Date with Oct 31 : Heavy tension: Of misleading headings

The air is heavy with tension. Even as this comment is being penned down, there are theories and even wild stories doing the round, coupled with fake news. Those who tend to rely on the social media, beware, lots of so called ‘news’ are doing the round with misleading headings, which have nothing to do with the main text of the story and this is what is extremely disturbing to note. The situation here is delicate, in fact so delicate that even a correspondent, or rather a news agency has been urging The Sangai Express not to mix up his news report with any other news agency as it could lead to misunderstanding and confusion. The approach from the news agency is taken note of and this is one primary reason why The Sangai Express has not published reports which have more questions than answers. 8 pm, that is the tentative time that has been fixed for getting the official report from New Delhi and this is what makes the ‘final accord’ so interesting and intriguing at the same time. While one school has gone ahead to announce that the final pact with the NSCN (IM) is unlikely to be sealed today and even predicted that the political parleys may continue after the 31st of October, there is another school which says that come what may the final deal will be signed on the said date. Still too early to say how things will pan out in the next few days, but the interests shown by the media and the people of Manipur is basically of the issues at stake, where it is huge for the State and her people.
Even as the talk or the supposedly final round of talks was underway between the Government of India and the NSCN (IM) at New Delhi, the streets or roads of Imphal wore a deserted look. Paralysed economically but not emotionally and mentally for the shutdown was marked by sit-in-protests and dharnas all making the same statement that any final deal with the NSCN (IM) should not infringe on the interests of Manipur as a geo-political reality. This is something which the Centre seemed to have understood and appreciated but with the stand adopted by the NSCN (IM) and its frontal organisations, anything can happen and this is what has made the day (October 31) all that more uncertain. Come November 1 and perhaps the world will know what has become of the talks with the NSCN (IM), the longest running insurgency in India, but it would do the BJP led Government at New Delhi to come to the point that in as much as it rejects the demand for total sovereignty, Manipur stands opposed to any move that will affect her territorial integrity and her existence as a geo-political reality. And this existence as a geo-political reality is something which was there much before the Union of India came into existence.