5 tribal villages at epicentre of the unending ethnic conflict

Muolvaiphei, Valpakot, Ngurte, Thenmol and Khawpuibing are nondescript Hmar dominated tribal villages in Manipur's Churachandpur district, nearly 65km away from the state capital, Imphal.

- Prawesh Lama

They are also the epicentre of an investigation into a heinous crime and the site of possibly a new fracture in a state which has been wracked by 18 months of ethnic conflict.

The state government and security forces are convinced the five villages are home to militants who travelled almost 250km to Jiribam, a town bordering Manipur-Assam, attacked security forces on November 11, and killed two Meitei elderly residents. It is believed there were 30-40 of them; 10 were killed in an ensuing shootout with security forces. The survivors escaped, but with six Meiteis, women and children (the youngest was eight months old) whose bodies were found in various locations in Jiribam and across the border in Assam. Protests that have roiled Imphal over the past week, including the vandalisation of the houses of legislators and ministers, are a sign of public anger at the state's failure to rescue the women and children.

For the Kuki-Zo-Hmar tribal residents of Manipur, the 10 are heroes and martyrs. The town of Churachandpur is dotted with photographs of the 10 men. There are posters, which read - Welcome Home. Others say, Honour to our fallen heroes.

On November 18 when the bodies were airlifted to Churachandpur by security forces, Kuki-Zo Hmar legislators, including local MLA LM Khaute, also the former chief of Manipur police between 2016 and 2021, who received the bodies, dismissed allegations of the state government and security forces that the men were militants; their families claimed the men were all civilians, who took up arms to defend their villages in the wake of the ethnic conflict in the state.