ARMED AND DANGEROUS

The first challenge for Manipur's new regime is to disarm the civilians

- NAMRATA BIJI AHUJA

Manipur is a crucible of defiance and despair today, where ordinary men and women are trying to breathe life into the smouldering ruins of what was once a tapestry of lives interwoven with hope and laughter, and shared spaces of several ethnic communities.

The tiny northeastern state had been stringing together more than a dozen tribes like the Hmar, Kuki, Zomi in the hills and the dominant Meitei community in the valley until May 2, 2023, when their houses were set ablaze during large-scale violence by armed groups.

For the homeless and grieving families, Biren Singh's resignation as chief minister almost two years later is disturbingly delayed. And, the Centre's assurance of bridging the ethnic divide and promises of dialogue are being seen as mere bandaids to structures that were broken by targeted aggression on innocent villagers who have been thrown into a cycle of violence. When will it end? No one has an answer.

The state machinery's failure has prompted civil society to step in. "The government calls it an ethnic conflict, but there are no historical records to show that the people of Manipur wanted division or could not coexist peacefully," says Khuraijam Athouba, convener of the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity, an umbrella body of Meitei civil society organisations. "Both sides fell victim to the cycle of revenge and now we are calling it an ethnic divide."