A killing, two villages and a new fault line in Manipur

One village is dominated by Hindus, the other by Muslims. A playground separates them, with security forces preventing the two from clashing again. The killing of a man during stone-pelting between the villages in Thoubal district on October 18, and the arson that followed, have put both on high alert amid fears of communal tension. Residents have retreated to their respective strongholds. The administration has ordered all licensed gun holders to surrender their weapons. The curfew was only lifted on Sunday.Security has been tightened along the NH 2 in Kangpokpi district in view of Thongam's visit (ANI/ Representational)This is Manipur. In a state already roiled by Naga-Kuki and Meitei-Kuki clashes, security forces and political leaders are struggling to manage a disturbing new turn to the violence – clashes between Meitei Hindus and Meitei Muslims or Pangals.In Thoubal, peace meetings have been held between Meitei and Pangal villages in around 10 pockets within Thoubal where they live together. But Khangabok, a Meitei Hindu village, and Sangaiyumpham, a Meitei Muslim village, have yet to agree to one, fuelling fears that the strife could take a communal turn.Chief minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh on Wednesday visited both villages and spent around half an hour each meeting residents from both sides. Khemchand, people from both villages said, assured them that the administration would call a peace meeting soon.Also Read | At least 150 Kuki militants missing from Manipur camp, security agencies alert Centre“It is a localised conflict for now because other such Meitei and Pangal villages do not have this problem and have even come together in peace meetings. With (assembly) elections approaching, a potential flare-up between the two communities within the valley could be serious. Still, the chances are low because both villages agreed to maintain peace before the CM. It could be challenging because both communities live in the same valley districts. But there has been no violence after the night of October 18,” a police officer said, requesting anonymity.The officer added that security forces remain stationed because the two villages still do not enter each other’s territories.The situation is being monitored at the highest level for two reasons: A history of clashes between Meiteis and Pangals, dating back to 1993, when more than 100 people were killed; and the ongoing Meitei-Kuki and Kuki-Naga conflicts, which have already left around 360 people dead over three years and another 60,000 displaced. And a community that had largely kept itself insulated from the spiralling violence since 2023 – the Pangals – now find themselves embroiled in tensions as the clashes threaten to engulf every community in the northeastern state.How the clashes beganThe clashes began at this playground. On the night of October 18, residents gathered there for a performance by Manipuri singer Ranbir Thouna, following a football match.Both villages agree that the violence began with stone-pelting. They also agree they were at the ground to watch Thouna and that the trouble started between 10.45 pm and 10.50 pm. Both sides acknowledge that their young ones became agitated, set fire to houses belonging to the other community, and ransacked property.Police have filed a first information report (FIR) and arrested three people in connection with the October 18 violence.Their version of events diverge from there.Also Read | 17 Kuki militants under SoO deal arrested in Manipur; mismatch found in identitiesHours later at around midnight, a Meitei man – Rakesh Laishram, 23 – a local hero from Khangabok who represented Manipur in sports at the state level, was found dead. Laishram, who had left home around 8pm to watch the football match and then the concert, was found with a bullet injury to his head on the narrow road next to the ground, according to the Thoubal police.The two villages have since formed separate joint action committees (JACs), each with its own demands. Khangabok’s JAC is seeking justice and the identification of Laishram’s killer. Sangaiyumpham’s JAC is demanding compensation for the arson and destruction of property, along with the assertion that the killers are not from their village.Both JACs have met the chief minister and state home minister Govinddass Konthoujam over the last week.Khangabok JAC alleged the stone pelting was started by Sangaiyumpham residents, who also shot dead Laishram.“While watching the concert, after the fourth song, someone started pelting stones at the crowd. It came from the Sangaiyumpham side. Our boys noticed that before the stone pelting, villagers from Sangaiyumpham were leaving the ground. In hindsight, it looks like they knew what was going to happen. The organisers used the stage and urged people not to pelt stones and the song continued. I was also there. But a few minutes later, there was more stone pelting. The singers ran when large stones started falling on the people in the ground. Our boys were angry and they also pelted stones. Within a few minutes, we also heard that they had started burning one shop and two houses in the town (Khangapok Cherapur) area. The people from Sangaiyumpham even fired guns. That is when Laishram died of a gunshot,” said Thokchom Kiran, co-convener of Khangabok JAC.Kiran said they were unable to retrieve Laishram’s body from the road due to the constant firing. “Now we do not go there and they also don’t come here,” he said, adding that Khangabok village has around 30,000 Meitei Hindu residents.But Ataur Rahman, convener of the Sangaiyumpham JAC representing around 25,000 Pangals, offered a different account. He alleged the stone-pelting was directed at the stage during the performance.“How can anyone say that the stone pelting was from our side? As soon as stone pelting started, in a state of panic, their boys also ran towards our village. Some of their boys who had come running towards our village border also pelted stones at their own village in panic. We have evidence of this and will show it to the authorities. It is true that our villagers also pelted stones at them. Everyone was pelting stones. Whenever elections are near, such tension has happened in the past. This time it has escalated. There were 3-4 shops, 2 houses and 4 vehicles burnt. Their pharmacies and houses were also burnt in the violence.”Security tightenedPolice have deployed Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in the area to prevent further violence.Thokchom Sujata Devi, a prominent Meira Paibi leader and the former president of Imagi Meira, an influential Meitei women-led grassroots collective in Manipur, who had blocked the road with other women protesters until Sunday, criticised the administration.“Police have so far arrested three people in the case. They are all from Sangaiyumpham village. We want the police to tell us who the real killer is. He was shot at the back of his head,” she said.Pangal, a neutral community, is allowed to enter the strongholds of all three communities—Meiteis, Kukis, and Nagas. They help deliver the government’s rations, medicines, vaccines, and amenities to people in relief camps while also transporting media personnel into these conflict-hit districts. More than 10 days after the violence, the playground between the two villages of this Meitei and Pangal village serves as the border, which both communities are yet to cross.Police have not identified who fired the shot that killed Laishram because they fear mobs will burn the killer’s house, leading to more violence. M Prabhakar, superintendent of police (Thoubal) district, said the fight was a drunken brawl and not a communal clash. Thoubal police and district administration are trying to take the first step towards peace by getting Pangal students to return to their schools in Khangabok. Due to the clash, the students had also stopped crossing their village to attend school in the neighbouring village.Also Read | Manipur: Kuki man killed; 6 houses torched amid shutdown over Meitei killings“The people attending the concert were drunk and fought with each other. It happens to be a coincidence that one is a Meitei and another is a Pangal village. We asked people to surrender their licensed weapons because of the tension between the two villages. RAF is deployed there on the ground and the road which separates the two villages. In other parts of the district of similar villages, the communities attended peace meetings and had not indulged in any violence,” the SP said.But ordinary residents are not as confident. “The culprit should be arrested, our mothers are angry, the children are furious and this will escalate to a bigger Meitei vs Pangal conflict if it is not resolved in time,” said Sujata Devi.“Manipur is already strained due to intercommunity clashes. It cannot afford a conflict between these two communities now.”