Growing distrust among communities in conflict
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: June 26, 2023 -
IT’S not surprising that the all-political party meeting held on Saturday at the national capital ended without any significant development with exception of Union home minister Amit Shah informing the gathering that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who hadn’t uttered a single word for over one and half months of the ethnic violence, is monitoring the situation since day one and ‘guiding us with full sensitivity’ to find a solution to the problem.
Expectedly, the opposition parties suggested visit to Manipur by an all-political party delegation while the Congress continued to hold the double-engine BjP governments at the centre and in the state accountable for the unrest situation and raised the demand for resignation of chief minister N Biren, who at the juncture is technically heading the government sans any constitutional power, as the Government is heading the unified command.
Leaders of the opposition parties might be eager to take stock of the ground reality and meet the displaced people to share solidarity with their suffering but such a visit, if any, is unlikely to make much of a difference as the issue calls for facilitating reconciliatory dialogues between the warring communities and not condolences for the deaths and destruction caused.
In fact intermittent gunfights continuing in the peripheral areas not only testify proliferation of arms to a disturbing level but also underscore that both sides are determined to settle the score.
The only respite amid the intense tensions and occasional armed attacks is that there has been no death for over a week, which the centre too seems to be relishing.
However, staging of sit-in demonstrations and emotionally-charged rallies in the plains and in Kuki-populated districts at regular intervals coupled with the trend of womenfolk resorting to roadblocks whenever and wherever gunfights occur signify deep distrust among the communities as well as between the valley public and the central forces.
So far, the central forces seem to be exercising great restraint but there is no guarantee that the military personnel would perennially maintain their composure, thereby meriting immediate and effective intervention of the central government instead of deriving pleasure that there has been no casualty since June 13.
Union home minister Amit Shah’s appeal to the political leaders to extend cooperation in defusing the situation and restoring peace and trust among various communities makes it crystal clear that bringing solution to the Manipur violence will entail extensive efforts.
As proposed by former chief minister O Ibobi Singh at the meeting, the government should immediately disarm all armed groups without any compromise.
However, at the slightest instance of partisanship on the part of the security forces in executing the process for disarming the communities in conflict, one can safely conclude that there will be stiff resistance from the public as no sane person would want to be sitting ducks.
Apart from the increasing trust deficit, the sense of insecurity among the warring communities could also be comprehended from the valley population suspecting sincerity of the central forces in containing violence perpetrated by Kuki militants and the Kuki public alleging support of the state’s forces to the Meetei miscreants.
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