The game that is being played Tearing apart Manipur
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Free movement of all from March 8 of 2025 was reduced to a big joke. Resettlement of all displaced people by December of 2025, with the exception of Churachand-pur, Moreh and Kangpokpi has also come close to the understanding of a hollow promise. And now Governor AK Bhalla has reportedly assured representatives of the IDPs and leaders of COCOMI that there is no such thing as buffer zones criss crossing the length and breadth of the State. The reported assurance of the Governor comes even as Lok Sabha MP Dr Bimol Akoijam has filed an RTI seeking to know whether are buffer zones are not. This is as things stand right now, the very moment as this commentary is being written down, but if a police officer holding the post of the Officer-in Charge of a police station needs to get ‘permission’ to go beyond a certain point on the ground that he belongs to the Meitei community, as pointed out so clearly by the Lok Sabha MP, then what term should one give to this ? The question is whether the Union Home Ministry and Raj Bhavan have a term to explain this reality. This is where one is instantly reminded of the interaction that ex-Chief Minister N Biren had with the media on June 26, 2023, after meeting the Union Home Minister wherein he was reported as stating, ‘The Union Minister has assured to take maximum responsibility for the hill districts and at the same time instructed the Government to ensure that peace is restored in the valley with the co-operation of the civil society organisations including Meira Paibis (women organisations)’. Looking back, the understanding of buffer zones criss crossing the length and breadth of Manipur emerged at the same time as this report spread and buffer zones, as a term, came to be championed by Kuki-Zo civil society organisations such as the Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), Kuki-Zo Council (KZC), Kuki Inpi, Manipur (KIM) and backed and directed by the powers that be, the power that comes from the barrel of the guns they wield. This is the reality and even as a reply to the RTI is being awaited, people in Manipur want to know whether the Centre has endorsed the drawing up of buffer zones or not. Or is it a case of the Centre ‘unofficially’ backing the stand of the Kuki-Zo CSOs ? Or if not then why has the term ‘buffer zone’ gained so much currency ? A look at the ground reality should tell the story. When even an MP of the Lok Sabha is prohibited from crossing a certain point on the ground that the way beyond is off limit and when a police officer holding the charge of Officer-in-Charge of a police station cannot go beyond a certain point, never mind the fact that the area beyond the ‘certain point’ comes under his jurisdiction, what is the agenda of the Centre ?
And the questions raised here should be understood in the context of the assurance the Governor is reported to have given the IDPs and COCOMI team that there are no buffer zones in Manipur. And how about the reported instruction or suggestion of the Union Home Minister back then to the ex-Chief Minister that he will look after the hills while the State Government should look after the valley ? Something, somewhere just does not add up and it is this which should be set right or is it a question of geo-politics being accorded greater import than what is happening within the territory of India ? Clashes within the territory of Manipur, but what about the illegal immigrants factor ? A question which should be understood in the backdrop of what the Minister of Foreign Affairs, S Jaishanker told a gathering at the USA on September 27, 2023 ‘One part of the problem in Manipur has been the destabilising impact of migrants who have come.’ And it does not need rocket science technology to understand that the migrants here could have only been from Myanmar, a people with whom the Kuki-Chin-Zo folks of Manipur share close filial ties. This was what was said by a Union Cabinet Minister of the BJP Government on foreign soil, but there is nothing on ground to show that anything towards this has been taken up to neutralise the ‘hands of the migrants.’ Delhi has not yet responded to the demand to actuate the National Register of Citizens here in Manipur and what it has been doing is taking some adhoc measures now and then. And what has happened to the free movement call ? Delhi is again quiet on this and this silence should say so many significant things.
And the questions raised here should be understood in the context of the assurance the Governor is reported to have given the IDPs and COCOMI team that there are no buffer zones in Manipur. And how about the reported instruction or suggestion of the Union Home Minister back then to the ex-Chief Minister that he will look after the hills while the State Government should look after the valley ? Something, somewhere just does not add up and it is this which should be set right or is it a question of geo-politics being accorded greater import than what is happening within the territory of India ? Clashes within the territory of Manipur, but what about the illegal immigrants factor ? A question which should be understood in the backdrop of what the Minister of Foreign Affairs, S Jaishanker told a gathering at the USA on September 27, 2023 ‘One part of the problem in Manipur has been the destabilising impact of migrants who have come.’ And it does not need rocket science technology to understand that the migrants here could have only been from Myanmar, a people with whom the Kuki-Chin-Zo folks of Manipur share close filial ties. This was what was said by a Union Cabinet Minister of the BJP Government on foreign soil, but there is nothing on ground to show that anything towards this has been taken up to neutralise the ‘hands of the migrants.’ Delhi has not yet responded to the demand to actuate the National Register of Citizens here in Manipur and what it has been doing is taking some adhoc measures now and then. And what has happened to the free movement call ? Delhi is again quiet on this and this silence should say so many significant things.