Tales of terror

Kuki women refuse to work with Meitei women to restore peace in Manipur

- JAVED PARVESH

“THIS IS A man-made problem. Now we, the women, will solve it,’’ said Hoirem Binodini Devi, co-convener of the Khwairamband Ima Keithel Joint Coordinating Committee for Peace, a powerful body of Meitei women in the Imphal valley, referring to the ethnic violence plaguing Manipur since May 3. They are hoping for a solution through a dialogue between the women of both communities—the Meiteis and the Kukis.

But, for the Kukis, who constitute 16 per cent of Manipur’s population, it is an unacceptable offer. According to Kuki women’s organisations, it is unimaginable to sit with Meitei women who, they say, perpetrated heinous crimes against them. Many Kuki women survivors say it was the Meitei women who handed them over to the male crowd, inciting them to rape and kill.

In conflicts across the world, including in Manipur, it is the women who suffer the most. According to statistics provided by the tribal communities, 27 Kuki and Zomi (another minority ethnic group) women were killed and many more were raped. Eight women were bludgeoned to death, two burnt alive, five shot dead and three lynched. The status of the remaining victims remains unspecified.

Amidst several complaints about rape and murder of women, it was a video that surfaced on July 19 that finally compelled everyone to address the atrocities against women. It shed light on the dire situation, where men, women and children were butchered mercilessly. It forced the Union government to acknowledge and confront the grave situation.