NEW DELHI (UCAN): Church leaders have concurred with a global rights group report that relief camps in Manipur, in India’s northeast, are “in dire need of support” after sectarian strife uprooted more than 50,000 and killed over 220 people, most of them Christians.
“There is no doubt, Amnesty International has come out with the reality existing in Manipur” in northern India, said A.C. Michael, who is based in New Delhi.
“Both the federal and state governments failed to restore pace even after a year,” he said on July 19.
In a report released on July 16, Amnesty accused the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] government in Manipur, which borders civil war-hit Myanmar, of ignoring the plight of people living in relief campus in the state.
They are “in dire need of support” even after the promise of a financial aid package by prime minister, Narendra Modi, in April this year, the rights group said in its report.
Amnesty said its findings revealed “a picture of a state missing-in-action” despite the claims of “timely intervention” and promise of financial aid.
The camps lack adequate relief and rehabilitation measures, including adequate shelter, sanitation, food, water, medical care, and access to education opportunities “in violation of the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement,” the report said.
Life is miserable at the camps. The displaced people are weak mentally and physically and do not know what is in store for them as the governments [state and federal] are not doing enough
Unprecedented violence broke out between Hindus and minority tribal Christians in the state on 3 May 2023, over conferring tribal status on the majority Hindu Meitei community to avail benefits under India’s affirmation action policy.
Tribal Christians make up 41 per cent of the state’s 3.2 million population, while Meitei Hindus form more than 53 per cent.
More than 50,000 people from the minority Kuki-Zo communities have fled their homes and sought shelter in relief camps. The sectarian strife has killed 220 persons, destroyed over 7,000 residential places, and over 360 churches and Church-run institutions were set on fire.
The Catholic Church has an archdiocese in the state capital Imphal headed by Archbishop Linus Neli.
“Life is miserable at the camps. The displaced people are weak mentally and physically and do not know what is in store for them as the governments [state and federal] are not doing enough,” said a Church leader who did not want to be named, adding, “This will continue as long as you remain in relief camps.”
They have utterly failed to end the violence and displacement and protect human rights in the state
A tiny group of Meitei Christians suffer the most, he noted.
They are let down by the Hindus and indigenous Christians. Nobody speaks for them. They lost everything and continue to “lead a miserable life,” the Church leader added.
Modi has not visited the state and his party candidates were defeated in the national polls, the results of which were declared on June 4. The prime minister has refused to sack Manipur chief minister, N Biren Singh, despite repeated demands.
Amnesty accused the federal and state governments of not doing enough to protect the people of Manipur. “They have utterly failed to end the violence and displacement and protect human rights in the state,” the report said.
It also blamed the governments for supporting vigilante groups like Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Lippun from the dominant Meitei community.
Modi’s federal government has not understood the problem. It is always backing the majority rather than adopting an “inclusive approach,” Michael observed.
