In the Shadows of Terror: Documenting Meitei Police Commando’s Atrocities on Innocent Civilians in Moreh

After eight months of ethnic violence in the state, the Meitei Chief Minister, N.Biren Singh, declared on 6th Januray 2024 that a “war” had just begun in Moreh. According to him, the conflict have so far been between two communities, but now it is a “war”, supposedly referring to the increase of gunfights between the Village Volunteers (VV) and Meitei intruders –  Police Commandos (CDOs), Armed Militias, and Valley Based Insurgent Groups (VBIGs). 

Meanwhile, this strategically located town, an international border trade centre between India and Myanmar (Burma), is once again back in the news headlines as there has been exchange of gunfights between VV and Meitei intruders for two consecutive days, i.e., on 7th & 8th January 2024.

The continued violence involving atrocities committed by Meitei intruders against innocent civilians and heavy exchange of gunfire in this border town is not unexpected as it has been designed by intellectuals and defence strategists in a war room somewhere in Imphal. The ploy to create havoc in Moreh can be traced to a politically motivated development a decade ago. 

Background:

Back in 2012, the Government of Manipur decided to open a Special CDO Unit in Moreh. Sensing the malicious policy of the communal government in Imphal, the local populace opposed the decision as there was already a police station and enough Central Forces to handle law and order in the town. However, the state government somehow convinced some self-styled tribal elites and cleverly stationed the CDO Unit for what was supposed to be three months. Since then, the said “three months” has never ended, and there never was any good news coming from the CDO personnel either. For instance, there was a stand-off between the CDOs and 11 Assam Rifles in November 2015, and a bomb explosion in the Moreh police station in December 2016, to name a few. 

Again, since the beginning of the current ethnic violence, several Kuki-Zo civil society organizations including ITLF, CoTU, Kuki Inpi Manipur, Kuki Inpi Tengnoupal (KIT), Kuki Inpi Chandel, and CSOs of Moreh have been demanding the removal of Meitei CDOs from this Kuki-Zo inhabited dominated town.

Moreover, since the CDOs, who are always accompanied by Meitei militias including Arambai Tenggols and VBIGs, have been at the forefront in attacking and torching Kuki-Zo villages since day one, they were no longer seen as government security agency but part of the larger design to crush the Kuki-Zo community. The demand to remove Meitei police personnel and CDOs from the Kuki-Zo areas was also corroborated by the declaration of “National War” by COCOMI and the Meitei CM himself.

Selected Incidents:

There have been innumerable incidents of gross violations of human rights committed by the said Special CDO Unit in Moreh in collusion with Meitei militias since the outbreak of the ongoing ethnic cleansing pogrom. Even before, there had been sporadic violence including murder of innocent civilians and tensions/stand-off with the central forces and public. For instance, an innocent and simple-living youth named Seiminthang Lupho (22) was killed on 28th April 2023, just a week before the violence began. The murderers were neither booked nor arrested! The public highly suspected the hands of armed Meitei militias or VBIGs who have always been hand-in-glove with the CDOs. 

To substantiate the argument in favour of the demand for removal of Meitei CDOs from Moreh, few incidents are considered worth listing below: 

1. On 3rd May 2023, the first day of the current ethnic violence itself, two innocent Kuki youths namely Mr. Thangminhao Haokip (18) and Mr. Thanggoulun Zou (16) were shot dead and eight others injured by Meitei CDOs. Later, one of them, namely Thanggoulen Lhouvum (16), succumbed to his injury in the hospital. This highhandedness of the police personnel resulted in the burning of some houses belonging to the Meitei community. However, since the Kukis were not aware of what transpired behind the outbreak of the violence, not even a single civilian was hurt. On the same night, i.e., around 11:30pm, an ambulance transporting the dead body of Mr. Jamkhopao Mate, accompanied by four members of his family, from JNIMS Hospital, Imphal, to Moreh was blocked and waylaid at Singjamei, where one of them was brutally lynched to death and the other three had narrow escape with the help of Assam Rifles but not before they sustained serious injury. Mrs. T. Mate, one of the survivors, said that a police CDO vehicle passed by with the personnel yelling, “Eikhoi Meitei ne” (meaning, “We are Meiteis”), and drove away without helping us. 

2. On 5th April 2023, around 8 am, three individuals namely Mr. Seikai Mate, Ms. Phakim Haokip and Mr. Ngamjang Haokip who came to pick-up their kids from schools were waylaid and beaten up by Meitei CDOs, but fortunately the Assam Rifles personnel on duty intervened and rescued them. 

