A NONVIOLENT LEADER IN PERIL: Leitanthem Umakanta Meitei is a lawyer and human rights defender in Manipur, a state in NE India that borders Burma (Myanmar). Umakanta is actively involved in a number of civil society organizations representing the 1.7 million indigenous Meitei people in Manipur.
Umakanta says, “We, the Meitei people of Manipur, are not asking for special treatment. We are merely asking for the same treatment that all other citizens in India have the right to enjoy. We want [martial law] to be repealed and the daily threat of armed conflict in our region be renounced. We want an equal voice in the government of India.”
HEAVY MILITARY & POLICE PRESENCE: Manipur was forcibly annexed to India in 1949 and has been under martial law since 1960. The military and police force in Manipur are a constant threat, responsible for a pattern of arbitrary arrest, illegal detention, torture, enforced disappearances, and killings. Umakanta has been arrested, detained, and tortured on multiple occasions due to his human rights work. (No charges have ever been brought.) He lives in fear for himself and his wife and daughter.
UMAKANTA’S WORK: Umakanta and his organization are using Gandhi’s nonviolent tactics to halt human rights abuses and lift martial law. He has advocated for his people in meetings with officials in India, including the Prime Minister and the U.S. Consul in Kolkata. For years, he has taken his people’s cause to the UN and other international meetings concerning indigenous issues. Umakanta’s organization has mobilized thousands of people to rise up in nonviolent protest against human rights abuses in Manipur. Yet the government continues to engage in official violence against the Meitei people.
UMAKANTA’S EDUCATION: With the assistance of Land is Life, Umakanta was recently able to complete the highly acclaimed graduate program in Conflict Transformation at World Learning in Brattleboro, VT. He is now back in Manipur seeking common ground among the various parties involved in the longstanding conflict there.
