2 months later, no one able to douse raging Manipur fire

GUWAHATI/NEW DELHI: For two whole months, Manipur has been on fire

- Utpal Parashar and Prawesh Lama

The ethnic violence began on May 3, and has continued sporadically. Gunshots still often rent the air. Wisps of smoke from villages set ablaze still mingle with the night sky. And hospitals still get a steady stream of those that are injured, or worse, dead.

Overall, the clashes between the Meitei, the dominant community in Manipur accounting for 53% of the population, and the tribal Kuki, have left 122 dead, over 310 injured, and over 50,000 displaced from their homes. For 62 days, the state and central governments have tried a plethora of steps to mitigate a spiraling situation. The Indian Army was called in on May 4, as were scores of paramilitary personnel. The Union home minister went on a three-day trip even if the Prime Minister hasn't, and announced the formation of a judicial commission and an investigation into the violence by the Central Bureau of Investigation. There have been attempts at the creation of a peace committee, and a slew of relief measures - from camps to compensation.

Yet, nothing has worked.

Every pillar of the state the army, the police, the administration, and the political class - has been unable to deliver, stymied by an extraordinary set of circumstances, failing to do even their most basic roles.

In conversations with stakeholders conducted two months, HT pieces together from representatives of these organs of the state, of the scale and peculiarity of the crisis, and the factors behind the anarchy Manipur has descended into.

Army, paramilitary forces