Manipur

Two more deaths takes Manipur violence toll to six

September 1, 2015 by Nasheman

A mob set the residences of a Manipur minister and two legislators ablaze on Monday evening to protest the passing of allegedly “anti-tribal” bills in the 60-member assembly. (Photo source: Twitter)

Imphal: Two more people were killed and a police station was set afire on Tuesday, as the toll in the violence that started on Monday in Manipur’s Churchandpur district over three bills passed in the assembly rose to six.

Violating an indefinite curfew in place in the town, a mob went on a rampage in the streets and set ablaze a police station in Churchandpur town, as police fired blanks to disperse the mob.

“Two people, who were part of the unruly mob, were killed after we (police) were forced to opened fire at them in self-defence and to defend the police station,” district police chief L. Mangkhogin Haokip told IANS.

With Tuesday’s deaths, the toll has risen to six.

Violence erupted on Monday evening following the Manipur government’s adoption of three landmark bills — Protection of Manipur People Bill 2015, Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms (seventh amendment) Bill 2015, and Manipur Shops and Establishment (second amendment) Bill 2015.

The bills were unanimously passed in the assembly on Monday after the ruling Congress signed an agreement with the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILPS) on August 25 to enact three laws to protect the interest of the indigenous people.

The mob on Monday evening attacked the residence of five Congress lawmakers, including that of state Health and Family Welfare Minister Phungzathang Tonsing and Outer Manipur Lok Sabha member Thangsoi Baite. However, none of the lawmakers were at their residences.

Three bodies were found in Churachandpur town and a charred body was recovered from the debris at the residence of Congress legislator Manga Vaiphei of Henglep assembly constituency on Tuesday, the police official said.

The mob on Monday evening also set afire the vehicle of Churachandpur Deputy Commissioner Lunminthang Haokip and prevented fire engines from dousing the flames, even as police were forced to resort to a baton charge.

Tribal civil society groups — All Tribal Students Union Manipur (ATSUM) AKuki Students Organisation (KSO) and All Naga Students Association Manipur, (ANSAM) — opposed the introduction of the bills, saying they overlapped with some points in the Manipur Hill People Administration Regulation Act, 1947, meant to safeguard the interest of tribesmen in the hill areas of Manipur.

(IANS)

Irom Sharmila condemns Manipur killing; urges repeal of AFSPA

June 6, 2015 by Nasheman

New Delhi: Rights activist Irom Sharmila has condemned the militant ambush that killed 18 armymen in Manipur but said there was “no use” imposing Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in interior areas.

“I strongly condemn yesterday’s incident. The incident happened in the area where AFSPA is fully applied. If you remove the army from Manipur, such untoward incidents of killings will automatically cease. There is no use imposing AFSPA in the interior. I think AFSPA targeted not a particular organisation or insurgent but all people of Manipur,” Sharmila, who was in Delhi to appear before a local Court in connection with a pending case over her fast-unto-death at Jantar Mantar in 2006, said.

18 armymen were killed and 11 injured when an insurgent group ambushed their patrol in Chandel district of Manipur.

Urging for peace and repealing of AFSPA from the state, she said “the government should change its policies and programmes because violent means will only create violence.”

“We will never solve any problem by violence because we are rational beings. With love and kindness, everything can be solved”, she added.

Sharmila, also known as the ‘Iron Lady of Manipur’, has been on a fast for about 14 years, demanding the repeal of the Act.

(Agencies)

20 armymen killed, 11 injured in insurgent ambush in Manipur

June 4, 2015 by Nasheman

Imphal/New Delhi: Using rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and automatic weapons, a group of insurgents today ambushed a military convoy killing at least 20 army personnel in the worst such attack in recent years.

Eleven armymen were also injured in the ambush, an Army spokesman said.

A team of 6 Dogra Regiment was on a road opening patrol (ROP) as part of its daily routine along Tengnoupal-New Samtal road, about 80 km from Imphal, when it was attacked by an unidentified insurgent outfit first with a powerful Improvised Explosive Device (IED), a police official said in Imphal.

