The worst part of the ethnic violence in Manipur is that the situation is getting worse. The unrest, which started on May 3, has claimed over a hundred lives, destroyed scores of houses and left a few thousand homeless. And the toll keeps rising as attacks on properties and human lives continue unabated. Life in the state has come to a standstill and people are living in fear.
A fallout of this brutal conflict between the Meitei community and the Kuki tribe has been an abrupt and prolonged halt on normal activities. Not that the demands of either side are new, but atrocity levels have sunk to new lows this time. Recent reports from Imphal state that schools have partially opened, colleges are struggling to deal with exams and admissions, and shops and offices are functional only during non-curfew hours, which often get extended.
Internet services have been suspended since May 4. Recently, select offices and organisations have got connections restored for limited periods. Business, trade and commerce, and services have suffered, and the victims are office-goers, shopkeepers, students, teachers, security personnel, housewives, vehicle operators and politicians. Practically, the people of Manipur are experiencing the most horrific phase of their lives. Among the casualties is Ribaldo, a state junior hockey player who was shot dead.
Renowned for the number of top-class Olympic athletes it has produced, Manipur’s sports system has also been affected. Sport is not a pastime there. It is way to a better and respectable life in a state with a history of ethnic clashes and bloodshed, where job opportunities are limited. Now, disruptions, irregularities, absenteeism, and the climate of fear are threatening to leave a severe scar on this cradle of sports.
As Mirabai Chanu prepares for the World Championships & Asian Games, her heart aches for her homeland.
Join us in supporting Mirabai Chanu as she urges to end the injustice in Manipur.
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Body training, mind fighting with fear
“We have resumed training,” said Ibomcha Singh, a Deputy Director of the Sports Authority of India (SAI), who is in charge of activities at Imphal’s Khuman Lampak Stadium, a hub of activities involving multiple disciplines. “But it all depends on the curfew. Usually, it’s from 6 pm to 5 am, but we have often had day-long curfews. Training and practise programmes are getting affected.” A number of Asian and Commonwealth Games medallists sweat it out at the sprawling facility.
A former heavyweight boxer, who has coached MC Mary Kom, the late Dingko Singh and Sarita Devi, Ibomcha feels that the most important ingredient for sporting excellence has gone missing. “How can you train with focus and concentration when people are fighting and killing each other?” he asks. “One has to be in the right frame of mind to pursue anything. That can’t happen when you hear about violence and death all the time. You can’t put your heart in what you are doing.”
District players more affected
The situation is worse in the districts outside Imphal, which is slightly better off in terms of curfew hours and availability of essentials. Students from these places occupy a chunk of seats in the college hostels in the capital city. Most of them are Kukis, and they have fled to safer places after the violence broke out. Due to the internet shutdown, online classes are ruled out and many school buildings are used as temporary shelters for central security forces. The system is collapsing.
The athletes of Manipur — which has produced Olympic medallists Mary Kom and Mirabai Chanu, medal-winners in other competitions, and supplied dozens of footballers to the national teams — stationed in national camps elsewhere are away from the trouble. Suffering most are those who train in Imphal. “Many of our trainees are from the districts,” said Ibomcha, a Dronacharya award winner. “They are facing problems and it has negatively impacted affected seniors and juniors. For individual sports, finding a sparring partner is possible. For team sports, it’s difficult to find the numbers.”
Why it must end soon
Sports is just one walk of life in Manipur that’s staring at uncertainty and much worse. The Internet is an essential part of almost every daily activity, and common people have had no access to WhatsApp or anything else for 80 days now. The business and service sectors are fighting to survive and the progress of the whole state has been impeded. Chanu, Jeakson Singh, the footballer, and non-Manipuri sports figures like CK Vineeth, the Kerala footballer, have appealed for peace in their own ways.
Ibomcha, who was a part of a delegation which met Home Minister Amit Shah in Imphal, said that he had appealed to the central government and the warring parties to sort things out through dialogue and bring normalcy back to the state. “This infighting must stop,” he said. “Manipur will suffer irreparable damages if that does not happen soon.”
He is spot-on. The future of India’s next generation of Olympic hopefuls is at stake, as is the greater good of Manipur.
Also Read: Mirabai Chanu Speaks for All Indians and We Must Feel Her Pain