House Burned Down, Meitei Woman's Struggle For Passport, Cabin Crew Job

Members of the Meitei community in a sit-in protest in Delhi's Jantar Mantar alleged the government has not done enough to ensure all internally displaced persons (IDPs) can return home across Manipur, over two years since ethnic violence began.

They demanded the safe and dignified return of IDPs to their homes to rebuild their lives.

A young woman, who said she lost her house in Churachandpur, narrated her experience of the outbreak of hostilities and how she left the area.

"We left everything behind. I have been trying to train as a cabin crew. I applied for a passport, but the police in Churachandpur have been refusing to verify for a long time. They said 'the individual's house is not at the given address'," she said.

"Everyone knows that our houses have been burned down and we have not been able to go back. No one is helping me. We are not asking for anything more. We just want to take back what's ours - our home, our land, our happiness and memories," she added.

The young woman appealed to the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant to take up suo moto the issue of IDPs not being allowed to return by armed groups, despite the deployment of thousands of security personnel.

Others at the sit-in said immediate judicial intervention is critical to restore hope and ensure justice for thousands of displaced families. They asked all stakeholders to act urgently to safeguard constitutional guarantees and human dignity.

A joint memorandum addressed to President Droupadi Murmu by a group of Meitei organisations representing internally displaced people sought steps to ensure inter-community dialogue beings, arrangements are made for safe return of IDPs, and their houses destroyed in Churachandpur, Moreh, Kangpokpi, and Imphal East, etc must be rebuilt within a fixed timeline.

"For families with pattadar land, construction must take place on their original land," the memorandum to the President said.

President Murmu was on a two-day visit to Manipur last week. She reminded the people of Manipur that the strength of the "beautiful land" they call home lies in its diversity. She indicated the optics of hill and valley divide in Manipur would do no good; instead, she said the hills and valley have always complimented each other.

Manipur has been under the President's rule since February.

"Manipur's strength lies in its diversity, its culture, languages, and traditions. The hills and the valley have always complemented each other. Like two sides of the same beautiful land, I urge all communities to continue supporting the efforts for peace, understanding, and reconciliation," President Murmu said at a programme in Senapati district, 60 km from Imphal, on the second day of her visit.

The Meitei-Kuki ethnic violence began over a range of issues such as land rights and political representation. Over 260 have died in the violence and nearly 50,000 have been internally displaced.