After the IED blast, the insurgents resorted to heavy firing at the convoy of four Army vehicles with RPGs and automatic weapons, Army sources said in Delhi.

“20 armymen were killed and 11 injured in the attack,” Army spokesman Col Rohan Anand said in Delhi.

A suspected insurgent was also killed, police said.

The attack occurred at 9 am(EDs correct) when the convoy reached a place between Paralong and Charong villages. More details are awaited.

Manipur Home Secretary J Suresh Babu suspected the involvement of Manipur rebel outfit Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) in the deadly attack.

“This seems to be the work of PLA, with suspected support by the ‘KYKL’ group also. We are still waiting for more inputs to come in,” he added. Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) is a Meitei revolutionary organization in Manipur.

A reinforcement party of the security forces was rushed to the spot for combing operation to nab the militants, police said.

(PTI)

Irom Sharmila released from jail once again

January 23, 2015 by Nasheman

Imphal: A local court on Thursday rejected charges of attempt to suicide against rights activist Irom Chanu Sharmila by her indefinite fast for 14 years demanding repeal of AFSPA and ordered her immediate release from custody.

The 42-year-old has been under arrest under section 309 of the Indian Penal Code for attempt to commit suicide. Judicial magistrate (Imphal East) Wisdom Kamodang ruled that the prosecution has failed to give any evidence that she is trying to commit suicide and ordered that Sharmila be discharged in the case.

Imphal West SP Jhaljit told PTI she has been released from prison according to court orders. Demanding repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, Sharmila has refused to eat or drink anything since November, 2000. After her release in the evening, Sharmila again sat on fast under a shed in the local market.

On 19 August 2014, another Manipur court had ordered Sharmila to be released stating that her hunger strike was a “political demand through lawful means”. However, she was re-arrested three days later for allegedly attempting to commit suicide. To keep her alive she is forcibly nose-fed in Imphal’s Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital, a special ward which acts as a prison for her. International human rights body Amnesty has appealed to the authorities saying she should not be arrested once again.

“It is an outrage that Irom Sharmila has been in prison for over 14 years for a peaceful protest,” said Shemeer Babu, Programmes Director, Amnesty International India.

“The judgement must end the farcical cycle of arrest and re-arrest that this brave activist has faced for so long. Authorities must not detain Irom Sharmila again, but engage with the issues she is raising.”

Last month, the central government had said they have decided to repeal Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code, which makes attempting to commit suicide punishable with imprisonment for up to one year.

Sharmila had been arrested, released and then re-arrested from time to time on the charge of attempting to commit suicide. The maximum punishment under Section 309 of the IPC is a one-year jail term.

(PTI)

Move to decriminalise suicide raises hope for Irom Sharmila's release

December 11, 2014 by Nasheman

Imphal: The central government’s move to decriminalise attempt to suicide has ushered in new hope for release of Manipur’s rights activist Irom Sharmila Chanu, who has been fasting for over 14 years.

The human rights fraternity of the northeastern state is now planning to move the court for release of Sharmila, better known as the “Iron Lady of Manipur”, who has been fasting since November 2000 to demand repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers’ Act (AFSPA).

Sharmila’s brother Irom Shinghajit expressed his happiness over the decision, saying this would help Sharmila get out of the jail and will boost their movement against the AFSPA.

Manipur-based rights activist Babloo Loitongbam said: “We are going to move court soon for necessary orders. The central government’s decision has removed criminal tinge from the Sharmila’s movement, we have been saying that her movement is a political one.”

Sharmila decided to sit for indefinite fast after the Assam Rifles killed 10 civilians at Malom in Imphal.

A court in August observed that the “charge of attempt to commit suicide was wrongly framed against the petitioner (Sharmila)” and asked the state government to release her immediately.

