Responding to the resignation of N Biren Singh as the Chief Minister of the state of Manipur in India yesterday, Aakar Patel, chair of the board at Amnesty International India, said:
“Biren Singh’s resignation presents in Manipur the 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 in the state which has claimed the lives of more than 250 people in the last two years. The (BJP)-led governments at both state and central level have 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.
“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.”
Biren Singh’s resignation presents in Manipur the opportunity for the authorities to uphold and ensure human rights for everyone, break with the violence and impunity of the past…
Aakar Patel, chair of the board at Amnesty International India
Background:
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 the state had been instigated at his insistence.
In July 2024, Amnesty International documented the ongoing violence and impunity in Manipur state.
