How Ngaineikim Lunkim's Commitment to Challenge Hate Made a Difference

In June this year, Karwan e Mohabbat organised a festival in Hyderabad called Rehmat, to celebrate radical love and courageous kindness.  Rehmat in Urdu means compassion, kindness, and caring. The people celebrated in this festival contribute to our understanding of these concepts and to our understanding of India. Ahead of, on, and after Independence Day, we look at them in a series. Read the first story here and the second, here.

§

On May 3, 2023, when the ethnic conflict began in Manipur, Ngaineikim Lunkim, belonging to Kuki-Zo community, surpassed boundaries of hate by resolutely saving the lives of five neighbours belonging to the Meitei community. Not only did she compassionately shelter and protect her neighbours, but she courageously stood up for them in front of a mob of those from her own community. 

Ngaineikim Lunkim is the president of the Kuki Women Organisation for Human Rights (KWOHR). This is her third consecutive term since she was first elected in 2013. She holds dear values of peace, non-violence, collective action, and solidarity across community lines. 

Ngaineikim's retelling of her actions shows the extent of her care. The following story is pieced together from her account.

On May 3, 2023, the All-Tribal Students Union Manipur organised a peaceful rally protesting against the demand of Meiteis for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe category. In response, Meiteis burned the gate of the Anglo-Kuki War. Ngaineikim was due to leave as she had learnt that a mob was coming towards her village. 

Her Meitei neighbour Ibomcha who ran a gun-house adjacent to Ngaineikim's daughter's medical clinic, came to her along with an employee, asking for protection. When the mob reached the gun-house they started thrashing three employees there and wrecking the building. 

Instinctively Ngaineikim rushed out to protect the workers. She requested that the mob halt their violence. However, they turned their aggravation towards her and pushed her towards the ground, injuring her knees. 

Despite being hurt, Ngaineikim indicated to the three workers that they should run towards the police station through an open gate. 

"Even though my own people were attacking me, I felt good that the three workers were safe," she said.

On returning to the clinic, Ibomcha and the accompanying employee pleaded, “Aunty eikhoi bu kanni yu (Aunty please save us)."

Ngaineikim and her daughter Jolly closed the clinic early and sheltered the two men inside throughout the night.  

For her and her family it was a difficult and restless night. She could hear people yelling outside, looking for people belonging to the Meitei community. Sounds of gun firing and shouts echoed in the night sky. She was concerned about the men’s food and other needs. 

She was also worried about what her own community would say, especially given her position as a community leader. She sent messages to the women in her network, requesting them to protect and shelter Meitei brothers and sisters.  

At around 3 am, she made her way to the clinic. She contacted the police, telling them to keep the gate to the police station open. On reaching the clinic, she instructed the two men to run to the police station. 

Ngaineikim is proud of the fact that her Meitei brothers regularly call to check on her.  

It is important to Ngaineikim that no Meitei person or family in her village or in her watch is harmed. Without hate, she says that despite all her efforts, the people of her own community have been brutally attacked and killed. Her own relatives were targeted in Imphal Valley. She said that Kuki-Zo women have been gang-raped, kidnapped in an organised manner and systemically rape and torture by Meitei groups.  

When she was accused of betraying her community with her act of saving the five Meitei men, she has not cowered. Many in the KWOHR have followed her example, she says. The group organised a wide human chain to ensure safe passage for Meiteis to army camps, shelters and police stations. No mob was able to harm them and Ngaineikim says hundreds of Meitei lives were saved.

What the KWHOR does

Talking about her position in the organisation, she shared that she faces multiple challenges as the president. These challenges have become pronounced during and since the conflict.

Formed in 1993, KWHOR works with women, poor and marginalised communities. It comprises 24 women’s rights and human rights organisations from different districts across Manipur with the main office situated in Churachandpur. 

Ngaineikim proudly shared that in 2015, with donations, the group extended solidarity to Nepal after the country faced a devastating earthquake. In 2011 they protested in New Delhi and urged Myanmar and India to stop damming the Chindwin River in Myanmar.  

As such, KWOHR challenges the divisive and coercive processes involved in the making of the economy and the nation-state. It opposes the power hierarchies between communities, such as that between Meitei and Kuki-Zo groups, which became one of the recognised catalysts behind the ethnic conflict in Manipur.

Since the beginning of the conflict the KWOHR has taken an active and outspoken role. A programme they implemented is called Jangnadopna. Based on a traditional practice they worked together to offer support to families of Kuki-Zo people killed in the conflict. They organised funerals and ensured traditions were fulfilled despite difficult circumstances. They gave mementos to the families, with the cause of death highlighted, and a traditional shawl called the Saipikhup.

A collection drive among Kuki women across the world gave the group a corpus from which it gives Rs 1 lakh or more to widows or the families of those killed. The group also gives rations to those in need.

KWOHR has also organised sit-ins, protests, agitations, and awareness programmes, rallies on issues like sexual violence against Kuki-Zo women. For Ngaineikim, it has always been most important that everything is done in a peaceful manner. 

The group continues to foreground different women who faced systemic torture, rape, murder. Through consistent vocalisation, they make sure each victim/survivor’s life is remembered. They have demanded that these must be recognised as crimes against humanity. Ngaineikim also told Reuters that “sexual violence and rape as a method or tactic of warfare is being widely perpetuated” by the Meiteis. 

KWOHR has also questioned the government, including the Prime Minister, calling the alleged state involvement in engineering the conflict and backing militant groups a “systemic genocide”. 

They have also held responsible MLAs of their own community who reneged on Kuki-Zos' collective consensus to demand a separate administration as a Union Territory with legislative powers.

Ngaineikim Lunkim is dauntless and kind. Her first instinct was to save all. May we remember her example.

Anandi Pandey is a researcher with Karwan-e-Mohabbat with a background in Political Science. They have experience in fields of queer politics, labour, human rights, disability, market politics, state society relations, and education. 

The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.