A Sajal Survivor Tells His Story

(May 11, 2023) On the evening of May 3, Sajal, a Kuki village of some 350 imhabitants between Imphal and Churachandpur 250 of them B’nei Menashe, was burned to the ground by Meitei assailants in what has so far been the worst incident in the current ethnic violence in Manipur. Here is the account of one survivor, B’nei Menashe community member Letkhoneh Shem Haokip. I am from Sajal, 47 years old with a wife and two children, an older son and a daughter. My son is in Bangalore, working to help support us and our 12 year old daughter lives with us. I work in construction at the Manipur-Mizoram border and am away from home most of the time. On the 3rd of May, I happened to be home. I had gone to Nambol, a nearby Meitei town, to buy some tin sheet roofing for my house in Sajal that I was adding to. I came back home late afternoon that day. I had no idea whatsoever what was going to happen that night. The first warning was when I began to see messages on my WhatsApp from people in the nearby Kuki village of Agijang, about 5 or 6 kilometres way, saying that a menacing crowd was gather near their village. I thought they were overreacting and went on planning the construction on my house. I was still involved in it as the sun began to set.

It must have been about 6:30 pm when I sat down for my supper. Outside I could hear excitement, movement, people running around for no reason I could make out. I continued eating, finished my meal, and walked to the edge of the village to have a look. Sajal is high up and we have a good view of the valley right below us, the rice fields, and the roads. It was already dark, probably about 7. Looking down, I saw the headlights of what must have been about 30 to 40 vehicles heading towards us on the Nambol road, where I'd been earlier that day. At the same time, on the other side of the horizon, we saw Aigijang village on fire. The vehicles stopped at Leimaram, which must be about 2 kilometers away from us. By now I agreed that it certainly looked menacing. A few minutes later, someone from Sajal fire a shot with a shotgun. It was replied to by several rounds from automatic rifles. It was then that we realized that the worst was happening: they were coming for us!. There was nothing much a few shotguns could do against automatic rifles.

There was no time, it was a matter of minutes before they reached Sajal. I went to fetch my family, including my old father and mother. My father is a semi-invalid, but at least he could walk. Hurriedly, we made our way up the hillock nearby. From a relatively safe place we watched our houses as they were torched one by one until the whole village was engulfed in flames. There must have been at least 500 attackers Our synagogue, too, was burnt along with our Torah. There was simply no time to save anything. We'd left Sajal with only the clothes we had on. Some lucky ones managed to grab a shawl or a blanket. I felt lucky that I'd eaten supper, at least I wouldn't have to worry about being hungry.

Army evacuates Sajal refugees.

We spent the night in the jungle. Most of us were too tense to sleep; moreover there was nothing that could serve as a bed. The next day, at dawn, we trudged to a nearby village of the Chiru tribe. The villagers gave us food and water, which was gratefully welcomed by us after a harrowing night. After a while, though,, we were told by them that we had to leave their village since they had been warned by the Meiteis that they would be made to pay for it if we were given shelter. We headed to the nearest Assam Rifles army camp in the area. I wouldn't call the welcome given us there a warm one, but at the same time we were not refused. We must have been a little over 120 in our group from Sajal. I didn’t know where the others were: it wasn’t possible to keep track of everyone in the chaos. There were over 2,000 Kukis from several villages taking refuge in the camp. The food was terrible, nothing but rice with lentil gruel cooked with jackfruit three or four times a day. But who were we to complain? At least we had food and shelter. We slept on the floor, finding space wherever it was available.

Finally, after five days, we were told that we could choose where we would like to go with security and transport provided by the Assam Rifles. With our homes gone, the only places we possibly could choose were the homes of relatives who could take us in. Around 80 of us chose to go to Churachandpur and the rest headed for Kangpokpi. On the 9th of May, we arrived at a camp in Churachandpur which was run by various charities, and that evening we were given shelter at Beit Shalom Synagogue. Food has been provided by the Kuki Youth Association. I have no idea what the future holds for us. I have been waiting for more than 27 years to make Aliyah to Israel. Now is the time to let me come.

