MORE THAN two million people in India’s remote northeastern Manipur state, which borders Burma, face grave food, fuel and medicine shortages because of a blockade by rival militant groups.
The two groups have been involved in a stand-off for more than two months over demands for a separate district. Two main roads connecting Manipur to the rest of India have been blockaded since July 31st, causing misery for the state’s 2.7 million residents.
Rationed petrol and diesel have been selling at three times their normal price while gas prices have increased at least sixfold, forcing people to resort to scarce firewood for cooking.
Life-saving drugs, blood and oxygen cylinders are also in short supply, resulting in almost all hospitals in the state capital Imphal turning away critically ill patients and refusing to perform surgery.
Essential foods such as milk, vegetables and rice are either prohibitively expensive or not available.
“I don’t know how we will survive. It’s impossible to manage things here,” said Mary Kom, who is a five times winner of the amateur women’s World Boxing Championship. She said food was scarce and expensive and the face-off over the blockade was nowhere near resolution.
The blockade was initiated by the local Kuki tribe, which is demanding a separate hill district in Manipur. The situation worsened after rival Christian Naga tribesmen refused to vacate land to meet the Kuki tribe’s demands.
Neither group has so far relented on the issue, which is part of complex and restive tribal politics dating back to colonial times.
Efforts by local and federal governments to break the impasse have yielded nothing. Manipur was blockaded in 2005 and again in 2010 for 68 and 52 days respectively following similar problems.
Naga rebel groups, which have conducted India’s longest-running insurgency, claim several Manipur districts as part of their extended territory in a bid to establish a larger “Nagaland for Christ”. Despite a ceasefire in 1997, their armed rebellion, which began in the 1950s, still awaits resolution.
Manipur is home to dozens of tribal groups and small guerrilla armies that resist rule from New Delhi. These armed insurgents often compete against each other for dominance of the state through intimidation, extortion and protection rackets.