365 days later, the fires of hatred continue to burn in Manipur
In Manipur, there is division everywhere – in the geography, in the police forces, in the politics, even in conceptions of fairly recent history
A year ago, Manipur began to burn. In these 365 days, 225 people have died, and over 50,000 have been displaced, forced to live away from their homes, afraid to return. In these 365 days, a Lok Sabha election has taken place across its two seats; one of them the only constituency in India that voted in two phases--a measure of just how precarious the situation is. In these 365 days, roughly 6,500 arms and 650,000 pieces of ammunition have been looted from government armouries, and to date, only 2,003 weapons and 25,168 weapons have been recovered. In these 365 days, there has been no change at the top, no replacement of the people mandated to keep the peace. And in these 365 days, despite ostensible attempts at restoring the peace, the state’s valleys and mountains are as divided as ever, ringing out with the sounds of gunfire.
