Why the global community must hold India to account for atrocities in Manipur

When the first reports of serious violence in the Indian state of Manipur reached the international media last May, few people had a clear idea of the precise motivations and causes. With the area plunged into a communications blackout due to the internet being closed down, establishing the facts was challenging. 

That two of the major ethnic groups in the region, the largely Christian Kuki-Zo tribals and Hindu-majority Meiteis, already had a sometimes-uneasy relationship, was well known. The Kukis had objected to plans for Meiteis to share their “scheduled tribe” status, and after the violence flared up in the Churachandpur district it fast spread to the capital Imphal as they demonstrated against this projected move.

Many thought that the attacks would be short lived. Sadly, this has not been the case, with the violence fast spreading across the state. There were even indications attacks on Kukis were pre-meditated, as established in an investigatory report for Fiona Bruce MP, the prime minister’s Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief. 

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom in its May 2024 Annual Report later found that “more than 500 churches and two synagogues were destroyed and over 70,000 people displaced during clashes in Manipur State”. It went on to conclude that there was a “clear religious dimension to an ethnic conflict”, recommending that India be designated as a “country of particular concern…for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom”.

An estimated 60,000 who have fled the violence are still in relief camps, often in the most basic conditions with little sanitation or medical care. The two ethnic groups, who had coexisted relatively peacefully, are now almost totally separated geographically, for their safety. Even inter-community marriages and families have been pulled apart.

A new report I initiated for the International Religious Freedom of Belief Alliance, Violence in Manipur, North-East India: One Year On, quotes Zozam (name changed for her safety), a Kuki woman married to a Meitei man for 30 years: “Every day I speak to my husband over the phone. He is alone and cries to be with us, even my children are unable to live with him. Our only desire is to live together, and we are unable to find a way.”

There have been calls for those in the camps to return home, but they are afraid to do so. As my latest report with other members of the Council of Experts to IRFBA notes: “The trauma inflicted upon these communities may take generations to heal.”

The violence continues, despite buffer zones separating the groups. The night before voting began in the region for elections to the Lok Sabha – the lower house of the Indian Parliament – online video shows two Kuki village guards being murdered, their bodies dismembered, and body parts placed on display in trees.

It all begs the question – how has this this been allowed to happen?

Dr Irfan Engineer, the director of India’s Centre for Study of Society and Secularism told us: “Riots that are spontaneous in nature [in India] can be controlled within 24 hours…there are two necessary conditions for riots to continue beyond 24 hours – it should be well planned and the administration, including police, should want it to continue and should be otherwise complicit.”

It is possible to look back even further and ask similar questions of the response: the US State Department, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), looked into the role played by misinformation and hate speech online, remarking that it is “particularly concerning that the violence seems to have been preceded and incited by hateful and inflammatory speech that spread online”, and going on to highlight governmental failure to counter the spread of disinformation and hate speech in Manipur.

Perhaps the most shocking example of this came from the chief minister of Manipur, N. Biren Singh, who posted on Facebook on 28 April, three days before the start of the violence: “Cut down the forest, dry up the rivers, finish them off, meanwhile let's build a homeland…this is our time. Then let's annihilate our traditional rival on the hills and live peacefully thereafter.”

Not only was he not summoned by the government to give account of himself at the time, he has still not faced any charge one year later.

The international community has not been silent on Manipur. In July 2023, the European Parliament condemned the violence and highlighted the severe challenges faced by religious minorities. Despite these calls, the Indian government’s response has been tepid, often downplaying the religious aspects of the conflict.

After footage of two Kuki women being paraded naked on the streets of Imphal went viral, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was summoned to the Lok Sabha to respond to a no-confidence motion last August. Over an hour and a half into his speech, he finally referred to the Manipur crisis, assuring Indians that “our efforts are underway, and peace will soon be restored…Together we will confront this challenge and bring back peace.”

Nine months later, his promises ring hollow.

As the world’s largest democracy votes in this year’s elections, it is imperative that the new government addresses the fears and rights of religious minorities. It is also vital that the international community steps up its efforts to persuade them to prioritise the crisis in Manipur.

The recommendations from the IRFBA report make it clear what is needed:

• immediate action to halt violence: demobilise and disarm extremist groups and ensure sufficient security forces are deployed to protect vulnerable communities.
• humanitarian access: provide unhindered access for aid and human rights monitors to reach affected populations.
• support for survivors: strengthen medical, mental health, and psychosocial services for survivors of sexual violence.
• independent investigations: conduct thorough investigations into human rights abuses, particularly those implicating state actors.
• rebuilding infrastructure: support the reconstruction of churches, schools, and homes, allowing displaced people to return.
• inclusive reconciliation: engage in a reconciliation process involving religious leaders and civil society.
• condemn inflammatory speech, including by state actors.
• repeal the “anti-conversion” laws in several states that justify attacks on religious minorities.

There is no doubting that the work of rebuilding Manipur and restoring peaceful co-existence is far harder now than it would have been one year ago. However, it is a promise that the government needs to prioritise and fulfil. And it is the job of governments and civil society worldwide to hold them to that promise with a fresh vigour.

David Campanale is an award-winning investigative journalist who spent 30 years in BBC News. A former director of Tearfund, he was recently de-selected as the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate in Sutton and Cheam, over concerns about his Christianity.