Three Years On: What Hiroshima Can Teach Manipur About the Long Road to Peace

Dedicated to all those who lost their lives in the Manipur conflict, victims, and to all those quietly working to ensure such loss is never repeated. 

May 3, in Manipur history - would we remember it in our own ways? Emotions rise as we reflect on what Manipur has endured, and the people have become resilient. Yes, the sun will rise again over the Imphal Valley and the hills of Manipur. And of course, it will shine on a land marked by loss and hardship, yet still holding firm to its hope – we are not giving up. For many of us connected to Manipur, the memories still sit like a stone in the chest. And yet, on this third anniversary, I find my thoughts travelling to a city on the other side of the world — to Hiroshima, Japan — and to what that city's remarkable journey from devastation to dignity can offer to Manipur today. 

A City That Chose to Remember Differently From my own personal journey - during my secondment in Japan (posted at Osaka and Yokohama), I had an opportunity to visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the Hiroshima Hypocenter, the point beneath the atomic blast in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Honestly, arriving with a heavy heart, yet leaving struck by how people turned profound loss into hope; nothing prepares you for standing there, where about 140,000 lives were lost, the city was reduced to ash, and the scale of destruction defies comprehension. In human terms, it is hard to understand the gravity of what Hiroshima did; destruction is one of the most instructive stories of our age. However, what a beautiful living story - the city did not bury its memory, nor did it allow that memory to define its identity as a place of bitterness permanently! An inspirational living memory - Hiroshima made a conscious and courageous choice: to transform suffering into testimony, and testimony into a living call for peace. Yes, the preserved ruin of the Genbaku Dome ('Genbaku' means 'atomic bomb' in Japanese) stands not as a monument to defeat but as an eternal witness: 'This happened, and it must never happen again.' Every year on August 6, tens of thousands gather — not to rehearse hatred, but to mourn together, to pray together, and to recommit together to a shared future. 

That spirit — of purposeful remembrance rather than corrosive grief — is precisely what Manipur needs and what many of its own people are already beginning to build. A Firm and Necessary Stand Thadou Inpi Manipur (TIM) has issued a heartfelt and important appeal - TIM hereby calls on all Thadou churches and community members to observe the 3rd Anniversary of the Manipur violence on May 3, 2026 — a Sunday — as a solemn Day of Peace and Prayer. TIM earnestly urges communities to organise prayer vigils at a convenient time in their respective churches and to offer prayers for peace, healing, unity, and reconciliation in Manipur. Since 2024, TIM, in collaboration with the Thadou Students' Association (TSA), has consistently observed this occasion as Manipur Peace Day — drawing deliberate inspiration from global observances such as the Hiroshima remembrance, which symbolises the enduring call for peace, reconciliation, and shared humanity. This year, in continuation of that commitment, TIM calls on all Thadou churches and members to let May 3rd be marked not by division, but by a renewed collective commitment to peace, harmony, and mutual respect among all communities. This is not a passive stance - It is an act of moral courage. I fully support this call for the long-term prospects on a bigger view with a visionary spirit for the future of Manipur to stand together in solidarity on human grounds! 

What Manipur Has Already Shown Us That courage is not new to Manipur. Even in the depths of the conflict, ordinary people demonstrated extraordinary humanity - women from opposing communities who ensured the sick and the elderly could cross lines to reach hospitals, doctors treated patients regardless of ethnicity, and journalists reported at personal risk. As more and more young people reached across the divide through dialogue and digital platforms, building fragile but real connections. Civil society organisations and human rights defenders — many working under considerable threat — continued to document, speak, and demand accountability. 

These are the textures of real peace, not necessarily making headlines. They do not resolve crises overnight, but they are the substance from which lasting reconciliation is made. The "community understanding" nurtured by the leaders of TIM and Meitei communities in recent months stands as a living example of what this looks like in practice — and as a strong foundation for the long road ahead. By the third anniversary, the guns have grown quieter, though they have not fallen entirely silent. Markets in Imphal are open again. Small businesses are slowly rebuilding. People from different communities are, carefully and cautiously, beginning to share rooms and conversations. And of course, in the broken arithmetic of postconflict societies, this is a great deal. 

The Hiroshima Lesson: Memory as Foundation, Not Wound Here is what Hiroshima teaches us most powerfully - memory, handled with honesty and intention, does not have to be a wound that keeps reopening, but can become the very foundation on which peace is built! Hiroshima did not forget — it could not, and it did not try to. But it made its remembrance purposeful. The Peace Memorial Park is not a place of bitterness - but is a place of solemn, generous commitment to the future, where former adversaries stand together and leave with a shared resolve. Imagine what it would mean for Manipur to develop something similar — a Peace Day observed annually on May 3rd, anchored in prayer, reflection, and community — where people come to remember collectively and to affirm a shared humanity. 

That is exactly what TIM and TSA have begun. And it matters enormously that they have chosen this framing over the alternative. TIM has chosen to use it to call communities together in prayer. That choice reflects not weakness, but the deepest form of strength. Anne Frank, whose home I have also had the privilege to visit, wrote from a place of almost unimaginable darkness: "What is done cannot be undone, but one can prevent it happening again." Hiroshima understood that. Manipur, through the leadership of communities like TIM and TSA, and of course, other community leaders, through the quiet courage of countless ordinary people, is beginning to understand it too. 

Reflection - A Word for May 3rd A heartfelt message to everyone who carries Manipur in their heart, its people, its culture, its hills, rivers, and living traditions, this anniversary asks something precise of us. Not a memory rooted in despair, which stops progress. Not a memory driven by rage, which erodes judgment. But the remembrance that says: we see what happened here, we name it honestly, and we refuse to accept that it must continue. Let May 3rd be received as Manipur Peace Day, be marked as a community, in quiet personal prayer, and in every heart that still believes in the possibility of healing. Let the prayer vigils called for by TIM be a genuine recommitment — to peaceful coexistence, to dignity, and to a future that all of Manipur's children can share! 

Peace in Manipur - is a real prospect and a dream that can come true, built slowly and painfully, piece by piece, by people who refuse to give up despite every reason to do so. That is where hope lives and hold onto it with clarity and resolve! God bless Manipur. You are all in my thoughts and prayers! "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God " — Matthew 5:9 NIV.  Statement: I do not support illicit poppy cultivation. I support sustainable alternatives that strengthen society and help affected farmers in Manipur. I stand firmly behind the Manipur Government's  "War on Drugs" campaign. As a strong, united community, we must work alongside government agencies that are helping farmers abandon illegal poppy farming. We, the people of Manipur, can eliminate unlawful poppy cultivation through collective effort. I call upon the entire Manipur community to unite as one team in this fight against illegal cultivation of poppy, working together to create sustainable livelihoods and a healthier future for all. 

About the author: Chongboi Haokip, MCIHort, is an international development consultant specialising in agriculture, horticulture, trade facilitation and sustainable development. Join me on X @ChongboiUK and on Instagram @chongboiuk.