Forces avert ethnic flare-up over ploughing of field in Imphal East

Security forces averted a major standoff between Kuki and Meitei farmers over a land dispute in Manipur's Imphal East district on Sunday.

The incident occurred around 10 am when a Meitei farmer from Leitanpokpi arrived on a tractor to cultivate a paddy field at Sadu Lampak village near a Kuki settlement. Local Kuki residents challenged the farmer’s right to plough the land, claiming he had no ownership of the field.

Soon, additional people from both communities descended on the spot, raising concerns about potential escalation in the ethnically sensitive region. Police sources said the Additional Superintendent of Police (Intelligence), along with central security forces, were present in the area and successfully contained the situation.

Additional reinforcements led by the Superintendent of Police were deployed as a precautionary measure. The police, in a post on X, urged residents to ignore unverified social media content about the incident.

Later, certain Meitei groups alleged that the incident highlighted the “modus operandi” of Kuki groups, which they used to target their community. They even blamed the security forces for failing to control the protest.

In a statement, the Meitei Heritage Welfare Foundation demanded security for farmers from the community to safely access and work on their farmlands.

It even went on to claim that the incident “is not an isolated or spontaneous occurrence; but a larger, well-documented modus operandi of Chin-Kuki militants and their frontal organisations to further destabilise the region, derail the ongoing peace efforts, and inflict long-term economic damage on the Meitei community by cutting off livelihoods at the grassroots level”.

Blaming the alleged inaction by security forces against Kukis, the Meitei group alleged that “the Chin-Kuki perpetrators continue to act with impunity because they know they will not be held accountable. This sense of lawlessness persists due to the failure of the security forces and state authorities to provide even the most basic protection for our farmers, despite multiple appeals and ground reports, particularly in fringe and foothill areas”.

It sought an immediate and permanent deployment of armed security personnel in conflict-prone agricultural zones to guarantee the safety of Meitei farmers. The Kukis for their part claimed that Leitanpokpi was within the jurisdiction of the Sadar Hills Autonomous District (Kankpokpi) and sought to know from the Meiteis whether they had the sale deed documents.