Roads To Peace

By Esha Roy

Into the third month of Manipur’s economic blockade, the state government has hit an impasse in its resolve to bring the issue of a separate Sadar Hills district to a quick and relatively painless end. Manipur spokesperson and cabinet minister N. Biren recently pointed out that while the state government is in favour of declaring the Sadar Hills a separate revenue district, the problem is more complicated than administrative convenience.

While administrative convenience is important, the issue is mired in the complexities of ethnic identity. Decades of conflict between the Nagas and Kukis — two of the most prominent tribes in Manipur — lie at the heart of the fracas. It’s the Kukis who have been demanding a separate district, and while many members of the tribe say the district will be heterogeneous — for Kukis, Nagas and Nepalis in the area — the man behind the blockade and the president of the Sadar Hills District Demand committee, Ngamkhohao Haokip, admits that the fulcrum of the issue is one of “belonging and identity” for the Kukis.

Currently located in the Naga-dominated Senapati district, the hills-dwelling Kukis complain of centuries of discrimination by the Valley people (the Hindu Meiteis who dominate in Manipur and live in the Imphal valley). Apart from discrimination in terms of development, education and health facilities, the Kukis point out that valley people have traditionally called them “Hao” or untouchables.

Kuki nationalism goes as far back as the 1980s, when the Kuki National Front was formed under the leadership of Ranco Thangboi Kuki in 1988 — primarily to counter the so-called hegemony of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) in Kuki inhabited and dominated areas. The primary objective of the group was to secure a separate state or Union territory for the Kukis, which they called “Kukiland”. Sadar Hills was one of its main bases. According to some Kuki scholars, the separatist movement emerged because of the long economic deprivation and the fact that the educated class was not getting a share in the power structure. Kuki nationalism in Manipur could now impact Manipuri politics.

Spanning an area of 1,685 sq km and with a population of roughly 180,000, the Sadar Hills will be the second largest district in Manipur — that is, if the Kuki demands are met. Whichever stance the government takes, the ruling Congress risks losing a chunk of its votebank in the coming assembly elections early next year.

On paper, the Sadar Hills already exist as a separate district passed by an act of Parliament in 1972. The Kukis say that, after 39 years, the state government has been unable to implement its own law.

It’s an unprecedented no-give resolution in this year’s blockade — apparent all along National Highway 39, which is dotted with charred trucks and goods carriers. Every village along the highway has pickets of boulders lined across the road where the villagers check incoming vehicles for goods. If any commodity is found, passengers are made to get off and the vehicle is burnt. Alongside the pickets are makeshift tents with women protesters and, in trademark Irom Sharmila-style, Manipuri mothers — or Ima, as they are called in the state — on relay hunger strikes. They have been on hunger strikes since August 16.

Amar Yumnan, a professor of economics at Manipur University, says the issue is more of political supremacy between the tribes. Even within the Sadar Hills, there are two assembly constituencies which have seen strong and very close contests between the Nagas and Kukis — both are equally powerful. Potentially an extremely dangerous trend, Yumnam says that it is the result of increasing ethnicisation of politics in the state, seen in the emergence of new political parties such as the Kuki National Assembly.

Meanwhile, the United Naga Council has already written to Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram protesting the formation of this new district, claiming that most of the Sadar Hills traditionally belong to the Nagas.

The government’s answer to these problems is the reorganisation of the boundaries of various districts, giving the Kukis a separate Sadar Hills, while ensuring that the Nagas continue to retain most of their claimed lands. While both demands will have to be balanced, a lot of dexterous manoeuvring will be required by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh’s government to convince both tribes that they have indeed been accommodated. If the government does at all manage to achieve a resolution between its two main tribes, it may be the first time in decades that such a conflict will be put to rest — a conflict which has in the past led to various secessionist movements on the part of both Nagas and Kukis. The handling of this one conflict alone may be a landmark on Manipur’s path to being declared a non-disturbed state in the future.

esha.roy@expressindia.com