Caught in the middle of Manipur’s ethnic conflict, Meiteis who follow Christianity

Hours after K Somokanta fled his home on the afternoon of May 3, it was burned down by a mob.

A teacher in a private school in Manipur’s Churachandpur town, Somokanta now lives in a “relief camp” in adjoining Bishnupur district’s Moirang sub-division. Twenty-three such camps – which have come up in schools, guest houses and market complexes – house nearly 5,000 Meiteis who were forced to escape rampaging Kuki mobs in Churachandpur since ethnic clashes broke out in the state earlier this month.

The same day, around 80 kilometres away in the Manipur valley, in Thoubal district’s Wangjing area, another mob set fire to an institution for underprivileged children run by A Robindro, a pastor in a church nearby. Strikingly, the arsonists were men from the Meitei community to which Robindro himself belongs.

A community ‘sandwiched’

In strife-torn Manipur, where clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities since May 3 have left thousands of people homeless and more than 80 dead, one set of people has been at the receiving end of violence by mobs from both sides: Meiteis who follow Christianity, like Somokanta and Robindro. The community of around 3 lakh people are a minority among the Meiteis, most of whom...

Read more