In India’s brutal ethnic war, women are participants as well as victims
In India's brutal ethnic war, women are participants as well as victims Reuters India
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In India’s brutal ethnic war, women are participants as well as victims
MOIRANG/CHURACHANDPUR, India, Aug 8 (Reuters) – In the sectarian violence that has ravaged India’s Manipur state, women have been victims of brutal attacks. Residents and security officials say they are also at the forefront of the conflict, picking up arms, blocking troops and according to police complaints, instigating sexual assaults.
India’s northeastern states have been historically prone to insurgencies and ethnic violence but the vicious conflict between majority Meiteis and minority tribal Kukis in Manipur hit world headlines last month when a video surfaced of two Kuki women being paraded naked through a jeering mob. In a police complaint reviewed by Reuters, one of the women said she was raped and her father and brother killed.
Kukis say a loosely formed group of Meitei women, known as Meira Paibis, or Women Torchbearers, is responsible for instigating some of the rapes of women of the minority community. The Meiteis deny the accusation but the incidents underline the bitterness between communities in the small state on the border with Myanmar.
“Women’s participation in it (the rapes) underscores the absolute breakdown of all social ties,” said Praveen Donthi, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group who has written a report on the Manipur conflict.
“It has made the physical and emotional divide between the communities complete and reconciliation now looks unattainable.”
India’s Supreme Court announced this week that reuters.com
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