The eviction drive, which began in February, was seen as yet another anti-tribal move, leading to alarm and widespread discontent not only among the Kuki community which was affected by it but also other tribals who have many villages within reserved forest areas.
ETHNIC violence, which has engulfed Manipur over the last few days, was brewing for some time as a long history of mutual suspicion between ethnic groups in the Imphal valley and its surrounding hills turned into a simmering conflict after the BJP-led Manipur Government started a drive to evict tribal villagers from reserved forests.
The spark for the raging violence was lit by demonstrations by tribal groups against a move to grant the majority Meiteis the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, which the residents of the hills had been enjoying for decades since Independence. The Government in Manipur, regardless of which party comes to power, has always been dominated by plainsmen Meiteis, who account for about 53 per cent of the State’s population and live mostly in irregular oval-shaped Imphal valley. Consequently, the Government’s actions have often been viewed through the prism of suspicion by tribals — mostly Nagas and Kukis — who make up 40 per cent of Manipur’s population and live for the most part in the hills surrounding the valley.
Interestingly, the fertile Imphal valley makes up for about a tenth of the total land mass of the State while the surrounding hills, ideal for militant hide-outs and home to a long-running insurgency, account for 90 per cent of the State’s lands.
The eviction drive, which began in February, was seen as yet another anti-tribal move, leading to alarm and widespread discontent not only among the Kuki community which was affected by it but also other tribals who have many villages within reserved forest