Interviews

7. Interview with TC Newtork, 15 September 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s49dxMDl3Yw

Interview with Radhika Ramaswamy of Mirror Now, on the alleged killings of two students in Manipur, 27 September 2023, https://twitter.com/MirrorNow/status/1706914519828902064

6. Interview with Aashna Harjani of Mirror Now, “Why Manipur Government Filed FIR Against Editors Guild of India?”, 4 September 2023. https://www.timesnownews.com/videos/mirror-now/shows/why-manipur-government-filed-fir-against-editors-guild-of-india-daily-mirror-video-103364950

5. Interview with Rakhi Bose for Outlook, “Cannot Discredit Kuki History”, 28 August 2023, https://www.outlookindia.com/national/cannot-discredit-kuki-history-jnu-prof-on-manipur-police-s-fir-over-book-on-anglo-kuki-war-news-313952

4. Interview with Adrija Roychowdhury of Indian Express, “How Manipur merged with India: From a constitutional monarchy to Part C state”, August 26, 2023. https://indianexpress.com/article/research/how-manipur-merged-with-india-from-a-constitutional-monarchy-to-part-c-state-8888978/

3. Interview with Snigdhendu Bhattacharya for The Wire on 18 September 2022

Author Thongkholal Haokip, who’s an assistant professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, criticised the move saying it would ruin academic freedom and critical thinking and impose governmental control on research work.

“This is an offshoot of the controversy around Sharma’s thesis and the book. But this is no way to deal with factual inaccuracy in one particular publication. The government has introduced a gatekeeping mechanism for everything, which will curb academic freedom and scope of critical thinking among students and ultimately serve as an impediment to achieving the goals of the new education policy,” he told The Wire.

Such a practice would lead to the dominant perspective being regarded as the sole truth and erode the scope of academic debates, he said.

“How and on what merit and basis would the committee members evaluate the works of highly acclaimed scholars working in other parts of India and abroad?” he asked.

Full News report entitled “Publishing a Book on Manipur? Now You Need the Govt’s Approval”, The Wire, 18 Sept. 2022: https://thewire.in/rights/manipur-book-publishing-government-approval

2. Interview with Syamantak Ghosh from German National Media DW News on the ongoing crisis in Manipur. 26 July 2023, https://twitter.com/th_robert/status/1684169224489701378

1. Interview with Sunzu Bachaspatimayum of Eastern Panorama on 17 October 2018 regarding the Anglo-Kuki War at Tuibong, Churachandpur, Manipur. http://www.easternpanorama.in/index.php/other-articles/4184-15thnovember2018history

 

 

“The war was a modern warfare, one in which the British were thinking of even using fighter aircrafts to overcome difficulties of terrains,” said Dr. Robert Thongkholal Haokip, Asst. Prof. JNU who is one of the authors of the book, tilted, ‘The Anglo-Kuki War, 1917-1919, a frontier uprising against imperialism during the First World War’ released on the day the Anglo-Kuki War Centenary Commemoration was held.

The JNU professor asserted that if one was to judge by the 1977 Geneva Convention of military engagement, most of the military tactics, employed by the British during the Anglo-Kuki War violated the UN Convention.

“The British were desperate to crush the morale of the Kukis so that they would not revolt again during the British rule. However the Kukis took their revenge by fighting against the British during the Second World War by siding with the Japanese and Subhas Chandra Bose’s INA,” revealed Dr. Haokip.

In January of 1917 the British Indian government had ordered the Maharaja of Manipur to supply non-combatants for its Labour Corps for the First World War in France. The Kukis who settled in the hills, refused to fall in line even as hundreds were recruited from the valley.

There is a customary belief amongst the Kukis and kindred Chin-Mizo group of people that said, ‘if you die in foreign land your soul will wonder and will not reach Mittikho or heaven.’  This taboo dissuaded the Kukis from opting to sail to foreign shores and fight there or be engaged in Labour Corps. The resistance eventually resulted into what is called the Great Kuki Rebellion or the Anglo-Kuki War that lasted for two full years.

After the political agent of Manipur at that time failed to convince the Kukis diplomatically, some of the Kuki Chiefs in southern Manipur tried to negotiate against being recruited to the Labour Corps, offering tax in cash and kind. However, the negotiation failed. Eventually the intemperate political officer went to Lonpi (also called Mompi by the British) a Kuki dominated area and set the village on fire. This angered the Kukis.

By December 1917, the Kuki Chiefs from Assam, Manipur, Naga Hills and from Burma gathered in Chashad in Ukhrul district and resolved to fight against the British. General TintongHaokip led the Kuki warriors in the war that was fought in the winters of 1917-1918 and 1919.

During the first winter of 1917-18, the British thought it was a small uprising just like the Abor Uprising in Upper Assam. But to their surprise, it turned to be a well organized, coordinated through clan lineage.The political agent toured the southern parts of Manipur and burnt down villages, killed livestock and burnt granaries employing what is called in war strategy the scorchedearth politics. The anticipated surrenders of the Kuki warriors did not happened.

In the second operation of 1919, the British were better prepared. While they were clueless of their own defense during the surprise attacks and guerrilla warfare of the Kukis in the first engagement, for the second operation, British had a strategy.

“The Kukis areas in Manipur like the Somra tract and other parts were divided in six divisions. For example the northeast part that is the present Tamenglong district, the British used four columns. From Bishnupur, one column went and attacked certain areas where the rebels were held up. From Silchar and different places surprise attacks were mounted usingmodern guns,”said Dr. Haokip.

 

External link: https://www.easternpanorama.in/index.php/special-section/209-year2018/november-2018-issue/4184-15thnovember2018history