Mass Violence in Manipur: B'nei Menashe Among Victims

(May 4, 2023) Violence has exploded in Manipur as Meiteis, the Hindus who comprise slightly more than half the state’s inhabitants, have systematically attacked Kuki-Zo-Mizo affiliated tribes, the ethnic group to which Manipur’s 5,000 B’nei Menashe belong. Meitei gangs and mobs, some armed with automatic weapons, have killed an undetermined number, torched villages, houses, and churches, and driven many thousands of them from their homes. The village of Sajal west of the state’s capital of Imphal, a majority of whose estimated 350 inhabitants were B’nei Menashe, was burned to the ground and at least one B’nei Menashe man was said to have been killed.

The anti-Kuki-Zo-Mizo violence broke out this week after a demonstration attended by a reported crowd of 100,000 was held in Kuki-Zo-Mizo -dominated Churachandpur, Manipur’s second largest city, to protest the state government’s recently announced intention of reviving the Indian Forestry Act of 1927. This act, which dates to British colonial times and was never enforced in Manipur, provides for large tracts of jungle to be declared state preserves from which all residency, agriculture, and grazing would be barred. A long-delayed

Demonstration at Churachandpur.

enforcement of it would have little effect on the Meiteis, a largely urban group living mostly in Manipur’s densely populated and farmed Central Valley, and would impinge almost entirely on the Kuki-Zo-Mizo and the Nagas, who inhabit the surrounding hills – the Kukis-Zo-Mizo mostly in their lower ranges, the Nagas in their higher ones. In actual fact, however, the forested areas the government has announced that it first would sequester are all in Kuki-Zo-Mizo localities, particularly in the Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts, and putting them off-limits severely curtail the economic life of the 38 villages said to be in them.

Group tensions between Meiteis, Kukis-Zo-Mizo, and Nagas, who speak different languages and have different histories, have simmered for decades and occasionally boiled over, as they did in the Naga-Kuki fighting of the 1990s that led to the destruction of hundreds of Kuki villages. Sandwiched between the Nagas and the Meiteis, the Kukis have been most affected by ethnic hostility, which has been directed against them from both sides. Although none of it has so far been aimed specifically at the B’nei Menashe, who comprise a tiny minority of Manipur’s Kuki population, they suffer whenever other Kukis do. Meiteis and Nagas do not distinguish between the two.

It is difficult to gauge the extent of the havoc that has taken place. The Manipur government has ordered the shutdown of all Internet and mobile phone services to prevent agitators from using them, and this has caused a blackout on communication. Extremely worried about their families, many B’nei Menashe in Israel and northeast India have had to depend on rumors and snatches of conversation. “I was able to hear from my

Mob sets house on fire.

my family,” our Newsletter was told by Mr. Haokip, a government superintendent who hails from Sajal, “that groups of armed Meiteis overran the village and razed it to the ground. They wore uniforms of black shirts and seemed very well-organized. The villagers sought to take refuge in a nearby village belonging to the non-Kuki Chiru tribe, but the Chirus were warned that if they shielded them they would meet with the same fate, and they turned them away. Now, to the best of my knowledge, they’re hiding in the jungle, and there’s been no contact with them.”

A B’nei Menashe woman in Israel who prefers to remain unnamed told us that her family in Imphal has lost everything. “I managed to briefly get through to my parents on the phone today,“ she said. “They barely got away in time before a Meitei mob arrived. Their house was burned, as was their car, and then looted. The same thing happened to my uncle. In Manipur, no one has insurance. Right now they’re sleeping on the floor in an army camp. I can’t imagine how, at their age, they’re going to be able to start life over.”

At the time of the posting of this article, it is unclear whether the violence has peaked. Reinforcements of Indian army troops have been sent to Manipur and are reportedly patrolling its roads and streets, and the state government has issued a “shoot on sight” order authorizing police to open fire on rioters without warning. Yet there are allegations that the government is not responding adequately to the crisis at hand. The coming days will tell whether the worst is over with.

Displaced people taking shelter at a camp.

Despite the limited communication, information has trickled in that the B'nei Menashe of the capital, Imphal, are taking shelter at various para-military camps in their vicinity. The living conditions are squalid, to say the least. Food is provided by the camp but at just subsistence level. Thankfully, the Beit El synagogue at Imphal still remains untouched, by some miracle, as of now. But what will happen in the future remains uncertain.

