TRIBAL REBELS in India’s northeast Manipur state yesterday agreed to lift their blockade that had cut off the remote province for over two months after the federal government threatened to send in paramilitaries to end the siege.
The 65-day blockade by Naga tribespeople of the two main roads into the secluded state which borders Burma (Myanmar) had caused severe shortages of food, fuel and crucial medical supplies, resulting in the closure of several hospitals in the beleaguered province.
“We are temporarily suspending the economic blockade following personal requests by prime minister Manmohan Singh after we met him in New Delhi,” Naga Students Federation (NSF) president Mutsiikhoyo Yhobu said yesterday. He stressed that the suspension was “temporary”, but could be reinforced if Manipur’s provincial government failed to address their demands.
Mr Yhobu’s conciliatory remarks followed a warning by federal home secretary G K Pillai that the federal authorities would begin deploying paramilitary personnel in Manipur if the Naga students did not lift the embargo.
“We shall see to it that food supplies reach Manipur from neighbouring Assam state,” Mr Pillai said on Monday, amid claims by Manipuris that theirs was a forgotten and abandoned state, far removed from the federal government’s radar.
The blockade of two vital highways connecting Manipur to the rest of India in early April by predominantly Christian Nagas, who take their name and identify from the contiguous state of Nagaland, is part of complex tribal politics dating back to colonial times.
They were protesting against local elections, believing these would deprive them of their rights. Their agitation intensified once the state government banned Naga separatist leader Thuingaleng Muivah from visiting his village inside Manipur.
Naga rebels led by Mr Muivah, who conducted India’s longest-running insurgency until a ceasefire in 1997, claim several Manipur districts as part of their extended territory in order to establish a larger “Nagaland for Christ”.
The armed Naga rebellion, launched in the 1950s and against which the Indian army was deployed for decades, still awaits resolution.
Manipur, also affected by insurgent violence for decades, is home to dozens of tribal groups and small guerrilla armies that resist rule from New Delhi.
These armed insurgent groups often compete against each other in trying to dominate the state through intimidation, extortion and protection rackets.
Over three million residents of the remote state – which is where the game of polo originated in the mid-19th century and is the main staging point on the heroin smuggling route from Burma – suffered immense hardship during the blockade.
They were forced to pay astronomical prices for basics such as rice, lentils and fuel. Almost all private and state hospitals in the capital Imphal, who were woefully short of medicines and other life-sustaining measures, were turning patients away.