Manipur: Tribal groups say accepting compensation will be insult to the dead

Tribal bodies Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF) and Joint Philanthropic Organisations have submitted to rehabilitation committee appointed by the Supreme Court that it would be an insult to the dead to accept money at this stage from the very state that engineered the ethnic cleansing.

In a letter to Justice Gita Mittal (Retd.), chairperson of the committee, ITLF stated that the overall feeling is that only after the bodies are buried according to the tribal customs, then only a decision will be taken regarding compensation.

The Justice Mittal-headed committee, in its 13th and 14th report submitted to the Supreme Court last week, said tribal Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), including but not limited to the ITLF and the Joint Philanthropic Organisations, were preventing families from accepting the compensation and pressuring them to not accept the bodies of their loved ones despite attempts from the state government.


It added that initial sites for the burial of the bodies were opposed by the non-tribal community. Discussions were held with the MHA and the tribal organisations. These tribal organisations did not insist on burial at that controversial site. The abovementioned tribal organisations agreed to bury the bodies at the non-controversial sites. It appears that the committee is not being fully informed about the discussions between the MHA and the tribal organisations.

While the MHA and the tribal organisations arrived at a satisfactory solution, the committee appears not to have been informed of this positive development and has proceeded on the State of Manipur input that the tribals are obstructing the rehabilitation process.

The CSOs added that it must be remembered that 154 tribals were killed. Their bodies lay in the morgues in the Imphal valley for months. These bodies are rotting. Nothing prevented the state from flying these bodies to their homes by helicopters.