SUMMARY
The Pangal (alternatively Pangahl, Pangan, Meitei-Pangal, or Manipur Muslims) is an ethnic group that primarily resides in India’s northeastern Manipur state; some Pangal also reside in Assam, Tripura, and Nagaland. The group comprises approximately 8 percent of Manipur’s total population. Unlike many ethnic groups in Northeast India, the Pangal are not recognized as an “indigenous” Scheduled Tribe, but is regarded as a “non-tribal” group; this means that the Pangal do not enjoy special protection in the Indian constitution. In Manipur, the Pangal mainly inhabit the plains of the Imphal valley, which consist of the Imphal, Thoubal, and Bishnupur districts, where they live intermingled with Manipur’s largest ethnic group, the Meitei (also a non-tribal group). In contrast, tribal groups, such as the Naga and Kuki, reside in the hill districts surrounding the Imphal valley. Manipur, much like the rest of Northeast India, has had a history of demographic stress and ethnic conflict caused by migration from other parts of India, and from Bangladesh. Much of the intergroup conflict can be derived from tensions between the tribal and non-tribal communities, as the former perceives the latter as “immigrants” intruding on their ancestral land. However, there have also been tensions within both the tribal and non-tribal communities.
The Pangal became an established part of the region’s population already during the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Manipuri kings promoted Muslims to settle there. It has been suggested that most Pangal are descendants of captured soldiers that were allowed to establish their businesses in Manipur, or that they are originally immigrants from the Bengal. Over time, the Pangal have to a large extent been integrated with the Meitei majority population, as they adopted Meitei social customs and traditions, and the language Meiteilon (“Manipuri”). The high level of integration is also displayed by the fact that the Pangal are often considered as a subgroup of the Meitei; this is also reflected in the alternative group names “Meitei-Pangal” and “Second Meitei”.
What sets the Pangal apart from other ethnic groups residing in Manipur is the fact that they are Muslims; the Meitei are Hindus, whereas the tribal population is mostly Christian. Interestingly, before the communal violence of 1993, the Muslim Pangal and Hindu Meitei had enjoyed a far more peaceful coexistence than Hindus and Muslims elsewhere in India; large-scale religious violence had been completely absent. However, the Pangal have generally been politically and socially marginalized because of the subordinate position they have in Manipur’s old caste system. Their position has also become more vulnerable as Manipur’s non-Muslim population has become increasingly aggrieved by social and demographic tensions brought by Muslim immigration; these anti-Muslim sentiments also extended to the Pangal. In a parallel process, the Pangal has also become more vocal in the promotion of their minority rights. A general trend in Manipur is that ethnic relations have deteriorated as particularistic political aspirations of the various groups have increased.
Following the Meitei-Pangal communal violence in 1993, several armed groups, such as PULF, were created to protect the Pangal population. This also led to a separatist armed conflict between PULF and the Government of India for the creation of an independent Islamic State in Manipur (for more on this, see India: Islamic State).
