EDITORIAL: A state of civil war prevails in the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur ruled by BJP-led coalition government as a violent conflict has erupted between minority Christian Kuki tribes and Hindu majority Meiteis over land rights.
Last week, a shocking video emerged of two Kuki women being paraded naked and sexually assaulted by an armed mob of about one thousand Meitei men after destroying their village.
Apparently complicit in the horror the two women were subjected to, those in police or the government made no effort to stop it or to hold the perpetrators to account afterwards.
The incident occurred on May 4, but it was only after the video went viral causing a huge uproar inside and outside the country that the local authorities spurred into action and arrested a few men.
According to those who have followed the developments in that restive state, it is the latest example of rape and sexual assault used as instruments of violence in the ethnic-religious conflict.
Chief Minister Biren Singh inadvertently admitted as much while trying to defend police inaction when he said “hundreds of similar cases have taken place that is why the Internet has been shut.” Twitter has now been told to remove the distressing video.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi surely had known all along what had happened in Manipur. But as is his wont in such cases he maintained his characteristic silence until the incident made headlines all over the world. Anticipating wider condemnation, he has now called it “a disgrace for the entire country” promising tough action.
When earlier this month he arrived in France to a red carpet welcome the European parliament passed a resolution expressing serious concern over the violence in Manipur that had left 150 people dead, more than 300 injured, 50,000 displaced and 1,700 homes and over 250 churches destroyed as well as some temples wrecked in retaliatory attacks.
Urging that those critical of the government’s conduct not be criminalised, the EU lawmaker noted that the violence had been instigated by “politically motivated, divisive policies promoting Hindu majoritarianism.
“New Delhi, of course, shrugged off the resolution, terming it interference in its internal affairs. The resolution also said that human rights should be an important part of the ongoing negotiations between India and the EU on a free trade agreement. The advice though is to remain ignored.
On Sunday, US State Department spokesperson also expressed concern over “brutal” and “terrible” incident, offering sympathies to the victims, but stopped short of censuring the state or the Union government for allowing “hundreds of such cases” of systemic abuse of ethnic-religious minority’s human rights.
Asked for his comments, US ambassador to India Mathew Miller made it plain that the issue had little importance in matters of policy, saying that he did not think “it’s a strategic concern. I think it’s about human concern.”
Clearly, Washington and European governments are willing to turn a blind eye to atrocities against ethnic and religious minorities in the BJP-ruled states as they pursue their economic and strategic interests with India. Be that as it may, it is heartening to note that Modi is ultimately facing a no-confidence motion filed by a Congress MP against him over the Manipur violence.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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