Thread by @Article14live

“Cut down the forest, dry up the rivers, finish them off”

Pramot Singh of extremist Meitei Leepun in #Manipur on 28 April. @KimiColney on how state govt ignored/aided tensions between tribal Kukis & majority Meitei, spiralling into anarchy

THREAD

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article-14.com/post/manipur-o…

“I never said this, but I love you mummy.”

Terrified 11-yr-old to his mother Mangalleima, a Meitei from Australia, trapped in their home village in Churachandpur, #Manipur, as it was attacked by Kukis on 3 May.

>80 are dead, 35,000 homeless

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“This is not just our story,” said Mangalleima, who said warning signs were evident for months. “As much as the Meitei are affected, the Kuki are also affected. What are we gaining from this fight?  It is a failure of law enforcement.”

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Victims of the violence from both sides accused #BJP chief minister @NBirenSingh of exacerbating ethnic fault lines, @narendramodi of silence & the state police of inaction or complicity as homes, places of worship were burned & scores were murdered.

4/14

“Say something, we need your intervention… do something & rise up to your responsibility as a leader. It is your sworn duty to intervene & render help. If we cannot count on you now, (then) when?”

Alana Golmei, lawyer, to @narendramodi

5/14

“They are not human beings”

#Manipur chief minister @NBirenSingh of tribals he accused of being “foreigners” & “poppy planters”. Such language, some told @KimiColney, prompted a continuing orgy of death, rioting & ethnic cleansing.

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Thousands have fled once multi-ethnic towns & neighbourhoods. Survivors of this unprecedented population exchange told @KimiColney of the homes & friends of other ethnicities they had left behind, but all, even govt officials, said they would not return

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“My house was near the house of the DGP, addl DGP & MLAs. Security was tight. I thought even if they come, the police will lead them away, but I was wrong; when they came, the police did nothing. They just watched.”

K, a Kuki govt officer from Imphal

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“It was on social media (the radicalisation) & unknown fake profiles, but we were never bothered. We never knew the extent to which it would go… its magnitude has convinced us, ministers, MLAs & the common person, to believe we are not wanted.”

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“Our source of income, our house, everything is gone,” a Meitei bank official from Churachandpur. He now lives on charity. “It's not like the line has been cut,  it has been destroyed from the root. I have to start from scratch.”

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Meitei mobs burned churches in neighbourhood after neighbourhood in Imphal, eyewitnesses said, with police nowhere to be seen. In Churachandpur, it was the Meitei who were the target of Kuki-Chin militants & mobs

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The result of #ManipurViolence is that communities who once lived together now find the prospect of life together difficult. The Meitei bank official from Churachandpur said he would not return, despite fond memories. A Kuki lawyer from Imphal said the same

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Manipur is one of #India’s most diverse states: 3.2 million Meitei, Kuki-Chin-Zo & Naga communities; 33 recognised tribes; 29 languages, often plagued over decades by discord & violence. A tenuous peace largely held, but state, union govts ignored recent tensions

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“We are not welcome, we don't belong, that conviction is so clear. After all these years, Manipur has not been able to bring together all identities where we can all say that Manipur is ours.”

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