However, she was re-arrested within 48 hours of her release. Justifying her re-arrest, Manipur Police said Sharmila was re-arrested on charges of attempt to commit suicide under Section 309 of the IPC.

Union Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that the government has decided to decriminalise “attempt to suicide” by deleting section 309 of the Indian Penal Code from the statute book.

The AFSPA, which covers large parts of northeastern India and Kashmir, gives security forces sweeping powers to search, enter property and shoot-on-sight and is seen by critics as cover for human rights abuses.

(IANS)

Another racist attack in Bengaluru; Manipuri youth beaten up by three men

November 20, 2014 by Nasheman

Bengaluru: In yet another incident of a racist attack, a 25-year-old Manipuri youth was allegedly attacked by three people here, reports said on Thursday.

The youth from the northeast state has registered a complaint with the police. The 25-year-old, who was badly injured has been hospitalised.

The latest incident comes a month after, three students from the northeast were beaten in October in the city for not speaking Kannada.

Bengaluru is home to around 240,000 people from the northeast. In 2012, a rumour that they will be attacked had led to a mass exodus before things were brought under control by the state government.

In a similar incident, three students, including a girl, belonging to the northeast region, were allegedly beaten up by some residents of Lajpat Nagar area of Delhi in the month of October.

According to police, the three youths are residents of Assam and are pursuing a course in photography. The incident took place when they were taking photographs in the city’s Prakash Colony.

Ten cases under AFSPA you should know about

November 18, 2014 by Nasheman

Photo: V. Sudershan, The Hindu

by Ravi Nitesh

As recently, a court martial awarded life term to 7 persons of Indian army after a court of inquiry in Machil encounter case. The infamous draconian act Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and the impunity that it grants to security forces under which no prosecution can be held in any civil court without a prior sanction from Government of India has made the security forces a big hub for human rights violations. Besides Machil, there are many more cases, named and unnamed that need attention of government and judiciary because these cases are infamous for the atrocities performed by security forces.

Here are few infamous cases, listed about which we all should know, in view of our sensitization towards human rights and how there are difficulties in ascertaining the punishment to security personals who are surviving with impunity. It is also evident that these atrocities are still continued. Though here are the selected cases only, there are hundreds and thousands of cases like these where human rights violations reported in areas where AFSPA is imposed (North East region and J&K).

Operation Blue Bird (Oinam, Bishunpur District, Manipur): Operation Blue Bird was launched in 11 th July 1987 at Oinam of Manipur, where more than 30 naga villages covered and human rights violations including torture and even extrajudicial killings were done in addition to sexual harassment, theft and loot by security personals. In a petition filed by NPMHR, it was reported that many houses were burnt and dismantled, many women were tortured and people got killed in fake encounters. This operation was done for many days, whole area was kept isolated and in jailed condition where even civil administrative authorities were not permitted to move in. Cases were filed in courts, even registrar of a high court was denied to move in to record the statements, but so far nothing happened.

Kunan Poshpora (Kupwara District, J&K): On 23 rd February 1991, a search operation was conducted by Indian army in Kunan Poshpora village of Kupwara district. During this search operation, around 100 women including pregnant women were allegedly raped by army persons in front of villagers. No clear inquiry was made by government. Later in the year 2014, the police officer who first visited the village to record testimony told that he was threatened many times to not to make report public. Government tried its best to make this case as ‘baseless’ and on the other hand, Chief Justice of J&K high court in his findings told that he never saw such a case where even normal investigative procedures were ignored. A case is still running in Supreme Court of India on this issue.

Bijbehra firing (Anantnag district, J&K): On 22 October 1993, approximate 35 civilians got killed when BSF fired upon crowd during a protest. It was alleged that firing was unprovoked and done while the protest was peaceful. Magistrate inquiry and NHRC findings marked that the firing was unprovoked. J&K High Court also accepted the reports and findings and ordered for compensation to victims and their families. It is not clear if the case against BSF personals was sent to grant sanction for prosecution, but till now no such prosecution was done.

