1 dead, 3 injured, ambulances on standby: Another violent night in Manipur’s Churachandpur

 In Manipur's Churachandpur, as Kuki villagers fight with neighbouring Meiteis, district hospital runs out of space to store bodies of those killed in ethnic violence.

Family of Jacob Zamkhothang Touthang mourning his loss in Churachandpur, Saturday | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

SONAL MATHARU, The Print, 28 May, 2023, Churachandpur: It was two clean, small holes — one on the lower back and one at the centre of the chest — that took Jacob Zamkhothang Touthang’s life, a few metres from his village in Manipur Saturday. He was at the forefront of the struggle to protect his T. Chavangphai village in Churachandpur district from burning when the bullet, most likely from a sniper, passed right through him. But as Touthang, a Kuki, lay bleeding in the paddy field, his fellow villagers could not immediately rush him to a hospital.

Bullets were flying from all directions and their crude handmade bombs and single-barrel shotguns were no match. It was only after dark that they could pull him in an ambulance and drive him to Churachandpur district hospital. But by then, it was too late.

“Both entry and exit holes through which the bullet passed are very small. This indicates that the shot was possibly fired from close range. The bullet may have hit the heart and exited through the back,” said Dr Zam Lian Mang Hatzaw, medical officer and doctor on duty at the hospital Saturday night when 41-year-old Jacob’s body was brought in.

Kin of Jacob Zamkhothang Touthang mourning his death | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

The night was a bloody one. Three more ambulances rolled in later. Each carrying a man, bleeding with bullet injuries, from the area along the border between Churachandpur and Bishnupur districts, which is the hotbed of violence in the Torbung-Kwakta-Kangwai region.

Violence erupted in the region on 5 May following a Solidarity March organised by ethnic Kuki tribals in Churachandpur against the possibility of Schedule Tribe (ST) status being given to non-tribal Meiteis. With Meitei and Kuki villages in close proximity here, this region has seen some of the most violent clashes in Manipur in recent days.

In March, the Manipur HC had in a judgment directed the state government to consider the inclusion of Meiteis in the state’s ST list. While an appeal has been filed against the judgment, the Supreme Court has termed the judgment “factually wrong”.

‘We are born warriors’

For 25 days now, Kuki villages in the Torbung-Kwakta-Kangwai region have turned into fortresses. Spots with an unhindered view of the plains have turned into check-points. Men take turns to sit with walkie-talkies and machetes behind sandbags and look out for bombs hurled or shots being fired towards their villages from the plains.

Many of these villages in the plains are home to Meiteis.

Lamp posts are turned off at night and ambulances remain on standby.

Loaded guns, matchboxes and petrol filled in plastic bottles are kept ready at the entrance of houses. Under the cover of the night, men with guns take position behind bushes and keep an eye on shots fired from the plains.

On Friday night, ThePrint reported how at least two Meitei houses were burnt in Mamang Leikai village and how two Kuki men sustained gunshot wounds in the fighting along the Churachandpur-Bishnupur border. The fighting has since intensified.

Some Kuki villagers stand guard Saturday | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

As word about the fighting spread, truckloads of young men from nearby areas moved towards the site of the clashes, carrying kerosene bottles, slingshots, knives, and guns. A mud road connecting Churachandpur to the affected villages is their new passage. 

Sentiments ran high as they came prepared to die. “We are born warriors. We have war in our blood. Meiteis think they can annihilate us. But the strength is not in the numbers, strength is in our hearts,” said one of the Kuki men witnessing the fight.

The fighting coincided with visits by senior central leaders and Army officers. Ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s three-day visit starting 29 May, Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home, Nityanand Rai, and Sambit Patra, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in charge of the state met the tribal leaders Saturday.

On Saturday, Army chief General Manoj Pande also arrived in Manipur to review the law and order situation. He was accompanied by the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Command, Lt Gen Rana Pratap Kalita on a two-day visit.

Lamka, not Churachandpur

The road from Imphal changes as soon as it inches closer to Bishnupur district, right before Churachandpur. Burnt houses line both sides of the road and personnel from Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) stand guard.

The engraved stone at the bottom of the Anglo-Kuki war arch, where burnt tyres were placed on the day of the Solidarity March, is still charred.

At the entrance of Churachandpur, women volunteers block the road with wooden benches and halt all vehicles to check who is crossing over.

Board of government office vandalised | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

Churachandpur is named after Meitei king Churachand. Since the district is dominated by Kukis, they want to do away with all linkages to the Meiteis. Inside the town, distrust towards the Manipur government and Meiteis is sprayed in black paint all over.

“Churachandpur” and “government of Manipur” are covered in black paint across hospitals, government offices, shops and road signs. Posters on the walls show scenes of the houses burning and banners saying “Separation: only solution” are pasted everywhere.

Plaque outside Churachandpur Medical College vandalised | Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint

The Churachandpur Medical College was inaugurated earlier this year by Amit Shah and CM N. Biren Singh. Singh’s name on the foundation stone has been covered in paint.

“This is Lamka now, not Churachandpur,” a relief worker in Churachandpur told ThePrint. “Churachand Singh was never our king. This is the name given to us by the Manipur government, which we no longer accept. This is not our government,” he added. 

Martyr number 64

Despite suspended internet and a curfew, young men and women from villages around the town gathered in the open parking area inside Churachanpur district hospital in large numbers Saturday night when word of the violence spread through word-of-mouth.

One injured man had a bullet pass through his thigh, and for two others, it scraped through their muscles without damaging their bones and vital organs. All three survived.

Few volunteers carried water in bottles and buckets and cleaned blood-soaked stretchers and ambulances with their bare hands. The vehicles needed to be sterilized before they take off to bring the next set of injured men fighting on the front.

The doctors on duty were ready for a long evening as the firing continued till late.

Meanwhile, the white board in the hospital’s emergency room showed that the number of casualties here, resulting from the fighting, had shot up to 21. Out of these, four bodies were that of Meitei fighters, doctors told ThePrint. “Out of 21, at least 10 have died of gunshot wounds in their chest…in front of my eyes,” said Dr Hatzaw.

As the death toll rises, the mortuary at the hospital is ill-equipped to store so many bodies. Its 12 compartments are full so the anatomy room in the medical college next door is being used to store more bodies. Touthang’s body was taken to this room, which has an air conditioner and camphor burning to cover the stench.

Seconds after his family was taken inside, their wails filled the corridors of the medical college. “Jacob was taking shelter in a paddy field, preparing a hand bomb when a bullet hit him. I did not realise he was shot. I was with him and kept calling out to him to move forward, but when I turned, I saw him lying in a pool of blood,” said George Khougsai, a fellow villager.

Touthang leaves behind a wife and four children aged 10, 6, 3 years and the youngest being two months old. For the Kukis, he is martyr number 64. 

(Edited by Smriti Sinha)