Thousands still surviving in relief centres Charting road to normalcy
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Over 60,000, over 58,000, over 55,000, over 50,000. These are the figures often quoted in the media while referring to the number of internally displaced persons who are actually staying at the different relief centres set up across the length and breadth of the State. Nearly 30 months now since violence erupted in the evening of May 3, 2023 and while this date is official and all go by this date, the exact number of people taking shelter in the different relief centres rests on ‘about or around.‘ Which of the numbers given above would be more accurate is tough to say, but it does give an indication of the huge number of people driven out of their homes after May 3, 2023. The question is whether the number would be placed just as a footnote when the violence that erupted on May 3 more than two years back is recalled after say, ten or fifteen years down the line. And when one talks about the displaced people one cannot help but come to grip with the fact that many of the structures they once called home have been bulldozed and levelled to the ground, with some occupied by other folks now. December was the timeline given by the former Chief Secretary PK Singh to allow those who have been driven out of their homes to return while for the displaced from Churachandpur, Kangpokpi and Moreh no definite timeframe was given. This is where one is inclined to question what steps the Government has taken to ensure that those who have been driven out of their homes can return definitely by December. Or isn’t the Government in a position to speak out on the measures taken to enable the displaced folks to return home ? Only the Government can answer this, but it is now more than two years since the unfortunate people have been driven out of their homes and it is with this knowledge that the Government ought to take up steps to open the door for the displaced to return home. This is where the voice raised by the Churachandpur Meitei United Committee (CMUC), Meitei Council, Moreh (MCM) and Committee on Protection of Meetei Victims, Moreh (CoPMEV) should be understood and appreciated. With CoTU and ITLF as well as the SoO groups still sticking to their demand for a Separate Administration, it is doubtful if any of the displaced Kuki-Zo folks from Imphal and the other valley districts have raised such a demand or not, but it should not be forgotten that many of them are still staying at relief centres. Many of the moneyed and influential folks must have gone to places such as Shillong, Guwahati, Delhi and Bangalore, but not all are moneyed and influential enough to travel to these far off places. The state of the displaced folks should be taken into account when anyone talks about normalcy or even utter the line, ‘Normalcy is starting to return to Manipur.’ Such a line of thinking betrays an acute failure to understand the plight of the people and this is what one finds disgusting and unacceptable.
Steps needed to make the sense of normalcy logical would surely rests on some premises and these premises must be understood in the backdrop of the fact that gun battles and killings are no longer heard now. And this is where one is inclined to ask what steps Delhi has taken beyond the meetings it used to host with civil society representatives of either community. Moreover the meetings too seem to have stopped for the time being without any explanation. When the SoO pact was extended some time back this year, it came with the free movement announcement, only to be given absurd interpretations by different Kuki-Zo civil society organisations. No one knows the follow up action, after the absurd and twisted interpretations from the Kuki-Zo organisations and this is where one is left wondering on the meaningful steps Delhi has taken towards normalising the situation. As long as the National Highways are off limit to the Meiteis then it would be hard to talk about normalcy and this fact could not have blown over the head of the Union Home Ministry. With over 60,000 troops reportedly rushed in after violence erupted on May 3, 2023, one is left wondering where the troops have been stationed. The distance between Kanglatongbi and Kangpokpi is a little over 24 kilometres and the question why the 60,000 strong troops are not in a position to open this stretch of National Highway-2. Opening the highway is the first step towards normalcy.
Steps needed to make the sense of normalcy logical would surely rests on some premises and these premises must be understood in the backdrop of the fact that gun battles and killings are no longer heard now. And this is where one is inclined to ask what steps Delhi has taken beyond the meetings it used to host with civil society representatives of either community. Moreover the meetings too seem to have stopped for the time being without any explanation. When the SoO pact was extended some time back this year, it came with the free movement announcement, only to be given absurd interpretations by different Kuki-Zo civil society organisations. No one knows the follow up action, after the absurd and twisted interpretations from the Kuki-Zo organisations and this is where one is left wondering on the meaningful steps Delhi has taken towards normalising the situation. As long as the National Highways are off limit to the Meiteis then it would be hard to talk about normalcy and this fact could not have blown over the head of the Union Home Ministry. With over 60,000 troops reportedly rushed in after violence erupted on May 3, 2023, one is left wondering where the troops have been stationed. The distance between Kanglatongbi and Kangpokpi is a little over 24 kilometres and the question why the 60,000 strong troops are not in a position to open this stretch of National Highway-2. Opening the highway is the first step towards normalcy.