Malom (Imphal District, Manipur): It was 2 nd November 2000, when at Malom, a place near Imphal, Assam Rifles fired upon 10 persons at a bus stand and they got killed. In these persons, even a 60 year old lady and 18 year old bravery award winner also got killed. This case sparked the anger in Manipur. Protest was organized. Irom Sharmila started her fast with demand to repeal the act AFSPA. However, still nothing happened.

Pathribal (Anantnag district, J&K): On 25 th March 2000, at Pathribal in J&K, 5 civilians were picked up by Rashtriya Rifles and allegedly made as ‘foreign militants’ and as the main accused persons who were responsible for Chhatisinghpura case. Local people protest against this and calimed that these were civilians and were not involved in any such activity. Initially, no case was lodged as defined with the impunity granted under AFSPA but later when protest erupts, CBI was asked to investigate the case. CBI in its investigation submitted report and found guilty a Brigadier, a Lt Col, two majors and a subedar of 7 Rashtriya Rifles for a staged encounter where civilians were picked up from Anantnag district . These encounters were told as ‘cold blooded murders’. Supreme Court of India, with findings of CBI told Indian army in the year 2011 for court martial, (as sanction for prosecution under civilian law could not be provided under AFSPA) , however after two years army closed the case with no actions on accused personals.

Manorama Killing (Imphal Distrcit, Manipur): It was the night of 10 th July 2004, when Assam Rifles went to house of Manorama at Imphal, Manipur at night, tortured her at her house before her brother and mother, then picked her up. In the morning, dead body was found at Ngariyan Yairipok road with bullets injuries in her private parts. Massive protest was organized by people, even the infamous naked protest also happened but case under criminal charges could not be lodged. A local judicial inquiry was done but report was not made public. A PIL in Supreme Court of India is still going on but no verdict has been awarded yet.

Shopian Case (Shopian district, J&K): on 29 th May 2009 in Shopian (J&K), two women named Aasia (age approx 17) and Neelofar (age approx 22) went missing from their orchard on their way back to home. Their dead bodies found on next day morning. People alleged it as murder and rape by security forces who were camped nearby. Initially, no FIR was lodged and police told that postmortem report cleared injuries over private parts. However people believed that police report about postmortem is fake, protests were continued by people and later J&K govt formed a judicial panel. Under judicial inquiry, Forensic lab report established the gang rape of both the women. Besides few suspension and transfers from police department, nothing has happened in this case.

Mass Graves in J&K: In the year 2008-09, mass graves of approximate 3000 unmarked persons were found in Bandipora, Baramulla, Kupwara and other districts. It was believed that most of these graves may belong to people who has been killed and buried by security personals without any accountability under AFSPA. It was also believed that there may be persons who are reported as ‘disappeared’, as thousands of cases of disappearances are recorded. State Human Rights Commission confirmed that thousands of bullet ridden bodies buried in unmarked graves. Some 500 bodies are identified as ‘locals’ and not the ‘foreign militants’ as it was told by security agencies. In spite of all cry and hue by human rights organizations and local people, no concrete action has been taken yet from the side of government.

Machil Encounter (Kupwara district, J&K): On 30 th April 2010, three civilians of Baramulla (J&K) were shot by Indian army at Machil sector in Kupwara district of J&K and were framed as ‘foreign militants’. However, later with the protest and inquiry, it was established that these persons were civilians and were called by army to provide them jobs of porters and later were killed in a staged encounter. With the protest that erupted all over J&K as an anger of people and force used to suppress the protests, as many as 110 lives of civilians lost in the whole summer unrest of the year 2010. Indian army in its inquiry found them guilty and in November 2014 sentenced life imprisonment to two officers and five soldiers in the court martial for being guilty. It was told that these army personals murdered these civilians, painted their face black, had put the guns and told them ‘foreign militants’ to get rewards and remunerations under ‘anti-militancy operations.’

