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{{Short description|1993 riot in Manipur, India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox civil conflict
| title = 1993 Pangal massacre <br /> Meitei–Pangal clash
| partof = [[Religious violence in India]]
| map_type = India Manipur#India
| map_caption = Location of Lilong Bridge
| date = 3–4 May 1993
| place = [[Imphal Valley]], [[Manipur]], [[India]]
| coordinates = {{coord|24.72046|93.94098|name=Lilong Bridge}}
| causes = Rumours, land issues, suspicions of illegal immigration
| goals =
| methods = stabbing, burning alive, arson
| status =
| result =
| side1 = [[Meitei people|Meiteis]]
* Poramelan Apunba
* [[Insurgency in Manipur#List of militant organizations as per ethnicity|People's Republican Army]]
| side2 = [[Meitei Pangals]] (Meitei Muslims)
| casualties1 = 4 killed<ref name="Tarapot"/>
| casualties2 = 96–130 killed<ref name="Tarapot"/><ref name="Mander"/>
| fatalities = 100–130<ref name="Tarapot"/><ref name="Mander"/>
| injuries = 300<ref name="Toronto Star"/>
| damage = 3000<ref name="AP 5 May"/>
| arrests = 423<ref name="Tarapot"/>
| notes =
}}

The '''1993 Pangal massacre''', also called '''Meitei–Pangal clash''',{{sfnp|Shilshi, Vale of Tears|2020|p=59}} in the state of [[Manipur]], India, involved the killing of over 100 [[Meitei Pangals]], including 20 women and children, at the hands of the [[Meitei people|Meitei]] community members, during 3–4 May 1993.<ref name="Toronto Star">Reuters, 100 killed as fresh clashes rock India, Toronto Star, 4 May 1993. {{ProQuest|436851184}}</ref><ref name="Hazarika">{{cite news |last=Hazarika |first=Sanjoy |title=Hindu-Muslim Riots Kill more than 100 in India |date=5 May 1003 |agency=New York Times News Service |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-05-05-9305050344-story.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190901071127/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-05-05-9305050344-story.html |archive-date=1 September 2019 |id={{ProQuest|109026877}}}}</ref><ref name="Ali">{{Cite web |first=Khulakfam Altab |last=Ali |title=Manipur at a Glance An Ethnics Dilemma Part 2 |website=e-pao.net |date=13 June 2019 |url=https://e-pao.net/epSubPageExtractor.asp?src=education.Scientific_Papers.Manipur_at_a_Glance_An_Ethnics_Dilemma_Part_2_By_Khulakfam_Altab_Ali }}</ref>

==Background==
Meitei Pangals represent an "indigenised" Muslim community of Manipur, who speak the native [[Meitei language]] and have a consistent record of participating in the political processes of Manipur. However, some tensions between the Meitei community and the Pangals emerged in the years before 1993, caused by Meitei revivalism and anti-minority sentiments resulting from alleged Bangladeshi settlements in [[Jiribam district|Jiribam]].{{sfnp|Verghese, India's Northeast Resurgent|1996|p=122}}

