AII bets for ending violence in Manipur

Guwahati: Soon after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader N Biren Singh resigned as chief minister of Manipur Amnesty International India (AAI) urged the authorities to take pragmatic initiatives to end violence in the north-eastern State, bordering Myanmar. Aakar Patel of AAI commented on 11 February 2025 that Biren Singh’s resignation provides an  opportunity for the authorities to uphold and ensure human rights for everyone, break with the violence and impunity of the past and work towards ending the ethnic violence thee where more than 250 people were killed in the last two years.
“The BJP-led governments  both in New Delhi and Imphal utterly failed to end the violence in Manipur, impunity of vigilante groups, and the divisive rhetoric that has flamed the ethnic violence. Their actions have led to repression of dissenting voices and an abject humanitarian crisis in the State,” said Patel, adding that by the continued failure to hold to account those suspected to be responsible for serious human rights violations, the government risks sending the message that the impunity for these violations will continue. 
“This in turn will fuel further violations.  Unlike the emblematic cases taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation, like the case of the gang-rape of two Kuki women in May 2023 that found the Manipur police complicit – many lesser-known ones continue to struggle for attention of the State and central governments. This must change,” he asserted in a media statement.
Since May 2023, more than 60,000 people have been displaced in Manipur due to the ongoing violence between the dominant ethnic community, the Meities and the other minority ethnic communities including the Kukis. Homes, business, villages and places of worship have been burnt down, attacked, looted and vandalised.
The resignation of Biren Singh comes after the Supreme Court of India earlier this month ordered for a sealed-cover report from the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory into audio tapes that allegedly had him saying that the ethnic violence in Manipur had been instigated at his insistence. In July 2024, AAI documented the ongoing violence and impunity in Manipur.