There is an urgent call for all proscribed armed groups in Manipur to abide by Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. This is not just a diplomatic appeal; it is a desperate cry for our shared humanity, and it is one I wholeheartedly echo.
By MC Meetei
For years, we in Manipur have existed in a state of suspended dynamics, trapped between the unfulfilled promises of the state and the violent excesses of those who claim to be our liberators. We are the human terrain upon which this endless conflict is mapped—our homes, our livelihoods, and our bodies becoming the coordinates for battles we did not choose.
As a member with responsibility attached to Manipur International Youth Centre (MIYC), I feel we need to awaken a sense of moral clarity. There is an urgent call for all proscribed armed groups in Manipur to abide by Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. This is not just a diplomatic appeal; it is a desperate cry for our shared humanity, and it is one I wholeheartedly echo.
The conflict in Manipur is often dismissed by the outside world as a “law and order problem” or a complex ethnic quagmire. This framing allows everyone—the state and the non-state actors alike—to operate in a moral and legal vacuum. Armed groups, whether under Suspension of Operations (SoO) or operating as underground factions or militia, justify extortion, targeted killings, and rampant intimidation as the necessary costs of a “political struggle.” But I ask: what political future is being built upon the graves of the very people it claims to represent? When a student is forced to pay “tax” at a checkpoint, when a family is displaced from their ancestral home, when a civilian is caught in crossfire—this is not revolution; it is predation.
This is where Common Article 3 ceases to be a mere clause in an international treaty and becomes a lifeline. It is the absolute, non-negotiable minimum. It says, in essence: Even in the hell of a non-international armed conflict, you cannot murder, torture, take hostages, or degrade human dignity. It is the legal embodiment of the principle that there is a line that must never be crossed. To any armed group that balks at this, claiming it undermines their cause, I have a simple question: What noble cause requires the mutilation and humiliation of the innocent? If your struggle is so just, why must it be waged with such injustice?
The MIYC’s push for armed groups to sign the Geneva Call Deeds of Commitment is a masterstroke of practical morality. It calls their bluff. Signing a Deed is not political recognition; it is a public pledge to be humane. It transforms vague claims of “fighting for the people” into a verifiable set of promises: We will not use child soldiers. We will not commit sexual violence. We will allow humanitarian aid. A group that refuses to make these basic commitments reveals its true nature—it is not a liberation movement, but a criminal enterprise masquerading behind a political flag.
But let us be unequivocal: this mirror of accountability must be held up to the State as well. The MIYC rightly invokes
the Geneva Conventions Act of 1960, an Indian law that incorporates the provisions of the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 into domestic legislation. The Indian state often presents itself as a bastion of democracy and law on the global stage, yet in its own periphery, its actions often tell a different story. The Act is not a decorative piece of legislation; it is a binding commitment. When security operations result in collective punishment, when arbitrary detentions become the norm, or when access to essential supplies and medicine is weaponised, the State too is eroding the very humanitarian law it professes to uphold. Legitimacy cannot be a one-way street; the state must lead by example, or it forfeits the moral high ground from which it condemns others.
To my fellow compatriots, I say this: We must stop romanticizing violence. The gun, in whichever hand it rests, has brought us only grief. Our demand for armed groups to adhere to international law is not a betrayal of any ethnic or political cause; it is the ultimate affirmation of our people’s worth. It is us declaring that our lives, our dignity, and our future are more important than any faction’s manifesto.
The path MIYC outlines is the only one that leads away from the abyss. It replaces the law of the jungle with the Law of Armed Conflict. It offers a glimmer of a future where political aspirations are debated in the light of day, not enforced by the terror of the night. To the young men and women holding guns, I implore you: if you truly fight for us, prove it. Lay down not your arms, but your cruelty. Sign the Deed. Protect the people.
The choice is stark: continue down the path of brutalization and lose your soul, or embrace this minimum standard of humanity and prove that your struggle is worthy of the soil from which it springs. Our future, our very souls, depend on which path you choose.
(MC Meetei is Coordinator, Manipur International Youth Centre)