New Delhi:

The Centre has given another extension to the commission of inquiry probing cases of violence in Manipur. The new deadline is May 20, 2025. At least 258 people have died in the Meitei-Kuki ethnic clashes that began in May 2023.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in a notification today said, “The commission shall submit its report to the central government as soon as possible but not later than the 20th May, 2025.”

According to the terms of reference of the commission of inquiry, it would probe the sequence of events leading to, and all the facts linked to the violence.

The panel would also find out whether there were any lapses or dereliction of duty on the part of any of the responsible authorities or individuals, and adequacy of the administrative measures taken to prevent, and to deal with the violence and riots.

The inquiry will look into complaints or allegations that may be made before it by any individual or association.

The commission, headed by former Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court Ajai Lamba, was set up on June 4, 2023.

The panel was mandated to make inquiry with respect to the causes and spread of the violence and riots targeting members of different communities, which began in Manipur on May 3, 2023.

The panel comprises retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Himanshu Shekhar Das and retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Aloka Prabhakar.

In its last order, the MHA had asked the commission to submit its report to the central government “as soon as possible, but not later than six months from the date of its first sitting”, according to the notification issued on June 4, 2023. The commission had time till November 20 to submit its report.

As per the MHA notification, large-scale violence broke out in Manipur on May 3, 2023 and as a result of the violence, many residents died and got injured. Their houses and properties were burnt down, and thousands left homeless, it said.

The notification said the Manipur government on May 29, 2023 recommended to form a judicial inquiry commission to look into the causes and associated factors of the crisis and the unfortunate incidents that happened on May 3, 2023 and afterwards under the provisions of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis – a term given by the British in colonial times – who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, has killed over 220 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

Guwahati/New Delhi:

Nengboi Doungel, a woman from the Kuki tribes and resident of Pangmol village in Manipur’s Tamenglong district, gave birth to a baby girl in Assam’s Hmarkhawlien relief camp. On the same day, her husband’s mutilated body arrived in Manipur’s Churachandpur district.

While relief camp inmates claimed the man was killed on the same day the baby was born, local reports have said he was killed earlier and his body dumped in Manipur’s Jiribam. The Assam Police in a social media post denied Kuki groups’ allegations that he was kidnapped by suspected Meitei militants from Assam’s Cachar district.

Ms Doungel doesn’t know what to do now, after she lost her husband in the Manipur conflict. Her family members are in such a situation of despair that they could not welcome the new birth.

When the situation became tense and the conflict yet again started in some parts of Manipur, Ms Doungel’s husband Haojoel Doungel had fled with his family to the relief camp, seeking refuge.

Despite their displacement, her husband’s dedication to their family never wavered, she said. When her delivery date neared, he went to Jirighat in search of financial aid to ensure a safe delivery.

Tragically, this act of love and responsibility became his last.

Sources have said Haojoel Doungel was allegedly kidnapped by suspected Meitei militants. His body was found in a culvert near Anglapur village in Jiribam.

Unaware of the tragedy that had unfolded, Ms Doungel went into labour in the relief camp and gave birth to their little daughter. The arrival of the child brought a fleeting moment of joy amid profound grief as at the same day her husband’s body was brought to Churachandpur.

Civil society groups of the Kuki tribes said Haojoel Doungel risked everything for the wellbeing of his wife and the newborn, but lost his life in the conflict, leaving his family shattered. This tragedy is not an isolated incident, but emblematic of the broader devastation wrought by the ongoing conflict.

In the past two weeks, a woman from the Hmar tribe was killed by suspected Meitei militants, and eight from the Meitei community were murdered by suspected Kuki militants. Six of the eight were from the same family, including an infant and two children; they were taken hostage, killed in captivity and the bodies dumped into a river by the suspected Kuki militants.