Criss crossing Manipur with buffer zones The politics at play
|
Nearly three years down the line and there is nothing to suggest that Manipur is on the track of normalcy. A clear reflection that the imposition of President’s Rule on February 13, 2025, the drawing up of buffer zones across the length and breadth of the State and the line ‘the Union Home 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 cooperation of the civil society organisations, including Meira Paibis’, a line spelt out by the then Chief Minister at the fag end of June in 2023, have failed to address the issue sincerely. It is also significant to note that the series of bomb blasts at Saiton Nganukon in Bishnupur district in the morning of January 5 came against the call of the Governor to surrender all illegal arms and this call came in the early days of the PR regime. The serial blasts of January 5 came just a few days after the concerted attacks ostensibly carried out by Kuki militants at Torbung and Phougakchao Ikhai on December 16 night. A damning statement that the fire power of the Kuki militants is still intact and all these attacks came despite the heavy security bandobasts at the areas lying in between districts, areas which have been demarcated by what has now come to be infamously referred to as ‘buffer zones’. And it is this very idea of buffer zones that Lok Sabha MP Akoijam Bimol questioned just a day after Saiton Nganukon was rocked by a series of bomb blasts. The effectiveness or presence of Central security forces at the areas lying between districts and the very fancy idea of criss crossing the length and breadth of Manipur with buffer zones is well reflected in the said two cases which have just been referred to. Enough indications that nothing much seems to have been done to defang the Kuki militants, militant groups which are ironically in a SoO pact with the Government of India. The politics of the SoO pact is clearly visible in the buffer zones which have been drawn up across the State and in a way this politics may be understood as giving some sort of a legitimacy to the call for bifurcation of Manipur along ethnic lines and which have come under the nomenclature of Separate Administration. This is what may be inferred in the manner in which the Lok Sabha MP of Manipur went hammer and tongs against the policies of the Centre in a video footage which has gone viral on the social media. That this is the reality even as Manipur is fast racing towards the three year mark of the violence since it erupted on May 3, 2023 is a clear indication of the bigger hand of politics at work to keep the people under tenterhooks and tear apart the idea of Manipur.
When Manipur says PR has failed to restore any semblance of normalcy, it means that New Delhi has failed. True, incidents of violence and direct confrontations between the two groups of people at ‘war’ for nearly three years have come down, but it is more than evident that the security forces, acting under the instruction of the Centre, have failed to ensure a situation that comes anywhere near the understanding of normalcy. Look back at the manner in which the free movement call of no one less than the Union Home Minister himself was pushed back so audaciously on March 8, 2025. If one recollects the day, it should be more than indicative that it was just a verbal call to ensure that the National Highways are left free for the movement of every section of citizens, for on the said day, that is March 8, 2025, no pre-emptive measures were seen being taken up to open the highways. No road opening party was called into action. No prohibitory orders were issued to stop the mob from gathering on the National Highways and nothing was heard about checking or neutralising the mobilisation drives that could have been put into motion to derail the free movement call. In short everything just worked out well for those opposed to the free movement to have their day on the highway. And the restrictions on the movement of Meitei people on the National Highways continue to this day. Air travel is the only option left to the people and the business sharks who come under the name of different airlines have left no stone unturned to milk the situation, a state which was exposed by the series of news stories run by The Sangai Express at the fag end of 2025. Criss crossing the length and breadth of Manipur with buffer zones seems to be the only achievement of the Government.
When Manipur says PR has failed to restore any semblance of normalcy, it means that New Delhi has failed. True, incidents of violence and direct confrontations between the two groups of people at ‘war’ for nearly three years have come down, but it is more than evident that the security forces, acting under the instruction of the Centre, have failed to ensure a situation that comes anywhere near the understanding of normalcy. Look back at the manner in which the free movement call of no one less than the Union Home Minister himself was pushed back so audaciously on March 8, 2025. If one recollects the day, it should be more than indicative that it was just a verbal call to ensure that the National Highways are left free for the movement of every section of citizens, for on the said day, that is March 8, 2025, no pre-emptive measures were seen being taken up to open the highways. No road opening party was called into action. No prohibitory orders were issued to stop the mob from gathering on the National Highways and nothing was heard about checking or neutralising the mobilisation drives that could have been put into motion to derail the free movement call. In short everything just worked out well for those opposed to the free movement to have their day on the highway. And the restrictions on the movement of Meitei people on the National Highways continue to this day. Air travel is the only option left to the people and the business sharks who come under the name of different airlines have left no stone unturned to milk the situation, a state which was exposed by the series of news stories run by The Sangai Express at the fag end of 2025. Criss crossing the length and breadth of Manipur with buffer zones seems to be the only achievement of the Government.