Women and War - A closer look at the ongoing conflict in Manipur

“Violence against women implies not only an assault of the body, mind or soul, but it also occurs when the conditions are being enabled to facilitate it and when the system – the state and the society excuses it”, Shalu Nigam a renowned Indian lawyer, feminist legal scholar, and author quoted.

This quote resonates so much with the recent video that went viral showing two Kuki-Zo women being paraded naked and later gang-raped by a mob of Meitei men that was circulated all over the internet causing the whole country to awaken and realize the severity of the conflict that has been going on for more than two months in Manipur. The video sent shivers down our spines as we all watched the brutality of the mobs being unfolded every second of the video. The whimpers of the two women being groped and dragged helplessly by the hound of angry, lust-filled men gave us a glimpse of what is really happening in Manipur right now. It shows us the tip of the whole iceberg that is
hidden from the people about the intensity and the severity of the situation that has been escalating since the 3rd of May in the northeastern state. In contemporary conflicts, civilians are mainly the targets. Mass displacement, violence against ethnic and religious groups, as well as gender-based and sexual violence, are common. This video has raised many questions that need to be answered mainly about the exploitation of women that has remained silent in the heart of the violence.

The book “WOMEN PEACE AND SECURITY” which was published by the United Nations stated that the specific experience of women and girls in armed conflicts is linked to their status in societies. The changes in armed conflict over the last decade have affected women and girls immensely. Women and girls are often viewed as bearers of cultural identity and thus become prime targets. Gender-based and sexual violence has increasingly become weapons of warfare and is one of the defining characteristics of contemporary armed conflicts and of the element being rape. The book also stated that throughout history women and girls have been subjected to rape, including mass rape because the
raping of women is a means for the aggressor to symbolically and physically humiliate the other group. Rape or the threat of rape is also used to drive communities off lands or to heighten terror during attacks. Therefore, in 1993 the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna, recognized violence against women during armed conflict as a violation of human rights.

From the above-mentioned points, we can see the gravity and the enormity of the problem that has been going on for more than two months. There are many other cases that involved the exploitation of women to the point of killing them. The viral video was one among many other cases that have been hidden away from the mass. For instance, the case of two young Kuki-Zo women who were in their twenties working in a car wash at Imphal was dragged away from their workplace to be tortured, abused, raped, and even killed. Justice has not been given to these two young women too with their dead bodies still at a morgue in Imphal with no way for their families to claim them and give them a
proper burial let alone for the people that were responsible for their deaths to be convicted. Another case was of two middle-aged sisters being hacked to death by the Meitei mobs in their residence at Imphal which still remains an unsolved case with the perpetrators roaming freely. Another young woman was also abducted and then raped after which she was able to escape luckily or the outcome might have been a different one had not, she managed to escape. These are just some of the cases among many other that still needs to surface for the truth to come out. These women are the victims of the ongoing conflict between the dominant Meitei community and the minority tribals of the Kuki-Zo community. It is an ethnic cleansing where even women and children weren’t spared. It is astounding to hear about cases like this in the 21st century where we claim ourselves to be developed and educated enough for barbaric actions like this to be non-existent. However, as dreadful and as sad as it may seem, these are just a sliver of the full scope of the issue that is prevailing in Manipur.

The need of the hour and the only solution is for the Central government to intervene and for justice to be given to the many victims lest their sufferings be in vain. Proper, non-biased investigation to be conducted and for all the perpetrators to be served with a sentence befitting the gravity of the crimes that they committed should be the main priority. This is the least we can do as a country that prides itself to be one of the biggest democracies in the world and where women are also considered equal and uplifted. It is also necessary for the central government to take up long-term measures so that the
conflict may cease to prevent any other barbaric crimes, killings, and chaos from occurring any further. Last but not least, when the hate runs too deep and the sentiments of the people are too hurt and the damage is too severe to be reversible, separation is the only solution.

(Views expressed are personal)