Irabanta : A victim of failure of Govt machineries
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: August 27, 2012 -
With the government of Manipur and its police department not able to tell the whereabouts of the missing contractor even after nearly 3 months, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) formed against the alleged abduction of Irungbam Irabanta by NSCN (IM) has once again announced its decision of calling an 18-hour general strike in the state with effect from midnight of August 29 to 5 am of August 30.
After the 60-hour total bandh imposed from 5 am of July 21 to 5 pm of July 23, this is the second time that the JAC decided to take recourse to such extreme step.
The different between the two is that, this time, various social organizations including AMUCO, HERICOUN, UPF, IPSA and NIPCO have backed the JAC. Family members alleged that Irabanta, who used to supply sand and stone to Ansal Limited in connection with construction work of Maphou Dam, was abducted by NSCN (IM).
They claimed that Irabanta left home for Ukhrul along with one MK Winner, who is alleged to have close link with the Naga outfit, in a Maruti Gypsy in the morning of May 27 last.
Subsequently, the worried family members lodged a complaint with the police on June 8. However, the whereabouts of Irabanta still remains unknown.
With the state government treating the case in the most casual manner and the NSCN (IM) outrightly rejecting involvement of any of its cadres in the abduction, the frustration and the anger of the JAC and particularly those of the worried family members is natural and understandable.
After all, the issue over the abduction of Irabanta had been discussed in the State Assembly on July 11 during which Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh himself assured the august House that a special police team led by an SP would be pressed into service to locate the whereabouts of the abducted contractor and promised to take action if NSCN-IM, which is under ceasefire agreement with the government, or any other underground outfits were found involved in the abduction.
Of course, the following day, NSCN-IM came up with a rebuttal terming the allegation of its involvement in the abduction as 'a bolt from the blue'.
Now the question is, if Irabanta had not been abducted by NSCN (IM) or any other UG groups, then where is he now?
Is he still alive or not?
It is indeed a matter of serious concern that the state government and its police department have not been able to provide any answers to these disturbing questions even after MK Winner, with whom Irabanta had reportedly gone, has been arrested and put behind the bars.
From the emerging events, it is becoming clear that Irabanta is more of a victim of failure of government machineries than anything else.
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