Gunshots rob Manipur relief camp inmates of sleep

Residents at relief camps for both Meiteis and Kukis say there is little security at the camps

The yu, a popular rice wine, has not been brewing at Sekmai, dry Manipur’s favourite watering hole north of the State’s capital Imphal on National Highway 2.

What’s been brewing for more than a month is the fear of getting killed at the Sekmai relief camp and the realisation that members of 175 Meitei households now in the camp may never return to their ancestral homes in Kangpokpi, a Kuki-dominated district. The relief camp is on the northern edge of the Imphal Valley, just a few metres from the boundary between Kangpokpi and the Meitei-heavy Imphal East district.

Their fear grew stronger on May 27 after scores of gunmen swooped down on a village just 600 metres east of the Sekmai relief camp, where Herojit Chilen and Nongthombam Sandhyarani have found refuge.

“We can neither go back home nor sleep in peace here because of the gunshots we keep hearing every now and then. Most of the able-bodied inmates and local volunteers are guarding the relief camp and adjoining areas at night, but that does not guarantee sleep during the day,” Mr. Chilen said.

Hailing from the Lower Toribari village near Kangpokpi town (district headquarters), Mr. Chilen is one of the 811 Meitei people settled in Kangpokpi district, whose total population is 193,744 according to the 2011 census. The tiny Meitei population comprises 125 households settled in five areas: Kangpokpi, Motbung, Saparmeina, Charhajare, and Kalapahar. All the Meiteis are now either in relief camps or staying with relatives in the Imphal Valley.

“We were only three Meitei households in the mixed village once dominated by the Nepalese people. Two Kuki hamlets came up over the years after some Nepalese people relocated to Sanatombi (Imphal West district) and Siliguri (West Bengal),” Mr. Chilen said.

The people of Lower Toribari co-existed peacefully until the night of May 3, when all hell broke loose. “Before we could realise what happened, there were about 500 people baying for our blood and all of us [Meitei] took refuge in an adjoining Naga village,” Mr. Chilen recalled.