MANIPUR ETHNIC VIOLENCE THE WAR ON WOMEN

WebDesk August 18, 2023 2 minutes read

This obnoxious and repugnant act is the newest low in the violent streak of hate attacks and targeting of minorities with impunity overseen by the BJP-RSS extremist dispensation under which space for minorities is continuously shrinking in India. The horrifying sexual violence against Kuki-Zomi women by majority Meiteis, in Manipur’s ethnic clashes between the two communities, has yet again woken the country up to the vulnerability of women’s bodies during a conflict. Alisha Dutta speaks to survivors who tell tales of abuse by both men and women. Reina Haokip is at a training institute-turned-relief camp for displaced people of the Kuki-Zomi community, in Kangpokpi district, located north of Imphal in Manipur. The camp, which is surrounded by paddy fields on all sides, is now home to nearly 30 Kuki-Zomi families. Like Haokip, many women have faced sexual violence in Manipur ever since ethnic clashes broke out between the Meiteis, who dominate Imphal Valley, and the Kuki-Zomis, who dominate the hill districts, on May 3. More and more such stories have been surfacing since July 19, when a video of tribal women being stripped and paraded by a mob in Thoubal district went viral on social media. “Many of these cases of sexual violence have surfaced after that video went viral,” says a senior Kuki leader. “While the world is learning about how sexual assault is being used as a tool in this conflict, there are far more such cases which have gone unreported,” she says. The husband of one of the survivors of the viral video describes the lingering trauma of such incidents. “While it was already difficult for my wife to live with the memories of the assault, it has become even more difficult for her to live with the fact that so many people saw her being humiliated publicly,” says the Kargil war veteran. “She has frequent nightmares. To get rid of the trauma, sometimes she tries ripping off her skin. He added that the “deafening silence” of the BJP leadership and the absence of discernible action against Hindutva proponents openly calling for genocide should “send alarm bells across the international community”.