Civil unrest continues in Manipur, India, says Thangkhanlal Hangluah, executive secretary of the New Testament Baptist Churches Association of Manipur.
“Civil unrest has broken out among two groups of people, majority Meitei Hindus and minority Kuki Christian Tribal people, over land rights,” explains H. C. Stephen, international representative for the New Testament Baptist Churches Association. Repercussions “have been brutal.”
In Manipur are “gunfights and a total standstill of all normal life activities,” including “a suspension of internet connectivity” since May 4. So Thangkhanlal traveled to Mizoraram, which has internet access, to provide an update and prayer requests.
“In the present ongoing civil war, the state police commandos lead the Meities’ attacks on Kuki villages with their sophisticated weapons and bulletproof vehicles,” Thangkhanlal says. “Even while I am writing this letter, I heard a report that the Kuki volunteers and the state police commandos are engaging in a fierce fighting at Sugnu border area, which is about 20 km from my house.”
“Our lives are in constant danger for 24 hours every day and night, and our villages and houses can be burnt down at any time, and we can turn to be displaced persons or refugees in a strange land any moment.”
Thousands of people (at least 50,000, H. C. says) are now displaced from their homes, rendering them not only homeless but jobless. Thangkhanlal is now providing shelter for at thirty people at Hope Baptist Academy, a ministry of the New Testament Baptist Churches Association.
As a result of people’s displacement, the New Testament Baptist Churches Association and its churches have “lost 50 percent of our source of funds: tithes and offerings,” Thangkhanlal. “Pray for the pastors, missionaries, church planters, and other full-time workers who are supported by our local churches and association. We are in crisis as to how to continue the ministries.”
Thangkhanlal shares additional prayer requests: “Pray for our lives and basic needs of life. Pray for the return of peace and normalcy in Manipur. Pray for God’s intervention to change the hearts of the people who are in power in New Delhi and in Imphal (Proverbs 21:1).”