a mob of men. The visuals reveal a deeply disturbing act of public humiliation, coupled with the horrifying reality of the women enduring sexual assault during this ordeal. The incident, which took place on May 4, only came to light after 77 days. A Zero First Information Report (FIR) was lodged by Saikul police in Kangpokpi district on May 18. The FIR has charged "800 to 1000 unknown miscreants" with rape and murder, yet to date, only four arrest has been made. Demands for answers from Prime Minister Modi have grown louder from the opposition, as his silence persisted for 79 days on the Manipur issue. Though the Prime Minister has finally addressed the video of the women being paraded naked, he remains reticent on the overall situation in Manipur. In an interview with TNM's Shabbir Ahmed, Patricia Mukhim, Senior Journalist and Editor of The Shillong Times, highlights the plight of the people and balmes the apparent collapse of governance in Manipur under the leadership of Chief Minister Biren Sight, as the nation seeks justice and accountability.

Manipur Violence and Hindu Response | Why is Government Silent? | RSN Singh and Sanjay Dixit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViPRajcLIfo The Jaipur Dialogues Jul 4, 2023 
Manipur is wracked with violence. Reasons are many, ranging from historical to infiltration, evangelisation and tribal expansion. Col. RSN Singh joins Sanjay Dixit to discuss the causes and remedies. clash of civilisations? 

An Open Letter to the Central Government, State Government of Manipur
and all the Fellow Citizens of India

Today India’s soul is deeply wounded! Shameful and shocking videos of barbaric acts carried out against two women on 04th May have now surfaced from Manipur, which has been burning for more than two months! Two helpless women were paraded naked surrounded by a devilish mob and sexually assaulted by perverts in this sacred land, where a mother is to be revered like God! It is loathing, disgusting and abominable to say the least. It is a blatant violation of human rights. The public demonstration of such a heinous crime manifests the height of the lawlessness prevailing in the region. The fact that, even after two months, the clearly identifiable perpetrators of this horrific crime are not yet brought to justice adds to the gravity of the situation. The odious crime carried out in public and its video shooting pose serious threat to the democracy and law and order in the country. The scary shouts and laughs of the offenders are insult to the sacred constitution of India. It deserves to be condemned by all responsible citizens of India regardless of differences lest it be repeated in any other part of the country.

Lack of immediate and stringent measures on the part of the central and state governments and the police department, I believe, amounts to adding fuel to the violence in Manipur. Even the best explanations of the concerned authorities fail to convince the common man that no religious factors are at play in the prolonged violence in the state. It is religious persecution in every sense. The number of Christians died and displaced and the churches destroyed is obvious evidence to state that Christians are targeted. The ill-intended attempts to describe the present violence just as the result of ethnic clashes offer the persecutors an excuse to continue violence unabashedly. After all, can violence be tolerated in the name ethnic clashes? Even if it is an ethnic clash, should it not be stopped? It is ridiculous that the police play the role of mute spectators in Manipur, while the lawbreakers unleash brutality. Violence in any form has to be stopped. Violence can never be justified in the name of caste, tribe or religion.

The plight of Christians in Manipur is a serious concern, not only for the Christians but for the entire nation as well. Atrocities against any group in the name of religion are clear violation of the rights enshrined in the constitution of India. Christians in India, like any other citizens, have the fundamental right to freely profess, practise and propagate religion. Being Christian in no way reduces patriotism. Christian faith urges loyalty to the homeland and respect for its leaders. While millions of Indians are peacefully living in foreign countries practising their own religions, why can Indian Christians not live peacefully in their homeland practising their religion? It is really heartbreaking that very little is said by the media and national and state leaders about the human rights violation and Christian persecution in Manipur. As a legal maxim states, “justice delayed is justice is denied”. The unexplainable silence of the concerned authorities in the face of outright violation of human rights and constitutional rights in Manipur seems to betray an unholy alliance of vested interests. Political gains cannot be sought at the cost of the innocent lives.

Man-made sufferings of the people of Manipur, I believe, cause millions of Indians sleepless nights. What is the wrong done by those who lost life? What is the wrong done by those who are displaced? What is the wrong done by those helpless women brutally harassed, assaulted and gangraped? They are crying for justice. Their cry is reverberating across the country. As a faithful Christian and a proud Indian citizen, I vehemently condemn the human rights violation and Christian persecution in Manipur and do appeal to the fellow citizens to do the same and request both central and state governments to stop violence in Manipur with unwavering fidelity and loyalty to the constitution of India. “Let justice roll down like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24)!

Bishop Prince Antony
Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Adilabad
20 July 2023