The former leader of the Meitei nationalist insurgent group [[People's Liberation Army of Manipur|People's Liberation Army]] (PLA), [[N. Bisheshwar Singh]], who had been captured by Indian security forces and was out on bail, founded an organisation called Poramelan Apunba in 1992.{{efn|Alternative spellings: Puramlan Apunba,{{sfnp|Shilshi, Vale of Tears|2020|p=71}} Poromlen Apunba,<ref name="IT"/> and Poramlen Apunba.<ref name="Organiser"/>}} The organisation initially targeted the "outsiders" in Manipur (Indian settlers, called ''mayangs'' in Meitei language), but after having formed an alliance with the [[Hindutva|Hindu nationalist]] [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] (BJP), changed its target to the Meitei Pangals.<ref name="IT">{{cite news |last1=Ahmed |first1=Farzand |title=Naga-Kuki clash: Communal riots rouse temperatures in Manipur |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19930531-naga-kuki-clash-communal-riots-rouse-temperatures-in-manipur-811135-1993-05-31 |work=India Today |date=31 May 1993}}</ref><ref name="CC"/><ref name="Sahni">{{citation |last=Sahni |first=Ajay |title=Survey of Conflicts & Resolution in India's Northeast |magazine=Faultlines |volume=12 |date=May 2002 |url=https://www.satp.org/satporgtp/publication/faultlines/volume12/article3.htm}}</ref> According to ''[[India Today]]'', it had the goal of driving the Meitei Pangals out of the [[Imphal Valley]].<ref name="IT"/> It had demanded to build a Meitei temple at the Chingei Ching hillock,{{efn|The survey map shows Chingei Ching within the Lilong Pt village at roughly the coordinates {{coord|24.6835|93.9443|name=Chingkham Hill}}.{{sfn|Thoubal District Census Handbook|2011|p=80}} However, in other maps the hill is called "Chingkham Hill". There is another hill to the south of it, which is marked as "Chingjao Hill", which has an idgah and a burial ground.}} on a site claimed by local Pangals as their burial ground.{{sfnp|Verghese, India's Northeast Resurgent|1996|p=122}}<ref name="CC"/><ref name="IT"/> Also involved in the tensions was the newly formed [[Insurgency in Manipur#List of militant organizations as per ethnicity|People's Republican Army]] (PRA), a splinter group of PLA set up by its dissidents. It is said to have had the goal of countering PLA.<ref>{{citation |last=Sahni |first=Ajay |title=Survey of Conflicts & Resolution in India's Northeast |magazine=Faultlines |volume=12 |date=May 2002 |url=https://www.satp.org/satporgtp/publication/faultlines/volume12/article3.htm|quote=The PRA was set up in the early nineteen nineties by a PLA dissenter, Prakash, who had earlier surrendered to the authorities. PRA came into being with the primary objective of countering PLA.}}</ref> The two splinter groups appear to have had bad blood between them.{{sfnp|Verghese, India's Northeast Resurgent|1996|loc=p. 122: "The Poramlan Apunba, according to news reports, said that a newly-formed People's Republican Army, which came into being to counter the PLA, was involved in the clashes."}}

==Initial incident==
On 1 May 1993, three Meitei youth belonging to [[Insurgency in Manipur#List of militant organizations as per ethnicity|People's Republican Army]] went to Lilong Sambrukhong, a village in [[Thoubal district]] in the Pangal-dominated [[Lilong (Thoubal)|Lilong]] area, to meet a gun-runner for collecting promised items. An argument developed and turned into a scuffle, leading the villagers to come to the aid of the Pangal man. The Meitei youth were allegedly roughed up,<ref name="IT"/><ref name="Tarapot">{{harvp|Tarapot, Bleeding Manipur|2003|pp=219–220}}</ref> after which the villagers handed them over to the security personnel of a local politician. They were detained for some time and then released without any further enquiries.{{sfnp|Mangi Singh, May 1993 Riot Victims of Purum Pangaltabi|2008}}{{sfnp|Shilshi, Vale of Tears|2020|pp=59–60}}

Meanwhile rumours started circulating in the neighbouring Meitei-inhabited areas of [[Lilong (Imphal West)|Lilong]] in the [[Imphal West district]] that the Meitei youth were severely beaten up by the Pangals and one of them succumbed to the injuries.{{sfnp|Mangi Singh, May 1993 Riot Victims of Purum Pangaltabi|2008|pp=216–217}}{{sfnp|Shilshi, Vale of Tears|2020|pp=59–60}} ''[[Communalism Combat]]'' reported that a "Boycott Muslim Day" was observed the following day (2 May), instigated by Poromalen Apunba.<ref name="CC">[https://sabrangindia.in/bloody-route-power/ Beyond borders], ''Communalism Combat'', October 1993. Republished as "A bloody route to power", Sabrangindia.in, 21 April 2016.</ref> Rumours were spread claiming that Meitei college students, including girls, were taken hostage and that many Meiteis were killed with their bodies being thrown into the river.{{sfnp|Mangi Singh, May 1993 Riot Victims of Purum Pangaltabi|2008|p=224}}<ref name="Tarapot"/><ref name="Women and Peace"/><ref name="CC"/><ref name="Mander"/> Even the police wireless network relayed the rumours.<ref name="CC"/>

