What is the reason behind the beauty-beast combination in the body of a woman? We all want to look beautiful, who does not? We are beautiful in our ways and beauty holds in the eyes of the beholder. I am sure most women will agree with this. So, if we wear a jean, a skirt, a saree, a sarong, or a phanek-Manipuri traditional women’s loin cloth, we wear it by our choice. Nonetheless, we are forced to wear a burka, cover our face with a saree, not wear sleeveless, no-show our legs, and many more which are some of our customary practices. Some are following and many are rebelling. Why? When we have been forcefully eloped, seen as easy-girls, lip sealed and thrown in a sack somewhere, gang-raped in a moving bus, killed and preserved in a fridge, hanged in a tree for loving a person from a different caste, and whatnot. Whenever this happens, it is the fault of the woman because she was wearing it inappropriately or whatever the reason maybe it is the fault of the woman. It has never been the fault of the killer, torturer, butcher, or the abductor. I am not writing something new. This happens and is happening whilst I am writing this sentence.
Revolutionaries/Naxalites/Terrorists/Separatists- I do not have the definite names for the armed groups in Manipur because what is happening in Manipur, people are calling each other’s armed groups different names such as if they are Kuki-group, they are called Kuki-Zo militants, Kuki-Hmar-terrorist, Chin-Kuki terrorists, etc. If the armed groups belong to Meitei ethnicity, they are called Meitei-naharol, Meitei-terrorists, Arambai Tengol, and more. I am confused and incapable woman to define who these people are who are killing innocent villagers. Therefore, I will call them ‘gunmen’ for this opinion piece. At the beginning of the conflict, two women belonging to Kuki were paraded naked Meitei men, a Hmar woman was raped and burned to death by Meitei gunmen, six women were abducted by Kuki gunmen-3 women, 2 girl children, and a boy[1]. As for now, we know that all six bodies are found floating through the Barak River. I wondered if Barak River could only speak to tell us the burden and pain of carrying innocent butchered women. If only! She was only eight years old. She is younger than my nephew and she was raped and thrown into the Barak River. I wish to ask the gunmen or whoever can provide me an explanation for torturing and raping an eight-year-old child or for that matter any woman. I want to ask how they would feel if their eight-year-old child or wife was raped and parceled to their homes. What will they do? Or have they already raped their child and wife before others could reach them?
People will ask why such strong empathy for an unknown child and woman, and some might even say during such conflicts such things happen, and some dies-some survive. I hear people saying now the conflict will only increase because Kuki gunmen have killed Meitei women or vice-versa. So, is it the fault of the women who are killed and butchered the reason for increasing the conflict? Then why there has been no action taken since 3rd March 2023, when women from both ethnicities have pleaded with the honorable Chief Minister of Manipur and our honorable Prime Minister to end the conflict-by the way who has recently proposed a fantastic proposal in G20 for ending poverty. I am being a pessimist here but, in a way, it sounds like our Indian slogan of ‘garrebi nahi garribo ko hatao’-end the poor not poverty’. Here in Manipur, since the onset of the conflict, many poor people have died and we as citizens of Manipur-unsure if we are still citizens of India, we do not see this dying of poor people ending soon. Poor will die by the time anyone whom we have chosen as our leaders saves us, and thus, there will be no poverty in Manipur, only flourishing poppy cultivation with unimaginable contributions to the economy by the Manipur state to the center.
And seriously, what happened to the infamous ‘Kangla Promise’[2]. Why is no one talking about that? Was it a show to tame our anger and pain whilst demeaning our pious place by taking promises that were never meant to be considered? Has it now Kangla become part of such a political agenda? What happened to the political leaders who have assured that they will ‘take up action’ against the culprits? Who are these culprits’ killing women whilst reaping, killing sons in front of their mothers, killing children? None of the political leaders has done this because we have chosen them. We will never consciously choose a killer as our leader. Right? It was our choice. Yes indeed! So, the answer we have now is the killers are the ‘gunmen’. Who are these gunmen? I do not know, now somehow everyone happens to have a gun here.
Courageous Sharmila[3] -who has given her life to repeal the Arm Forces Special Power Act (AFSA) is now enforced again in Manipur. What a shame! Brave women who stood naked in front of AFSA forces to show their anger in protest of AFSA[4]. Their sacrifice meant nothing! No one joined Sharmila’s hunger strike, and no other women shed their clothes other than them. I didn’t. I feel they all knew Manipur would not change and they became unbearable for what they hoped for. Do we have any hope now? Are we even allowed to hope now? Even so, where do we bring that hope from? It is not going to come from our honorable leaders, not from AFSA, not from gunmen, not obviously from Barak River whose eyes must have been dried out while carrying the butchered women’s bodies.
Asem Chanu Manimala is a PhD student at Department of Social Anthropology, Bergen, Norway
[1] This opinion is written specifically for the bodies of women; however, I am not disrespecting the death of the boy and many men who have died since March 3. 2023.
[2] A memorandum was agreed between the political ministers and Arambai Tengol to end the conflict. Many things had been written, discussed and argumenta. I do not have the space here to bring the discussion as this not the primary opinion of the piece.
[3] Much has been written about her. I do not have the space to here. Kindly google.
[4] One of the infamous and bravest protest in Manipur. Kindly google for mor information on this.