1528 cases of extra judicial killings: In a write petition filed in Supreme Court of India (SCI), it was told that during May 1979 to May 2012 , approximate 1528 cases belongs to extra judicial killings. Supreme Court picked 6 random cases from the list and formed a high power commission under Justice (retd) Santosh Hegde and two others members to inquire about these 6 cases. Commission submitted its report to SCI stated that all 6 cases are found cases of fake encounters where no criminal records found for these persons who got killed. Case is still in SCI.

Ravi Nitesh is a Petroleum Engineer, Founder- Mission Bhartiyam, Core Member- Save Sharmila Solidarity Campaign. Follow on twitter: www.twitter.com/ravinitesh Blog: www.ravinitesh.blogspot.com

AFSPA and the 15th ear of non-violent heroic struggle of Irom Sharmila

November 5, 2014 by Nasheman

by Ravi Nitesh

At present when you are reading this letter, there are many things going on this world. Some are becoming a everyday story and adding just another day in one’s life, some are there and contributing to where history is being created and recorded and even some others, with people like you who are reading this article and now will know about this part of history, where a lady, popularly known as Iron lady of Manipur, is entering in 15th year of her fast that is in the common interest of people of Manipur and within the larger objective of humanity and justice, and therefore rare in one of its kind.

Just like you, I am also a mute spectator of this history that is mixed with pride and sadness for me. It is a pride for reasons because I am able to live in this year of history where I can witness such a non violent historic and heroic struggle of an individual who herself became an invincible, immoral and a movement within herself. Sad, because I wish and pray of its end through the fulfilling the demand of Repeal AFSPA by government. I, at present cannot do much, but probably the least that I can do is to share my sentiments with you and to devote myself in solidarity.

At a time, when you are reading this article, I am sitting in solidarity fast in support of Irom Sharmila, in the same city where she is under arrest. Common supporters like myself, activists and students are also sitting in solidarity with her. While I think that I may not be able to meet and to speak to you all, I feel that this article (that is mostly in the form of letter) may reach to some of you for sure and through this way, I can convey ing my solidarity with your struggle.

I would like to convey the sentiments of all fellow countrymen also who thinks and speaks for your rights and justice, I would like to convey sympathy of our mothers and sisters to your families and I would like to tell you that you that we believe that together we will get the rights and justice in coming time.

I also see it as a time, when in my view, more than our worries about Irom Sharmila’s fast, government should be in fear to see the changing time when now it is another year that has come to add itself in counting of longest fast and probably longest non violent struggle for a demand. It should be a matter of worry for a democracy like India that history is being written of its ignorance and deviating decisions of undemocratic behavior, history will remember the contradiction and biased behavior of governments of this democracy.

People who are subjected to AFSPA are just any common people of other parts of India. On the other hand, armymen who are working with AFSPA powers are also like any other human being but with skilled trainings of armed systems like any other army has. The Government must think that how it is trying to create a rift between army and people with such a mechanized law that do not consider humanity and rather treat people like any object, they (army men) can play with. It cannot be said to be fair or beneficial in anyway.

On the other hand, people within the army, should also think about the same reasons that how they hear stories and see the things in unbiased ways of any killings, fake encounters and even rapes and they must think that how all such victims are also a larger part of their family and how there could be various reasons and moments that the lives could be saved and might not be necessarily lost. Our dear army men and the whole army commands must also understand that how people of Manipur or North East or any other part cannot be enemy of them and even the ‘region’ cannot be a reason of any such enmity. There are examples where people from these regions contribted well for the Indian defence system and other forms of social and national causes. In fact, from the government to army to judiuciary to people, everyone must take it as a clear point that opposing AFSPA just meant to opposing a particular policy and extra ordinary powers and it has no concern of any personal or professional enmity among the people and army. It is the same as people in non AFSPA imposed areas are against the extra ordinary leisure, facilities and corruptions of bureaucrats and politicians and it is no where oppose of bureaucrats and politics.

