Govt’s self-defeating cocktail CI ops and peace initiatives
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 17, 2014 -

Home Coming ceremony at 1st MR banquet hall where 58 cadres/leaders of 3 UG groups laid down arms on 15 Dec 2014 :: Pix - DIPR

The show was quite impressive.

But it was at the best superficial in content and spirit if one strictly adheres to the fundamental concepts of conflict resolution.

Of course, we are referring to the surrender or rather the home coming ceremony as the State wishes to call it which was held at 1st Manipur Rifles banquet hall on December 15.

Indeed there were some big fishes. One among them was none other than PREPAK’s hardcore former Chairman A Nabachandra alias Nongdrenkhomba.

The home coming ceremony deserved the degree of publicity it generated and received for it was another milestone in the State’s decades-old voyage called counter-insurgency operations.

The Chief Minister, the Deputy Chief Minister and other top honchos of the State Government were trumpeting the grand achievement of bringing 58 militants including some hardcore leaders to what it calls the mainstream.

Ostensibly, the mood was of jubilation but it suddenly swung into moroseness when a deadly bomb exploded at the busy MG Avenue of Imphal city leaving two civilians dead and six others wounded.

It was not the first home-coming ceremony in recent years.

The State has witnessed many such home coming ceremonies in the last couple of years with either the Assam Rifles or BSF or CRPF or the Army’s Red Shield Division or the State Government itself hosting the grand ceremonies.

We are not sure whether the State Government has any surrender policy or not but it is crystal clear that the Government’s peace initiatives have been paying little dividends if the deadly blast at MG Avenue was any indication.

No doubt, surrender of UG cadres en masse is an achievement of the Government.

Laying down arms by militants is their choice.

Yes, the Government, through its different policies, agencies and machinery, can influence and even persuade militants to shun violence as done on so many occasions but it becomes highly problematic when home coming ceremonies or rehabilitation measures are projected as peace initiatives.

Cessation of hostility is the first step towards conflict resolution, particularly armed conflicts.

The State Government took the right step by signing suspension of operation or in short SoO pact with several Kuki militant groups many, many years back and MoU with some valley based militant groups not so many years back.

Unfortunately, the road to peace was seemingly abandoned before taking the second step for reasons best known the Government and the parties involved.

Our concern is, the Government should not try to confuse people between its surrender policy, if there is one, and peace talk. Counter insurgency operations and peace initiatives cannot go together.

In another word, the Government too must shed its militaristic approach.

The Government’s oft-repeated invitation to militant groups to come forward for dialogue sounds like a sarcastic ploy.

When the State police, paramilitary forces and the army are being pressed into non-stop counter-insurgency operations, the Government’s invitation for peace talk is nothing but a trap, and this is evident to all serious observers.

Yes, sometimes propaganda can be an effective tool to achieve a political goal but propaganda for the sake of propaganda is wastage of time, energy and resources.

If the Government is sincerely committed to initiating a peace process, it may begin by roping in a third party and this is crucial for winning confidence of militant groups.

For the peace process to get rolling, it must cease all counter insurgency operations at least temporarily.

Counting home coming ceremonies as peace dividends is nothing more than a tom-foolery.