3. On 6th April 2023, around 8:10 pm, Meitei CDOs on duty set fire to an abandoned shop and blamed the local community who went to check the fire. The CDOs also fired in the air to scare them away. 

4. On 7th April 2023, around 6:15pm, Meitei CDOs opened fire in a playground at New Moreh, and beat up a youth allegedly for violating curfew though it was well within curfew relaxation. 

5. On 31st October 2023, following the assassination of SDPO Chingtham Anand Kumar by unknown miscreants, Meitei CDOs opened fire towards a group of women who were in a peaceful sit-in protest at Chikim Village. Many women sustained injury while fleeing for their lives. 6. On 1st November 2023, Meitei CDOs physically assaulted three women including a minor in the dead hours of the night on the pretext of conducting combing operations. 

7. On 2nd November 2023, Meitei CDOs vandalised several vehicles and ransacked many houses at New Leikot village, D. Monnaphai village and several other places in Moreh. They also took away vehicles and properties without providing any reason. 

8. On 29th November 2023, a peace agreement was reportedly signed between the Meitei extremist group UNLF (Pambei faction) and the Government of India. However, to the utter shock of the whole Kuki-Zo community, Moreh and Kwatha in Tengnoupal district were chosen as two of the four proposed designated camps for these surrendered Meitei extremists. Since then, more and more Meitei youths from Moreh were seen donning CDOs uniforms thereby creating apprehension among the inhabitants of the town. 

9. On 30th December 2023, the SP Railways & Incharge of Special CDO Unit, Mr. Th. Krishnatombi Singh, wrote to the ADGP(L/O) requesting requisition of a huge quantity of ammunition including explosives (bombs). On the same day, Mr. Peter Holkholal Mate, a school teacher by profession, was kidnapped, severely tortured, and was later left to die. However, he miraculously survives to narrate the ordeal. On the same day, at least three houses were also burnt down by Meitei CDOs. This resulted in a series of gunfights between the VV and Meitei intruders including CDOs. 

10. On 2nd January 2024, two youths namely Mr. Lamminthang Lupho and Mr. Jamkholen Lupho were picked-up early in the morning, and were black and blue. When the womenfolk demanded for the safe release of the duo, the CDOs fired upon them. This reportedly angered the VV resulting in a heavy exchange of gunfight with these Meitei intruders. Later, the Assam Rifles rescued the two youths in critical conditions from the hands of Meitei CDOs.

11. On 8th January 2024, Kuki Women, who kept vigil in the town, detained a Meitei police officer dressed in Army combat uniform. The officer is none other than Col. (Retd.) Nectar Sanjenbam who was appointed as the Special Superintendent of Police (Combat), Tengnoupal district, a post specifically created for him by defying all established norms, by Biren’s Cabinet to assist the Meitei militias and intruders whose sole purpose is to annihilate the Kuki-Zo. Soon after he was cornered by the womenfolk, Meitei intruders opened fire resulting in a series of gunfights. The Defence Wing of KIT, in a release, said that this Meitei officer came to the crowded Morning Market with the intention of carrying out a massacre on the Kuki-Zo community.

Concluding Remarks:

Since the 3rd of May 2023, at least 158 innocent Kuki-Zo have been lynched/murdered and hundreds injured at the hands of the majority Meitei community. This includes 5(five) dead and at least 16(sixteen) injured from Moreh alone. In this border town, where almost all the police personnel and CDOs belong to the Meitei community, the Kuki-Zo people can’t even file an FIR. In some cases where their FIRs were entertained, they are often assigned sections not directly related to, or deserving of the nature of the incidents. So, most of the victims are denied even minimum human rights including filing of FIR.

The above discussion, supported by the series of events mentioned, clearly shows that the current ethnic violence completes the geographical and emotional divide between the Meiteis and Kuki-Zo. It also shows that the whole ethnic violence is a well-planned attack orchestrated by the majority community with the open participation of the state government. The level of hatred the majority community has towards the minority Kuki-Zo was evident from the fact that even a dead body transported in an ambulance was not spared. 

Therefore, as the KIT said in its memorandum submitted to the Union Home Minister, Shri Amit Shah-ji on 5th January 2024, and in many other such memoranda and Press Communiqués issued by the Kuki-Zo CSOs, deporting Meitei CDOs and armed militias disguised as state police from Moreh, or replacing them with Kuki-Zo police personnel, is the only way out to restore peace and normalcy in this international border trade centre. Moreh is the only town in the hill districts of Manipur where Meitei CDOs are posted, and unless the reason behind the state government’s refusal to deport them to Imphal is to create havoc, it can only mean a ploy to snatch the tribal lands by force.

[Source: Thingkho le Malcha, 9-1-2024, pp.10-12]