In strife-torn Manipur, youngsters take up arms to protect villages
IMPHAL/CHURACHANDPUR:
Every day in shifts, morning and night, a group of armed youngsters patrol roads around Manipur’s Koutruk village. Their objective: Keep residents safe from the warring factions of Meitei and Kuki.
These youngsters, mostly in their late 20s and early 30s, identify themselves as volunteers and say they have taken up the responsibility to keep their own safe as security forces “could not do enough to protect us.”
Kotruk in the Imphal Valley is one of the many villages in the state that is “protected” by such groups.
These groups, officials say, are not associated with any security agency or the armed forces.
Trained in basic combat tactics, the village forces have vowed to keep their areas safe from the ethnic violence that has left many dead, injured and displaced.
“Clearly our (security) forces could not do enough to protect us. Now, we know that they cannot be trusted with the task of ensuring our safety. So, we had to do it ourself and we decided to take up the task according to our calibre and capacity...we were forced to take matters into our own hands,” a village volunteer said on the condition of anonymity.
On their training, another village volunteer said, “It varied from 20 days to up to two months, including training in basic NCC skills. Some training in country-made weapons too.” He refused to comment on who trained them.
Local officials maintain caution, allowing their activities as long as they “remain peaceful”.
Areas in the hills and the valley have been marked following the ethnic violence -- some local describe it as “new borders”. And, keeping a vigil on these borders are these volunteers.