== Violence ==
On 3 May, a clash developed near the Lilong bridge that separates the Meitei- and Pangal-dominated areas of Lilong, which was described as a "pitched battle" between the Meiteis and Pangals.<ref name="IT"/>{{sfnp|Shilshi, Vale of Tears|2020|pp=59–60}} According to former [[Indian Police Service|IPS]] officer John Shilshi, senior officials reached the spot, but even as they were conferring, one man among the warring groups was killed, probably Meitei.{{sfnp|Shilshi, Vale of Tears|2020|pp=59–60}} The incident led to further rumours, which took on "alarming proportions" according to commentators.{{sfnp|Mangi Singh, May 1993 Riot Victims of Purum Pangaltabi|2008|p=224}}

Violence spread to the Imphal City, which is some 13 km away from Lilong, and the Pangals living or working there were targeted. Crowds slaughtered Pangal rickshaw pullers, pedestrians, bus passengers, and burned their homes and shops.<ref name="Mander"/> Most victims were stabbed or burned alive, according to the state police chief Alfred Liddle.<ref name="Toronto Star"/> Four students and an employee of the [[Manipur University]] were burned alive, according to a government spokesman.<ref name="Reuters 4 May">Reuters, 25 killed, 100 hurt in India riot, Chicago Tribune, 4 May 1993. {{ProQuest|283495506}}</ref> Pangals travelling in buses were pulled down and hacked.{{sfnp|Shilshi, Vale of Tears|2020|pp=61, 62}} They included women with babies in arms, according to a video report from the [[Hindustan Times]] Group.<ref name="CC"/> One bus was set alight with Pangal passengers locked inside, with sixty people dying in just this one incident.{{sfnp|Shilshi, Vale of Tears|2020|pp=62–63}}<ref name="IT"/>

Violence continued on 4 May, despite a curfew having been declared in the Imphal and Thoubal districts.<ref name="Reuters 4 May"/> Villages were torched and hundreds of residents wounded.<ref name="Hazarika"/> ''[[The New York Times]]'' also revealed that at least 20 women and children had died in the violence.<ref name="Hazarika"/> 3,000 people were reported to have been displaced and taking shelter in government camps.<ref name="AP 5 May">Associated Press, Indians seek to avoid riots, Las Vegas Review, 5 May 1993. {{ProQuest|259941842}}</ref>

The official death toll was 96 Pangals and 4 Meiteis having been killed.<ref name="Tarapot"/> But Pangals have reported 130 people having died, and called it a "genocide".<ref name="Mander"/><ref name="Mujtaba">Syed Ali Mujtaba, [https://www.milligazette.com/news/6-issues/34065-the-plight-of-meitei-pangals-or-manipur-muslims-remains-unheard/ The plight of Meitei Pangals or Manipur Muslims remains unheard], The Milli Gazette, 27 May 2023.</ref><ref name="Women and Peace">{{cite book |last1=Dutta |first1=Anuradha |last2=Bhuyan |first2=Ratna |title=Women and Peace: Chapters from Northeast India |date=2008 |publisher=Akansha Publishing House |isbn=9788183701266 |page=78 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dugjAQAAIAAJ&q=1993+pangal+meitei+massacre}}</ref> Some 300 people were reported injured. The state's top civil servant was reported as admitting, "I am ashamed to talk about the gruesome manner in which [the victims] were killed".<ref name="AP 5 May"/>