It is not an easy task that Irom Sharmila is doing. For the courts, when it was an ‘attempt to suicide’, for Irom Sharmila, probably it was one of the ‘reason’ to ‘live’. She is not aimless like many of us are. Unlike us, she has a reason and thought process and a decided goal for her life. Putting the life on fast with all known intention, motivation and clear objective towards making a society more humane, cannot be said as attempt to suicide, instead it is something that we all need in our lives.

With my heartiest salute to this living legend of Non Violence and brave people of all AFSPA imposed areas With the sense and determination of making our society more humane, more civilized With the demand from Government to Repeal AFSPA from all regions.

Ravi Nitesh is Core Member: Save Sharmila Solidarity Campaign and founder: Mission Bhartiyam

Northeast rights activist receives threat mail

October 22, 2014 by Nasheman

Binalakshmi Nepram

New Delhi: Cyber attacks seem to be the new mode of operation for people who are perpetrators of ‘hate crime’ against Northeasterners. It has hardly been a week that the news of a derogatory Facebook post targeting the assaulted Manipuri youth was doing rounds, reports have flowed in that Binalakshmi Nepram, founder of the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network, and a vocal activist for the northeast people in Delhi received a threat message via mail.

Informing this today, Nepram said that she received a threatening email from a gmail account user who is yet to be identified.

A case in this regard vide FIR No. 840/14 u/s 507 IPC & 66-A IT Act has been registered. The Cyber crime division of Delhi Police are investigating into the matter. No arrests have been made so far.

It may be mentioned here that just a day earlier, a case was registered against one Priyanka Ravi, 25, a medical electronics graduate from M. S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, for abusing, inciting hatred, and intentionally attempting to provoke breach of peace. She posted derogatory comments on the timeline of the Manipuri youth who was assaulted for not conversing in local Kannada language.

In Gurgaon, two men from Nagaland youths were beaten up by a group, which warned them to tell all people from the North East to leave the neighbourhood.

Denial won’t wish away “Indian” racism against North Easterners: Avinash Pandey

October 18, 2014 by Nasheman

– by Avinash Pandey

They did not speak Kannada, the language of the state they live in. They, therefore, were “legitimate” targets of violence in a city that has benefitted the most from India’s shift from Nehruvian Socialism to free market economy. The fact that they contribute to the city, and the province’s income, meant nothing. That they pay taxes that keep the country afloat had no value. They were, after all, North Easterners stranded in mainland India.

Their nationality is non-negotiable at all times, other than when they are victim to racist attacks across Indian cities, be it Delhi or Bangalore. It is non-negotiable when they may choose to assert their otherness; not when otherness is inflicted on them.

It is especially so when an outside entity claims them as its own. Let China make claims of Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part and out comes the Indian State with the mantras of sovereignty and patriotism that will never compromise on its territorial integrity. This is the time when the top functionaries of the Indian State, right up to the Prime Minister, make visits to the North East to dance with the “natives” and announce this or that package for this or that benefit of the 7 states collectively referred to as the North East.

Rest of the time they are just the ‘Mongolian fringe’ of the undeclared Aryan state, which has grudgingly accepted the erstwhile Dravidians as its own, but failed to do the same for the fringe. Failed, perhaps, is the wrong word for the State has never made a real attempt to assimilate the North East, while respecting the differences that define and shape the territory.

The failure is not always an in-your-face violence that the State, or its patriotic citizenry, inflicts on the North Easterners. There is a subtlety, at once tragic and perversely beautiful, that the Indian State deploys to achieve this failure. The State forgets, at times, to include Kiren Rijju, the Minister of State for Home and a Member of Parliament from Arunachal Pradesh, not only in the delegation for talks but also from state banquets hosted by the President for Chinese President Xi Jinping during his India visit, an omission never explained, not even to term it as coincidental. At other times, the State chooses Meghalaya as the place of punish posting for the Governors appointed under the previous government who refuse to resign as per the wish of the incumbent government.

