Normalcy still a far cry away Taking a turn for the worse
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It is obvious. Normalcy is still a long way off, with violence taking a turn for the worse. Statistics, that is what the dead and those rendered homeless have been turned into and situation has come to such a pass that houses being burnt or villages being razed to the ground is nothing much more than statistics to be added to the number of houses brought to the ground. More than obvious that the Government has always failed to look beyond the houses brought to the ground and acknowledge that at one point of time the structures which no longer stand today were at one point of time, homes, places which carry memories and places which once provided more than a roof against the rain and sun. This has had a cascading effect on the people and stories or incidents which at one point of time used to send chills down one’s spine are today happenings that are there to be covered for the people to read and give it whatever interpretations that one wants. And among the first to be affected are the media persons, more particularly the reporters, whose job it is to cover the incidents from the ground, divested of all human emotions. This is what the job requires and something which all reporters have had to learn, more so after Manipur went up in flames in the evening of May 3, 2023. After Manipur went up in flames, it was the unsaid but understood part at the office of The Sangai Express to never encourage the reporters to try to be amongst the first to cover any news of confrontation or violence at the ground. The unsaid but clear message to everyone was to keep it safe for a bullet fired or the road block or missiles that used to whizz by in any confrontation would not spare anyone on its way whether one is a reporter covering the event or just a bystander. Reports could always be gathered later, after the initial heat had died down and in the last three years, The Sangai Express has not fallen short of greeting the readers with the latest news first thing in the morning ! Another unsaid but audibly clear line given to the Sub-Editors and the computer boys was to choose the least disturbed roads while going back home after the day’s work in the dead of the night, meaning after 10.30 pm everyday. Some days could be smooth while other days could be rough, and each day reflected how Manipur stumbled from one incident to the other in the last three years. The tragedy is, there is nothing to suggest that things have taken a turn for the better and in the process it has also become more and more clear that the State Government has been rendered toothless. Chief Minister Y Khemchand is understood to be heading the Unified Command, under which comes the State police and other security forces such as the Assam Rifles, CRPF and others, and this is where one is left wondering why nothing is heard of any intense search ops being conducted after the Tronglaobi incident, the ambush near TM Kasom village on the Imphal-Ukhrul road and most recently the ambush that killed at least three Church elders and leaders on Tiger/German road, an area dominated by the Kukis.
Three years since violence erupted and far from controlling the situation, things seem to be getting worse. What was once a clash between the Meiteis and the Kukis has now metamorphosed to drag in the Naga people, particularly in Ukhrul district. And to those who have been closely following the violence and the way it has expanded, the SoO pact is central to it all. This brings one to an earlier question, why the SoO pact was signed at all in the first place a question which rests on the simple premise of how an operation can be suspended against an entity which has never, ever trained its guns on the Indian security force. The only thing that outfits under the SoO pact have done is train their guns on other communities and levy their understanding of tax on the National Highways. This is precisely one reason why such a loud demand has been raised to scrap the SoO pact, which is a sort of license given to the Kuki armed groups to train their guns on people of other communities, the Meiteis and the Tangkhul Nagas in this case. And it is against this that the State Government seems so powerless today.
Three years since violence erupted and far from controlling the situation, things seem to be getting worse. What was once a clash between the Meiteis and the Kukis has now metamorphosed to drag in the Naga people, particularly in Ukhrul district. And to those who have been closely following the violence and the way it has expanded, the SoO pact is central to it all. This brings one to an earlier question, why the SoO pact was signed at all in the first place a question which rests on the simple premise of how an operation can be suspended against an entity which has never, ever trained its guns on the Indian security force. The only thing that outfits under the SoO pact have done is train their guns on other communities and levy their understanding of tax on the National Highways. This is precisely one reason why such a loud demand has been raised to scrap the SoO pact, which is a sort of license given to the Kuki armed groups to train their guns on people of other communities, the Meiteis and the Tangkhul Nagas in this case. And it is against this that the State Government seems so powerless today.