== Aftermath ==
The government brought the situation under control by 5 May.<ref name="IT"/> Some 200 people were arrested by 5 May,<ref name="AP 5 May"/> with the eventual number climbing to 423 persons.<ref name="Tarapot"/> Over 100 police cases were registered.<ref name="Tarapot"/> Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, [[Rajesh Pilot]], visited Imphal to take stock. He criticised the state government's handling of the situation.<ref name="IT"/>

The ''[[Organiser (magazine)]]'' magazine associated with the [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]] (RSS) published an analysis towards the end of May, claiming that illegal immigration into Manipur and its "Bangaldeshisation" were the causes of the violence. It put the blame on the [[votebank]] policies of the ruling [[Indian National Congress]] government in allowing "massive infiltration of Bangladeshis".<ref name="Organiser">{{citation |title=Bangladeshization: The Genesis of the Manipur Rioting (retitled as "Illegal Immigration Seen Cause Of Riots in Manipur") |newspaper=[[Organiser (magazine)|Organiser]] |date=30 May 1993 |pages=16–18 |url=https://archive.org/details/jprs-report_jprs-nea-93-094/page/16/mode/1up |via=Joint Publications Research Service (JPRS), archive.org}}</ref> In contrast Lt. Gen. [[V. K. Nayar]], who was appointed as the Governor in August 1993, alleged that the state's chief minister [[R. K. Dorendra Singh]] was supporting Meitei extremist groups and recommended the imposition of [[President's Rule]]. In any event, Dorendra Singh government collapsed in December 1993, and President's Rule was imposed, which lasted roughly a year.<ref>{{citation |first=S. P. |last=Sinha |title=Lost Opportunities: 50 Years of Insurgency in the North-east and India's Response |publisher=Lancer Publishers & Distributors |year=2007 |isbn=81-7062-162-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/lostopportunitie0000sinh |via=archive.org |url-access=registration |pages=118, 121}}</ref>

The Meitei community rallied to support the victims of the violence, lending a helping hand to rehabilitate them. However their enthusiasm was short-lived. A scholar researching the aftermath noticed villagers living in temporary tents even a decade after the clashes.{{sfnp|Mangi Singh, May 1993 Riot Victims of Purum Pangaltabi|2008|pp=220–221}} The relief assistance promised to the victims by the government also appeared not to have reached them.{{sfnp|Mangi Singh, May 1993 Riot Victims of Purum Pangaltabi|2008|loc=pp. 220–221: "They also sent a formal intimation to the concerned relief commissioner and District Commissioner (DC) but no response in the form of financial or material help has come from them."}}{{sfnp|Mangi Singh, May 1993 Riot Victims of Purum Pangaltabi|2008|loc=pp. 223–224: "For example, even though they have been promised five bundles of corrugated galvanized iron (C.G.I) sheets to help them construct their houses, more than half of the households are still not getting these sheets. Many have already given up hopes of getting it."}} The ''Sunday'' magazine commented in 1995 that the 1993 riots appeared to have made the Meitei–Pangal divide unbridgeable.<ref>{{citation |last=Bhaumik |first=Subir |title=A State Adrift |magazine=Sunday |date=26 March 1995 |pages=22–23 |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.20999/page/n1124 |via=archive.org}}</ref>

According to an official of the [[Indian Government]], around 100 people died in the riots. The commission called for increased security and increasing the compensation award to the victims.<ref name="Commission">{{cite report |chapter=Report of Justice D. M. Sen Commission of Inquiry |title=Report of Working Group of National Integration Council to Study Reports of the Commissions of Inquiry on Communal Riots |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs |year=2007 |pages=78–80 |url=https://mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/NIC-W-Group.pdf}}</ref> The Pangal (Manipuri Muslim) Political Forum claimed 140 people were killed.<ref name="IFP 2015"/> After the [[Government of India]] awarded compensation to the victims of the 1984 Punjab riots, the Pangal (Manipuri Muslim) Political Forum demanded compensation from the government in January 2015 at the Manipur Press Club.<ref name="IFP 2015">{{cite news |title=Muslim body seeks compensation for 1993 Meitei-Meitei Pangal riot victims |newspaper=Imphal Free Press |date=11 January 2015 |id={{ProQuest|1644387486}}}}</ref>

