Samuel L Songate, January 19, 2006
“We said ‘Ya Basta!’ that no longer were we going to allow them to make us inferior or to treat us worse than animals.” Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional
The situation in the southern hills of Manipur especially Tipaimukh sub-division these days is overwhelming. As of now, life in this region is pathetic. As I could find no suitable word to describe the pitiable conditions of innocent people in this god-forsaken land, I finally decided to borrow the voices of my indigenous friends that cry out from deep within the mountains and highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. The world knew them as the Zapatistas. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind, as the voice I represented here is also very much ‘a voice from deep within the mountains’.
It’s been almost a decade now since the valley underground groups, who claimed to fight for the protection and the integrity of Manipur, started operating in the southern hills; particularly the Hmar inhabited areas in Tipaimukh sub-division. In the beginning, they were friendly, courteous and well disciplined. Wherever they operated, they maintained peaceful co-existence with their Hmar counterparts like the Hmar Revolutionary Front and Hmar Peoples’ Convention (Democratic). There was little misunderstanding with the villagers then. Hence, the innocent villagers also trust them and did not hesitate to provide them shelter and refuge whenever they needed. Therefore, the villagers’ livelihoods were not affected and their day to day lives remained the same. Life goes on like that for quite a while without the notice of the central and state authorities in these forgotten parts of the world.
However, with the change of time the attitudes of the valley insurgent groups toward the villagers also deteriorated from bad to worse. They started levying taxes upon the poor villagers. Whenever villagers have to sell their surplus products from the field, they were asked to pay certain amount of their return as taxes or face serious consequences. The villagers always chose the first option to avoid trouble. Within no time, submission of taxes to the militants became an unfailing formality one has to settle before taking his jhum and forests’ products to Silchar along the Barak River. Not a single pumpkin passed through the ‘check post’ without being taxed.
In the meantime, with the construction of Tipaimukh Dam becoming imminent and the Operation All Clear being carried out in and around Sajik Tampak, the valley militant groups’ frustration increased. They felt the need to strengthen their footholds and consolidate their positions in these areas to grab the biggest share from the upcoming project. No matter how harsh and inhuman they had become towards the inhabitants; they faced little resistance from them. Taking advantage of the situation, they started employing the villagers in digging trenches and clearing jungles for campsites. The helpless villagers, despite their hectic life in the jhum, always met their demands. However, Labour wages were the last thing on the minds of the villagers while serving the militants.
The situation worsened when the militants started planting landmines in this region since the later part of 2005. Ever since, news reports (official and unofficial) of deaths and injuries due to landmine blasts started pouring in ceaselessly. Day after day, more and more innocent people continued to lose their lives due to landmine explosions. Very few landmine victims survived. And most of the survivors also got their legs and arms amputated. In some cases, even social and religious formalities could not be performed upon the victims’ human remains as the militants prevented the villagers from collecting the corpses.
In one particular instance, a middle-aged man who is the sole breadwinner of the family died while trying to detonate a bomb at the militants’ behest. While many NGOs and Human Rights Activists around the world are waging campaigns against the use of landmines, it is just the otherwise in this part of the world. People continue to die due to explosions as if they are in some parts of Iraq or West Bank and Gaza strip in Israel. It seems as if the ‘Right to live’ provided in the fundamental rights of our Constitution does not apply in these regions.
It is difficult to understand what these armed militants are up to. There seems to be no ending with their ‘operation against innocent civilians’. They continue to unleash their wraths by entering villages and torturing civilians. Recently in Parbung, where the sub-division headquarters is located; militants drove out all the villagers from their houses, rounded them at one place and beat them up mercilessly on the pretext of not receiving a warm welcome from the village authorities. Eventually, the same thing happened in the neighbouring village of Lungthulien. As a result, many villagers fled their homes and hearths seeking refuge in the neighbouring villages of Mizoram.
Even while writing this gruesome story i.e. 19th January 2006, I still receive message from an unknown sender, of the number of villagers who have fled their homes so far. Following is the number of people who have fled their homes and are currently seeking refuge in each villages of Mizoram according to the message: Khawlien – 50, Sakawrdai – 214, Vaitin – 207, New Vervek – 42, and Khawpuor – 212. People fled their homes only during wars or when struck by natural disasters. But in our land, people are being displaced because they could no longer bear the brutal tortures and killings by the insurgent groups who claimed to fight for the security and integrity of the state.
As a matter of fact, the northern hills of Manipur fell under the proposed Greater Nagaland or ‘Nagalim’. Yet the valley underground groups have never dared to operate and torture people in these Naga inhabited areas. On the other hand, the people who inhabited the southern hills who have never dreamt of seceding from Manipur are being tortured. Even though there are some underground groups existing in these areas, none has a plan or a goal to secede. Therefore, I strongly believe that, for the good of all and for the sake of our integrity, the valley insurgent groups should once and for all stop their indiscriminate operations in this region and allow innocent villagers to rebuild their lives. If this is not so, who can guarantee that these ill-fated people will remain loyal citizens to Ima Leipak while the idea of Greater Mizoram is also very much considered as an alternative? I pray this does not happen. We’ve had enough. Ya Basta!
