India (MNN) — Frustration grows as violence continues unabated in northeast India.
Nearly 200 people have been killed and thousands displaced since clashes began between Manipur’s Meitei and Kuki people groups on May 3. India’s central government refuses to intervene.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said peace had returned to Manipur last week.
“There continue to be daily attacks on the tribal Christian villages,” John Pudaite of Bibles For The World says.
“Declaring peace and normalcy is restored is far from the reality on the ground.”
Over the weekend, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) sent a four-person delegation to assess the situation in Manipur. In ensuing discussions, Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey redirected her responsibility for ending the crisis:
The Governor informed the CPI(M) team that she has personally met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other central leaders and urged them to find ways to bring an end to the conflict at the earliest possible time.
Small villages throughout Manipur receive much-needed supplies donated by Bibles For The World.
(Photo, caption courtesy of Bibles For The World)
“The state government is so complicit in this (violence),” Pudaite says.
“It’s [astonishing] to see a state turn against their residents, launching what amounts to a very planned and well-executed ethnic cleansing.”
Bibles For The World began in Manipur, and its work continues today. More about that here. However, “everything has been disrupted” by the current fighting, Pudaite says.
“Our schools cannot function. Our seminary cannot open.”
Thankfully, the ministry’s 70-bed hospital still offers God’s love through healthcare. “We treated nearly 2,000 patients free of cost in [the past] three months,” Pudaite says.
“We’ve had 17 babies delivered [by moms from] the relief camps that have come to our hospital.”
Pray for an immediate end to the violence in Manipur. Pray believers can endure persecution and hardship.
“God steps in and sometimes confuses and confounds the enemy of His people. We’ve seen that happen and pray that will continue,” Pudaite says.
Partner with Bibles For The World here to help Christians in Manipur.
Header and story images courtesy of Bibles For The World.
