Review of Haksar’s Shooting the Sun | KS Subramanian

BOOK REVIEW

Review by KS Subramanian

Shooting the Sun: Why Manipur was Engulfed by Violence and the Government Remained Silent

by Nandita Haksar

Speaking Tiger 2023, Rs 399

Prelude

Manipur was an independent kingdom with a constitution of its own when it was forcibly taken over by India in 1949 in the name of national integration. The resulting resistance and insurgencies are characteristic features of the state. State repression especially by the paramilitary Assam Rifles (AR) is also a familiar feature. The Hills are inhabited by tribal communities mainly Christian including the Kuki-Zo community. The Valley by the Meities the major Hindu community. Both communities have attempted to live in peace. Post-independence, the forcible integration of the state into India has led to the use of state violence by the Assam Rifles to put down popular resentment. The nasty British law of the 194Os named Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 is used to suppress popular resistance. As a police person in Manipur, I left the state in the early 198o’s just before the imposition of the AFSPA on the whole state to control law and order. I joined the Union home ministry. The Manipur scenario marked by the sixteen year-long protest and resistance against the AFSPA by the tenacious Irom Sharmila was left behind for the moment though I visited her later to convey my appreciation of her unique struggle.

Notably, while the state of Nagaland was created in 1963, Manipur had to wait till 1972 to become a full-fledged state ate in India. Such was the discrimination and delay on the part of the Indian government. Notably again, the Kuki-Zo tribal communities in the Hills of Manipur have opposed the abolition of the Free Market Regime in the state though the central government has favoured the free movement of traffic and goods across Myanmar border.

The author

Nandita Haksar is a celebrated human rights lawyer and activist. Daughter of an eminent civil servant who worked with prime minister Indira Gandhi, she married a Manipuri Naga activist to grapple with human rights violations in the state.

In this thought-provoking book, Haksar addresses issues of identity, insurgency, human rights and politics in Manipur in a regional context, including a chapter on the civil war scenario in Myanmar, which adjoins the states of Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.

Haksar, who practices human rights law, was part of the first fact-finding mission to visit Manipur to document the human rights violations by the paramilitary Assam Rifles (AR) under the Armed Forces (special powers) Act 1958. The Supreme Court of India awarded compensation to the victims of custodial death in the case.

The author, living Manipur, filed cases on behalf of the Myanmar refugees in India after the 1990 military crackdown in that country setting precedent on refugee law in India.

She took up the cause of refugees from Myanmar during and after the 2021 military crackdown. She famously participated in Indo-Naga peace talks and developed a ringside view of the working of the Indian state. The valuable experience of the author is of relevance in understanding the perspective advanced in this book.

The book examines the year-long ethnic clashes (229 dead, 6750,ooo displaced) that broke out in Manipur in May 2023. It explores the complex identity politics in the state and the role of the state in it. The violence in the state began with opposition by the tribal people living in the Hills to the demand by the Valley- based Meites for Scheduled tribe status which was sought to be linked to the problem of illegal migrants and refugees from Myanmar and the proliferation of ‘narco- terrorism’ in the region.

Though conflicts between ethnic groups are not unusual in Manipur, the ethnic violence that began in May 2023 in the state was shocking in its viciousness. Any attempt to explain the nature and causes of the violence has only led to further questions. Why is there such immense anger among the people of the state? Is this a religious or ethnic conflict? How do different explanations of Manipur’s history affect its present? Intriguingly, different militant Meitei and Kuki-Zo organisations are active in the violence. How is it that different local police and the central paramilitary forces deployed in large numbers in Manipur (about 70 000, central and state forces) have apparently failed to discharge their duly as per allotted roles, and have even played a mutually hostile role. How were large number of weapons allowed to be stolen from different police stations while the senior officers simply looked on? Were there any corporate interests at work? What made the Prime Minister and the home Minister of India remain indifferent to the violence in the state? Can normalcy be restored quickly in the state? What is the nature and causes of the narco-terrorism which is spreading in Manipur and the region? How to address the apparent breakdown of trust between the Hills and the Valley in the state. What can the central government do to initiate reconciliatory processes? Why has the state CM not been not replaced or removed despite his obvious incompetence and failure in governance? Why has the PM been reluctant to visit the state?

