Supplies run dry as blockade nears 60th day

SHILLONG: Residents of a remote state in northeastern India are running out of essential supplies as an economic blockade imposed by tribal rebels nears its 60th day.

Several Naga tribal groups have blocked the main highway into Manipur state since April 12 to protest against a government decision preventing their separatist leader, Thuingaleng Muivah, from visiting his birthplace.

Manipur, which has long been affected by insurgent violence, is home to dozens of tribal groups and small guerrilla armies that resist rule from New Delhi and often compete against each other.

“This blockade is a heinous crime against humanity,” said Mohain Yanglem, chief of Manipur’s Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, as supplies dwindled at his 1,075 bed government-owned hospital in the state capital Imphal. “We only have 15 days of medical and oxygen stocks and just enough rice to feed our 800 patients for another 10 days,” Yanglem said.  “If we are not supplied soon then we must suspend all routine surgeries.”

Yanglem said another 300-bed hospital was on the brink of closure due to the blockade.

Government officials said they had so far got only two food convoys into Manipur, which borders Myanmar, via a back road from Shillong city.

Talks between Muivah’s aides and the federal government were broken off last month after six Naga protesters died and 70 others were injured in clashes with the police.

Muivah, 75, is a charismatic leader who inspires deep popular loyalty to his separatist campaign, and the authorities in Manipur argue that civil unrest would worsen in the tiny state if he were allowed to return.

Manipur government spokesperson N Viren Singh said the state had sent a plea for help to New Delhi as food prices have sky rocketed and gasoline is being sold on the black market at four times the normal price.

“People are getting restive and there is every reason to be so – when people get hungry they naturally get angry,” Singh said, adding that his administration was reluctant to use force to bring relief to the 2.5 million residents of Manipur.

“Everything now is so expensive. How long can I afford to buy cooking gas for 1,500 rupees a cylinder when the price before the blockade was around 400 rupees?” said a resident Konika Khuraijam.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2010.