B’nei Menashe Celebrate Independence Day In and Not Yet In Israel

(April 28, 2023) As a badly divided and conflicted Israel marked its 75th Independence Day in a mood of anxiety and apprehension, only the B’nei Menashe seemed confident of its future. Here are a few samples of the many responses received by our Newsletter from members of the community, both in Israel and in India, who were asked for their thoughts about the day.

“I have lived in Israel for close to thirty years and am grateful to God for this blessing and to the pioneers who have done so much to turn our beautiful country into what it is today.”

Yehoshua Lunkhel, Kiryat Arba, Israel

“Israel, our eternal home, is a land of truth and prosperity. From the small state of Mizoram in India, I convey my love, wishes, and the best of everything to my longed-for country.”

Leah Renthlei, Aizawl, Mizoram

“It is an enormous privilege to be able to witness Israel’s 75th Independence Day. I came here in 2021, which makes me very new. Yet I myself am old and my only regret is that I could not have come when I was younger and contributed something of my own.”

Elkhanan Vaiphei, Nof Hagalil, Israel

“The 75th jubilee of the establishment of our beloved Israel after two thousand years is a momentous occasion. We stand with our only home in this world and we express our pride and happiness in it. It is my fervent wish to celebrate the 76th anniversary in Israel.”

Ngamsei Eliezer Haokip, Imphal, Manipur

“The years of Israel’s independence are a source of great pride for me, as is the fact that my parents came here because they were Zionists. In 75 years, our little country has become a powerhouse against all the odds. What progress it has made in that time!”

Bracha Haokip, Kiryat Arba, Israel

When it comes to Israel, do the B’nei Menashe, then, have no complaints at all?

Yes, they do , one. Here is Amos Sektak of Kiryat Arba:

“As with all B’nei Menashe, the 75th anniversary of Israel is a moment of happiness for me. But it would have been even more joyous if all of our family were here in Israel to celebrate with us. We are seven brothers and sisters. I came to Israel in 2000, and my parents and others followed in 2003. We have all made Aliyah except for our oldest brother and his family who was left behind and is still waiting. The current system has denied them Aliyah to this day. We have no hope to see them here unless things change.”

Amos Sektak’s brother’s family are among the roughly 4,500 B’nei Menashe still in India who have been waiting five, ten, or twenty years to make Aliyah because Israel’s governments have allotted the community Aliyah permits with miserly stinginess. Could there be a greater absurdity? In all of Israel, there is not another group that is happier to be here. In all the lands of the Diaspora, there is not another group that more longs to be here. Yet Israel continues to treat this group as though it were doing it a special favor by letting it come in dribs and drabs, a few hundred at a time every two or three years, while its families remain separated and parents, children, brothers, and sisters are kept from being together. Israeli Aliyah emissaries scour the world for Jews wishing to immigrate in Israel. Disgruntled Israelis talk more and more about leaving Israel. And yet for the B’nei Menashe, the one community in the world every member of which practices Judaism, and every member of which wants to live in Israel, the gates have kept opening a crack and closing, opening again and closing, for the past thirty years.

The reasons for this situation are complex and Israeli governments do not bear all the blame for it. Others are guilty, too. But it’s time to put an end to it.

There is only one way to do so. All the B’nei Menashe remaining in India, without exception, should be allowed to come to Israel now. Immediately! All the excuses for not letting them do so – “the government does not have enough money for it,” or “so many B’nei Menashe cannot be absorbed that quickly,” or “the Rabbinate will not agree to it,” or whatever – are just that: excuses. There is not one of these problems that cannot be solved, and solved fairly easily at that, if there is a will to solve it. The B’nei Menashe want to be here, all of them. Let’s not continue to make them the only Prisoners of Zion imprisoned by the Jewish state itself. Let’s see to it that not only Ngamsei Eliezer Haokip, but every last B’nei Menashe, can celebrate Israel’s 76th Independence Day in Israel – and if not the 76th (this truly may not be practical), than the 77th or 78th. It can be done. Let’s do it!