‘I will look after hills, you look after valley’ Of guns and football
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Back in June 2023 Manipur was greeted with the news that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had impressed upon Chief Minister N Biren that the valley should be the responsibility of the State Government while the Home Ministry would take care of the hills. Along with this instruction, Delhi lost no time in criss crossing the entire length and breadth of Manipur with what they call buffer zones, strictly telling the Meiteis and the Kukis that they should not cross the designated zones. This was in June 2023 and in the days following this, Manipur has witnessed some of the bloodiest periods, starting from the series of attacks at Koutruk, Kadangband, Senjam Chirang, Thamnapokpi, Jiribam to the rocket propelled attack at Moirang to others. Union Home Ministry to look after the hills and it is against this arrangement that no Meitei would dare cross Kanglatongbi on the North, Moirang to the West, Pallel to the South etc for nearly two years and this is where questions remain hanging over the decision to buffer the State, literally dividing Manipur into two parts and making the presence of the State Government something of a farce. This observation should be seen in the backdrop of the fact that even the Chief Minister was instructed to turn back and not proceed to Koutruk, after the said place came under attacks from bomb fitted drones. This was sometime in September last year and one wonders what purpose the act of dotting the landscape with buffer zones has served. And this question should be understood in the face of the fact that the examples quoted here are just some instances that come to mind. Or recall Jiribam from where six people, including three women and three children, one as young as 8 months were taken captive and later killed brutally, with the post mortem reports more than saying this. Nothing to show that there is a Government in place in areas beyond the buffer zone and this brings one to the question of what Delhi has been doing all these months after coming up with the grand idea of lining the State with buffer zones. And has the act of deploying security personnel at these buffer zones to stop folks of either side from crossing over, really helped ? Remember the case of two young Meitei boys who had strayed beyond Kanglatongbi sometime last year and how their release was secured only after some give and take with the Government ? Ideally questions which the State Government should have raised before the Centre, but then this has not happened and perhaps it would amount to expecting too much from the Government. The very fact that this point has been raised should also answer so many unasked but felt questions.
This is the reality under which Manipur has been reeling under for nearly two years now and there is no indication that any step has been taken to put the place on the path of normalcy. Far from it and in line with the observation that the buffering policy has failed, came the shocker of a news that told the story of Kuki militants playing football with guns in hand at Kangpokpi. A close look at the photo of the Kuki man with a gun slung over his shoulder and another in his hand shows a fully armed man in battle fatigues standing outside the football field, as if conveying the point that he is there to ensure security of all. This is the reality and is an extension of the Tribal Solidarity March of May 3, 2023 wherein armed Kuki militants could be seen taking part in the march to the loud cheers of the others. A fact which Delhi has refused to acknowledge even after nearly two years and this is where one is tempted to revisit the ‘proxy war’ line maintained by quite a number of civil society organisations in the valley districts of Manipur. Delhi has to show it means business and is intent on addressing the issue and certainly letting armed militants play football in the open will not earn it any trust from the people. ‘You look after the valley, I will be in charge of the hills’ line seems like an agenda in the face of the picture of an arms wielding man toying around with a football at his feet.
This is the reality under which Manipur has been reeling under for nearly two years now and there is no indication that any step has been taken to put the place on the path of normalcy. Far from it and in line with the observation that the buffering policy has failed, came the shocker of a news that told the story of Kuki militants playing football with guns in hand at Kangpokpi. A close look at the photo of the Kuki man with a gun slung over his shoulder and another in his hand shows a fully armed man in battle fatigues standing outside the football field, as if conveying the point that he is there to ensure security of all. This is the reality and is an extension of the Tribal Solidarity March of May 3, 2023 wherein armed Kuki militants could be seen taking part in the march to the loud cheers of the others. A fact which Delhi has refused to acknowledge even after nearly two years and this is where one is tempted to revisit the ‘proxy war’ line maintained by quite a number of civil society organisations in the valley districts of Manipur. Delhi has to show it means business and is intent on addressing the issue and certainly letting armed militants play football in the open will not earn it any trust from the people. ‘You look after the valley, I will be in charge of the hills’ line seems like an agenda in the face of the picture of an arms wielding man toying around with a football at his feet.