Armed forces personnel deployed in strife-torn Manipur have been walking the thin line between ‘friends’ and ‘foes’.
More than 10,000 personnel of the Army and the paramilitary Assam Rifles were deployed to douse the ethnic fire that singed Manipur for at least three days from May 3 following a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’.
The riot, triggered by a Manipur High Court order seeking a push for the proposal to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the majority Meitei community, left more than 60 people dead and destroyed some 1,700 houses.
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“We had predisposed 17 columns even before being requisitioned on May 3, thus enabling us to react promptly and save about 7,900 people within hours of being deployed for handling the volatile situation,” an armed forces official said, declining to be quoted.
“We hope the government ensures a safe environment where we can rebuild our lives although no amount of compensation can make up for a life lost or a home destroyed”Victim
Of the 35,000 people— members of tribes belonging to the Kuki group as well as the majority non-tribal Meitei community— were displaced over the next 48 hours; around 24,000 took refuge in Army and Assam Rifles camps. Another 2,200 still remain, each waiting for the right time to return home or whatever is left of it.
Safe haven
Victims of both communities felt safe inside these camps during the violence. “We may not have been guaranteed protection from physical harm or prejudice on account of our race,” said a victim, one of 3,815 people who were provided first aid and treatment for various ailments at the camps.
But earning the friend-in-need image came at a cost. Each column faced aggressive mobs two or three times a day while rescuing people, making the forces ‘enemies’ of people stopped from killing and marauding through villages and localities of a targeted community.
While the leaders of the Meitei mobs in parts of the Imphal Valley accuse the armed forces of being partisan towards the Kukis, the sentiment is reciprocated by their Kuki counterparts in the hilly Churachandpur and Tengnoupal districts.
“Each rescue attempt witnessed confrontation with mobs. Our columns were required to be of sufficient strength and adequately equipped to deal with any situation,” an Army officer in Manipur said.
“The armed forces provided us a safe passage but they cannot protect us forever. We hope the government ensures a safe environment where we can rebuild our lives although no amount of compensation can make up for a life lost or a home destroyed,” a victim said.