The British colonials had always seen and treated the “Mongolian fringe” as an outpost, as a buffer from threats from South East Asia, to safeguard their Indian colony from the same. A total of 67 years after they packed their bags, independent India continues to do the same with all the repressive instruments deployed to keep the “natives” enslaved. In fact it has gone further by converting the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Ordinance, promulgated by the British in 1942 to suppress the Quit India Movement, into the Armed Forces Special Powers (Assam and Manipur) Act, 1958, and enforcing it all over the North East.

The Indian State keeps talking about humanising the draconian act that enables the security forces to maim, rape, and kill citizens with impunity. The State keeps talking of political solutions, as opposed to military ones. The State keeps on negotiating with this or that insurgent group. Yet, the same State treats every North Easterner as a perennial suspect, the other.

And so do the “Indian” citizens. This is the only thing worse than the violent and subtle racism North Easterners face from the Indian state. To invoke Lawrence Liang and Golan Naulak’s idea of two distinct forms of racism, the footnote vis-à-vis the front-page, the North Easterners are condemned to face both. They experience the footnote racism in everyday life, subtle, but as dehumanising as the explicit and violent front-page forms of the same. They feel it when denied rented accommodation for nothing other than being what they are. They feel it when their food habits are not merely questioned but beget violent attacks. They feel it when the Delhi police issue an advisory suggesting that North Eastern girls not wear revealing dresses to escape sexual harassment and assault. They feel it when it is suggested by the same advisory that they not cook their regional cuisine, especially, Akhuni and Bamboo shoots, as it could offend the sensibilities of the local people. They feel it the most when they realise there are no such advisories issued for any other ethnic, regional, or whatsoever kind of community defined by whatsoever yardstick.

This is not to say that front-page racism is less endemic than these subtle forms of labelling North Easterners as other. Nor does this mean that these two are discernably separate from each other. How can one separate racist abuses like “chinki”, which can get the abuser a sentence of 5 years (as most of the North Easterners are from Scheduled Tribes and therefore protected by the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Preventions of Atrocities) Act), from physical attacks that killed Nido Tania, a student from Arunachal Pradesh, in an “allegedly” racist attack?

One may do so, of course, by the liberal use of “allegedly” alongside acts of racism. What else but racism can explain the repeated attacks on the people from the North East across India? How many more murders does one need to call racism what it is? Was not the rumour mongering coupled with physical attacks on North East students in Bangalore, which lead to their mass exodus, enough to set the bell ringing? Should not the mysterious death of Richard Loitam, a student from Manipur, after an altercation with his seniors in Bangalore have made the State take special notice?

Perhaps it cannot till it remains in a permanent denial mode, i.e. until things turn violent and come under the media gaze. And, when this happens routinely, it rushes in to offer cosmetic solutions to the racist prejudices against the North East people that are institutionalised and engrained in the system. The futility of its lip service, however, gets exposed by the fact that no one has ever been convicted for even one year for racially abusing someone as ‘chinki’, forget the five year term that such an abuse can bring. Compare this with the convictions for casteist abuses covered under the provisions of the same Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Preventions of Atrocities) Act.

I wonder how many North East citizens would, in fact, dare to go lodge such a complaint with the police; they have to live in the same neighbourhoods in mainland India to make a livelihood, where they are most often a minority. They know what their predicament would be in the police stations, which have few, if any, officers from their community, as against the offenders who would share socio-cultural bonds with many of the officers.

This lack of redress to everyday racism is what sustains the discrimination against North Easterners, citizens of India lest one forgets, and paves way for the serious periodic attacks broadcast in the media. Till the State ensures that the community feels confident enough to report everyday violations, and perpetrators get prosecuted, the vicious cycle of violence will not stop. Racism is a serious crime, not something to wish away with denial. Hope for change will begin with justice to T. Michael Lamjathang Haokip and his friends attacked in Bangalore.

Avinash Pandey, is Programme Coordinator, Right to Food Programme, Asian Human Rights Commission. He can be contacted at avinash.pandey@ahrc.asia