A new regime has come into existence in 2024 and new members of Parliament have been elected for the two seats in Manipur. The new Parliament must find answers to difficult questions on Manipur.
The book’s title draws on the Meitei epic ‘Numit Kappa’ or ‘Shooting the Sun’. The author attempts to answer difficult questions in eight chapters. Briefly, chapters from 5 to 9 are important and worth reading: Chapter 5 on ‘the power of the poppy’, perhaps the most important in the book; chapter 6 on ‘the failure of the double engine government’; chapter 7 on ‘what makes the people in Manipur angry’; and chapter 8 on the ‘Myanmar factor’.

In Chapter 5 the author examines the growing drug menace in Manipur; the fertile soil in the hilly areas; and the availability of cheap labour in the Hills.
The violence in Manipur in May 2o23 targeted the Kuki tribes (repeatedly called ‘narco-terrorists’) and blamed for encouraging poppy cultivation though all communities in Manipur are involved in the trade. The Kuki-Zo communities are unfairly accused of ‘narco-terrorism’ leading to some of them withdrawing support to the Biren Singh state government. Those who are compelled by poverty and lack of development are different from those who control the cultivation and trade are members of drug cartels. The war on drugs continues in Manipur despite the destruction of hundreds of poppy fields in different districts. While poppy cultivation is a serious problem, the problem of cannabis should not be ignored.

The drug lords often receive state protection. In 2018, the police officer Thounonajam Brinda arrested a drug lord responsible for huge quantities of drugs but was forced to release him allegedly due to political pressure of the ruling BJP and the chief minister Biren Singh. A human rights activist took up the case to the Supreme Court of India which slammed the state government for not pursuing the case. The author says that Chief Minister Biren Singh’s war on poppy cultivation widened the ethnic fault lines in Manipur.

Bina Lakshmi Nepram, a social activist in Manipur, revealed in February 2o13 that a public relations officer of the Indian army was caught with 24 crores worth of narcotics. Others included the members of a private airline and a family member of former home minister of Manipur (p. 128). This begged the question, why was the person’s baggage not checked on one of India’s premier private airlines’ while boarding a flight to Delhi? Not just some members of the armed forces, but the police and politicians too have often been indicted by the narcotics industry. Special armed groups were allegedly supported by political parties who later lobbied in elections forcing people at gun point to vote. Brinda noted that the story of small wars and insurgencies in the Northeast is also a story of guns and drugs. Another report made serious allegations about the Assam Rifles (AR) which is directly under the Union home ministry, that it affords protection to Kuki militants involved in drugs trafficking (p.129) as alleged by the Manipur police. AR has a substantial presence in Manipur that shares a border with Myanmar. AR is also alleged to accept bribes from Kuki militants in return for protection and collaboration in drug related activities (p. 129).

Thounaojam Brinda has alleged that the poppy cartel can be divided into four distinct groups i) the top-level group that reaps the maximum share of profits; ii) the financiers; iii) the militants commonly known as narco-terrorists; iv) the farmers who are the poorest. Brinda alleges that the CM Biren Singh is a part drug mafia and the drug cartel. He is their protector. She adds that the drug mafia is behind the violence in Manipur. If the allegations about drug cartels are true then the violence in Manipur is a symptom of things to come. The rhetoric about identity politics will likely endure in the future, as it has done in the past. If different ethnic communities do not come together to fight their real enemies. They will remain stuck in the diabolical political quagmire with a leadership increasingly indifferent to their plight.

A senior Meitei professor in Delhi told the author that there ‘was a well-planned conspiracy’ by the Kuki drug mafia. He claims that BJP govt took strict action against the drug mafia. If the Meitei in Manipur are given ST status, the Kuki’s would be at the risk of losing of jobs. ‘This was also a reason for the violence, he added.

Conclusion

Following the 2024 parliamentary election in Manipur both the two seats from the state have gone to the Congress party opposed to the ruling BJP. The Union government has announced that a 100-day plan has been drawn up to resolve the crisis in the state. The details are to be announced. On the other hand, the Kuki-Zo group has demanded the creation of a separate Union Territory in the state for the administration of their region.

(Review author: was a member of the IPS. He has worked in and written on Manipur and Tripura. His books are: i) State, Policy and Conflicts in Northeast India, Routledge 2017 and Security, Governance and Democratic Rights: Essays on the Northeast, Niyogi Books, 2014).