[Security forces using a mosque in Manipur as bunker has concerned local Muslims. (Image: Video grab)]
Imphal: In a desperate appeal to warring Meiteis and Kukis, Muslims in Manipur have called them to end fighting and restore peace.
Manipur is burning since May 03, 2023. The ethnic violence between Hindu majority Meiteis and Christian majority Kukis started after Meiteis demanded Scheduled Tribe (ST) status as has been accorded to tribal Kukis.
As many as 160 people from both the communities have been killed, many thousands have left injured and over 50,000 people have been displaced and are currently living in relief camps.
Caught between this crossfire are Muslims of Manipur, majority of them Meiteis who are known as Manipuri Muslims or Meitei Pangals – about 9% of the total 32 lakh estimated population of Manipur.
Manipuri Muslims have remained neutral, and are even helping the affected people from Meitei and Kuki both the communities. Despite this, they have been accused by both the sides of being sided with the other.
“After the riots started from Torbung, Kangvai and other surrounding villages, located at the border of Churachandpur and Meitei-dominated Bishnupur district, hundreds of Meiteis came down from Churachandpur. Several of them took shelter in Muslim houses in Kwakta,” Nasir Khan, President of the Bishnupur-based Meitei Pangal Intellectual Forum, told Al Jazeera.
Kwakta is a multiethnic locality where once Meiteis and Kukis lived as neighbours. Muslims comprise 85 per cent of the town's population of some 13,500.
Tired of the ongoing war of upmanship, or as some say of land and resources, that has nothing to do with them, the Pangal Muslims are now desperately appealing Meiteis and Kukis to shun violence.
"We Meitei Pangals are a minority community, and like Nepalis and others, we have been hit badly. Life has been disrupted. We appeal to our Meitei and Kuki brothers and sisters to bring back peace," a local Muslim leader Haji Rafat Ali told NDTV. "People in Kwakta have been living in panic. There is a massive price hike of edibles and essential items, lack of livelihood, life is at the extreme. Students can't study as there are no schools left due to a huge number of bombings," Nasir Khan told NDTV.
"We Meitei Pangals are a minority community, and like Nepalis and others, we have been hit badly. Life has been disrupted. We appeal to our Meitei and Kuki brothers and sisters to bring back peace," a local Muslim leader Haji Rafat Ali told NDTV.
"People in Kwakta have been living in panic. There is a massive price hike of edibles and essential items, lack of livelihood, life is at the extreme. Students can't study as there are no schools left due to a huge number of bombings," Nasir Khan told NDTV.
The area under the Kwakta Municipal Council consists of nine administrative wards, located close to the Kuki-dominated Churachandpur district, one of the 10 hill districts of Manipur.
“We [Meitei Pangals] live in the valley areas. We have a relationship with both the Kukis and the Meiteis. Since the incidents started happening, we have been facing pressures from both sides,” S M Jalal, President of the All Manipur Muslim Organisations Coordinating Committee (AMMOCOC), the apex civil society organisation of the Pangal community, told Al Jazeera.
Remaining neutral, Manipuri Muslims are mediating for peace, urging Meitei and Kuki communities to halt the conflict, but are also concerned as the local security forces, accused of being bias against the Kuki tribals, recently used a local mosque as bunker.
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