By Haoginlen Chongloi
Three weeks ago, TheWire published a series of news reports related to the leaked audiotapes purportedly belonging to the Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh who the Kukis accused of hatching communal conspiracy and launching a state-sponsored terror against them. The audio purportedly appears to have been recorded in a meeting where Singh was speaking on the violence. The report prepared by Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty mentions how Singh, the state chief minister who also holds the Home portfolio, goes against the advice and instructions of the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah over the use of bombs, among others, by state forces against Kuki armed men.
The explosive revelation by TheWire has caught the attention of the masses and concerned citizens. However, within no time the matter has subsided and soon disappeared from the scene. While the authenticity of the tape is yet to be ascertained, the nature of violence lasting 16 months where several accounts implicate the state authority, demands a little more space, time and attention. A revelation which expects cognizance from legal and law enforcing agencies is still missing. Demanding prosecution of Singh and for speedy political settlement, the Kuki-Zo ethnic group organized a mass rally all across Kuki towns and in New Delhi. Beyond receiving coverage in the media, New Delhi seems to be least bothered.
Within 24hours of the protest rally, a heavy gunfight broke out in Koutruk of Kangpokpi-Imphal border between armed Kuki and Meitei men. The incident led to the death of a Meitei woman and left nine others injured. The Meitei group accused the Kuki group of deploying drones against civilians whereas the Kuki group vehemently denied the charges. In the meantime, the state government instituted a five-member committee to ‘critically examine and study’ the nature of drones and find ways and means to counter such, if proven right. By virtue of its power, the state government has successfully drawn the attention of the population from the leaked tapes to drones. With the purported ‘drone attacks’ making national headlines, the leaked audio tapes implicating state authorities in the violence has been lost in the noise.
The issue of ‘drone attacks’ has become another goldmine for broadcast media channels to raise their Television Rating Points. News anchor Arnab Goswami, chief of the Republic TV, glibly pointed to the involvement of ‘foreign hands’ in the violence and described it as an ‘attack on India’. He did this by showing printed photos of crude rockets which he claims were fired by Kukis against Meiteis. However, TheQuint debunked the photos as misinformation and made it clear that it has nothing to do with Manipur violence. The picture of rockets on display which Goswami presents to the nations originally belongs to the armed militants based in Gaza, not in Manipur. However, the show has done enough harm already. Social media handlers shared Goswami’s videos in ‘bits and parts’ and the experience has been unimaginable. It turned an ethnic conflict in the corner-most region of the country into a national conflict; a practicing journalist with no moral or ethical responsibility employs this method to stay relevant by manufacturing an atmosphere of fear, danger and anger.
The state government’s complicity in the violence; the nature of central intervention and the way the fourth pillar of democracy presents the conflict reminds us of the famous lines of Noam Chomsky who reportedly said: ‘for the powerful, crimes are those that others commit.’ For over 16 months now, the Kukis stood against the majority community, aided and abetted by the state government. The state government on the other hand doesn’t deny or shy away from the allegations but insists that non-indigenous communities – a reference to Kukis – be stripped of the benefits the state provides. Even before the conflict broke out, N Biren Singh habitually described Kukis as ‘illegal immigrants’ and ‘narco-terrorists’. This happened under the watchful eyes of the government and its various agencies. By failing to take cognizance of such offenses, Manipur shows the path of a serious identity crisis we Indians are going to witness in the near future. It’s going to be a case of who is the greater or lesser Indian.
Evidently, the state chief minister has been leading the bandwagon of racial profiling against Kukis even before he became the state chief minister. Now, he defends the looting of 6000 automatic rifles and live bullet rounds counting in terms of lakhs, acquired the latest mine-proof Kalyani military vehicles, and the latest being the acquisition of Medium Machine Guns (MMG) basically meant for Indian military; all for use against Indian citizens whom he called ‘illegal immigrants’ and ‘narco-terrorists.’ Chomsky’s ‘media-mind control’ finds its place here again. By creating a climate of fear and hate against Kukis, Singh managed to wield enormous influence over the Meitei population which could be somewhere around 20 lakh people; commands 40-50 legislators, who hold the state’s most important positions in the state machinery. For a small state like Manipur, he undoubtedly is untouchable. Hence New Delhi has to bend its principles. The recent leaked tapes where he himself stated how he started the ‘operations’ could have landed him under intense scrutiny in a land where the rule of law prevails. But this didn’t happen.
At the time when Singh was battling a credibility crisis, the ‘drone war’ came which completely redirected the course of discussion from leaked tapes to drone attacks. In fact, the gunfight at Koutruk reshaped Singh’s image as a leader against all forces. The Kuki Inpi and other Kuki organizations have vehemently objected to the involvement of foreign hands and denied the use of drones in the attack. It stated that the gunfight broke after Kuki volunteers intercepted Meitei armed men who apparently were on their way to lay an ambush. Whatever the truth is, nobody cares. In the face of media bombardment at state and national level, the voice of a tribe with a population just over five lakhs with no platform for effective defense has to lose the battle. For Singh, it marked a great return from a near ‘disastrous exit’ to ‘a man fighting United States and China,’ as concluded by ‘yellow’ prime time shows. In fact, it was the valley-based secessionist groups such as the UNLF, PLA, PREPAK and KYKL with their bases in Myanmar, China and Bangladesh who were responsible for fanning the present violence. However, the media have made every Indian believe that Kukis who never had any secessionist intent in the last 70 years are colluding with foreign agents.
In fact, drones have been used for surveillance by both conflicting parties since the early months of the conflict. Campaigns and donations to purchase drones were a common and an open affair among Kukis and Meities. Presently, none could ascertain who had an edge over the possession and use of drones in combat, or whether previous casualties were inflicted by drone attacks. The death of a woman in what is purported to be a drone attack, if proven true, signifies an alarming state of what the state could experience in the near future. But before drawing hasty conclusions there are pertinent questions one must consider: if the victim happens to be a Kuki will prime time channels show similar enthusiasm over the matter? Are there similar enquiries initiated over the death of Kuki women in Imphal, or will the state government constitute a committee to ascertain the cause and circumstances leading to such killings if victims belong to a tribal community?
Now, the state government formed a five-member panel to critically examine and study the use of drones leading to the death of a Meitei woman. If the government is serious about the use of drones, it should not be limited to a particular incident alone. It should also constitute a panel to find out if any tribal women and children ever got killed or injured by aerial bombs dropped by Meitei militants and state forces against Kukis. Once the drone issue gets over, it may focus on other killings committed by state forces and militant groups against innocent women and children. In doing so, the powerless minorities should not always remain at the receiving end when the powerful violate the rule of law. Justice should not be selective. It’s 16 months now that crimes are defined and the penalty determined by those controlling the state machinery. The Manipur state government’s intervention in the crisis and its selective justice, once again justifies the Kuki demand for Separate Administration.
(Haoginlen Chongloi is an independent researcher. He is interested in northeast history, ethnic relations and tribal studies)