Call to surrender arms, call for free movement Looking back at last 30 days
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One month or 30 days since President’s Rule was imposed on Manipur with the Assembly kept under suspended animation and the big question doing the round is, what are the big changes that one can see ? For one, there was an immense positive response to the call of Governor AK Bhalla to surrender illegal arms which was given wide coverage by way of front page advertisement in all the Imphal based news- papers. The same call must have also been put on Page 1 of the other newspapers published in the hill districts, particularly at Churachandpur. In a way, the response was more than positive with even the Arambai Tenggol turning up and joining the arms surrender exercise, the arms being returned in a ‘grand’ manner at the ground of 1st Manipur Rifles. The positive response obviously prompted Governor AK Bhalla to extend the period by another week for the arms to be surrendered and the notable feature of the call to surrender the arms was the proclamation that if the arms are surrendered or returned within the timeframe, then no charges would be pursued. This came with the rider that if the illegal arms are not returned within the specified timeframe then anyone caught with the illegal arms would have to face the music. Last reported, the total number of arms that have been returned had crossed the 1366 figure. This was about a week back and will rank right up there in the list of significant moves that came along with the imposition of President’s Rule. Next obviously was the high level security meet convened by Union Home Minister Amit Shah at New Delhi on March 1 and in which all the top people associated with Manipur were present. And this was where the call to throw open all the roads for people to travel freely was issued. The timeframe to throw open all the roads was March 8. Came March 8 and Manipur and India and the world saw what happened on that day on National Highway-2, the route that passes through Kangpokpi district and is home to many Kuki settled areas. No vehicle that left Imphal to proceed to Senapati reached their destination and had to return after the Highway was reduced to a sort of a ‘battlefield’ with Kuki men and women coming out in full strength and blocking the onward march of the vehicles. Many were injured in the face off with the security personnel and a young man lost his life. The ‘make all roads accessible to everyone’ call of Amit Shah was thwarted, thanks to the militant stand adopted by the Kangpokpi based Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU). So March 8 came and went and the fallout of the ‘free all roads to everyone’ call is the ongoing shutdown in all Kuki-Zo inhabited areas, a move initiated by the Kuki-Zo Council.
Apart from the two instances that have been mentioned here, a look back at the last 30 days, or ever since President’s Rule was imposed, would say that direct clashes between the Meiteis and the Kukis have gone down. But then again this could be a repeat of the cycle of calm that Manipur has witnessed in the nearly two years of conflict, with violence erupting every now and then to break the calm. Call to surrender arms, free movement call, are steps taken up to take Manipur to the path of normalcy and while it is still too early to say whether these would have a positive impact, it is nonetheless significant to note that some efforts have been taken up. Silence the guns and throw open the roads to everyone is the one line strategy that has been adopted and while the second step has been opposed tooth and nail by the Kuki-Chin community, the former has elicited positive response from the valley area while the same cannot be said of the hill areas, for the question still remains on the sophisticated arms used in the hills, best exemplified by the automatic rifle slung over the shoulder of a young man while playing football at Kangpokpi some time back. One month up and natural that many would have started looking back at the last 30 days to study what steps Manipur has taken towards normalcy. Call to surrender illegal arms, free movement call, lesser cases of direct clashes between the two communities, but no efforts yet seen on the steps taken to bring the two warring communities to the talk table. This was the last 30 days.
Apart from the two instances that have been mentioned here, a look back at the last 30 days, or ever since President’s Rule was imposed, would say that direct clashes between the Meiteis and the Kukis have gone down. But then again this could be a repeat of the cycle of calm that Manipur has witnessed in the nearly two years of conflict, with violence erupting every now and then to break the calm. Call to surrender arms, free movement call, are steps taken up to take Manipur to the path of normalcy and while it is still too early to say whether these would have a positive impact, it is nonetheless significant to note that some efforts have been taken up. Silence the guns and throw open the roads to everyone is the one line strategy that has been adopted and while the second step has been opposed tooth and nail by the Kuki-Chin community, the former has elicited positive response from the valley area while the same cannot be said of the hill areas, for the question still remains on the sophisticated arms used in the hills, best exemplified by the automatic rifle slung over the shoulder of a young man while playing football at Kangpokpi some time back. One month up and natural that many would have started looking back at the last 30 days to study what steps Manipur has taken towards normalcy. Call to surrender illegal arms, free movement call, lesser cases of direct clashes between the two communities, but no efforts yet seen on the steps taken to bring the two warring communities to the talk table. This was the last 30 days.