==Legacy==
The date of 3 May 1993 is marked as a Black Day/Sahidee Memorial Day by the Pangals. Observances are held by the All Manipur Muslim Students’ Organization, the Pangal (Manipur Muslim) Political Forum, and the All Manipur Muslim Girl Students’ Organization.<ref name="Two Circles">{{cite news |title=Muslims offer prayers for those killed in the 1993 riot in Manipur |url=http://twocircles.net/2013may05/muslims_offer_prayers_those_killed_1993_riot_manipur.html |accessdate=1 September 2019 |work=TwoCircles.net}}</ref> [[Harsh Mander]] referred to the incident as the "first Major rupture" in communal relations in the Manipur State.<ref name="Mander">{{cite news |last1=Mander |first1=Harsh |title=Lynching of young Muslim entrepreneur in Manipur last year shows such acts are carefully planned |url=https://scroll.in/article/924029/lynching-of-young-muslim-entrepreneur-in-manipur-last-year-shows-such-acts-are-carefully-planned |accessdate=1 September 2019 |work=Scroll.in |publisher=Scroll India}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{citation |first=S. |last=Mangi Singh |chapter=A Case Study of the May 1993 Riot Victims of Purum Pangaltabi |editor=Samir Kumar Das |title=Blisters on their feet : Tales of internally displaced persons in India's North East |publisher=SAGE |year=2008 |url=https://archive.org/details/blistersontheirf0000unse |via=archive.org |url-access=registration |ref={{sfnref|Mangi Singh, May 1993 Riot Victims of Purum Pangaltabi|2008}}}}
* {{citation |first=John S. |last=Shilshi |title=Vale of Tears - untold stories of violence in Manipur |publisher=Blue Rose Publishers |year=2020 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A-_4DwAAQBAJ |ref={{sfnref|Shilshi, Vale of Tears|2020}}}}
* {{citation |last=Tarapot |first=Phanjoubam |title=Bleeding Manipur |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FsUJ0E3BXkMC |year=2003 |publisher=Har-Anand Publications |isbn=978-81-241-0902-1 |ref={{sfnref|Tarapot, Bleeding Manipur|2003}}}}
* {{citation |last=Verghese |first=B. G. |title=India's Northeast Resurgent: Ethnicity, Insurgency, Governance, Development |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=STBuAAAAMAAJ |year=1996 |publisher=Konark Publishers |ref={{sfnref|Verghese, India's Northeast Resurgent|1996}}}}
* {{citation |title=Thoubal District Census Handbook |publisher=Directorate of Census Operations, Manipur |year=2011 |url=https://censusindia.gov.in/nada/index.php/catalog/856/download/36292/DH_2011_1405_PART_A_DCHB_THOUBAL.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813170331/https://censusindia.gov.in/nada/index.php/catalog/856/download/36292/DH_2011_1405_PART_A_DCHB_THOUBAL.pdf |archive-date=13 August 2023 |ref={{sfnref|Thoubal District Census Handbook|2011}}}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manipur riot, 1993}}
[[Category:1993 in Islam]]
[[Category:1993 riots]]
[[Category:Ethnic conflicts in Manipur|1993]]
[[Category:20th-century mass murders in India]]
[[Category:Religious riots in India]]
[[Category:May 1993 in India]]
[[Category:1993 mass murders]]
[[Category:Arson attacks on buses]]
[[Category:1993 murders in India]]
[[Category:Meitei Pangals]]
[[Category:1990s in Manipur]]
[[Category:Arson attacks on vehicles in India]]
[[Category:Bus incidents in India]]
[[Category:1993 road incidents]]
[[Category:Land disputes]]
[[Category:Arson in 1993]]
[[Category:1990s fires in Asia]]
[[Category:Massacres of Muslims in India]]

1993 Pangal massacre - Revision history

imported>TamaraNibbi737 at 13:55, 22 February 2026