Landhoni needs help
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: April 09, 2011 -

KHWAIRAKPAM CHAOBA, 'Lieutenant' of UNLF and his wife Khwairakpam (O) Moirangthem Ningol Landhoni Devi were among nine alleged UNLF cadres arrested in Guwahati from one particular place by a combined team of the CRPF and the Assam Police. On the same day 10 other UNLF cadres were also arrested from other parts of Guwahati.

The date was August 18, 2010. All 19 arrested were taken into custody by the NIA. Among others Landhoni's case deserves attention. She is the mother of two children of whom one is just six months old.

Appeals for her release has been made by rights bodies and civil organisations, but to no avail. The NIA which has been refusing to release her has charged her of plotting a 'systematic war against India' and trying to bring Maoists and three other outfits of Manipur under one umbrella to 'destabilise' the country.

She has denied all charges except admitting that she went to meet her husband in Guwahati. She said she is a teacher in a private school and mother of two young children who need her constant attention and has no time to be involved in acts of sedition and that she should be released.

On resolute denial to her pleas she went on a fast unto death in a Guwahati jail from March 8, 2011. Her physical condition is said to have weakened considerably and she is being force fed. In the latest public move to secure her release, women bodies in Manipur have jointly demanded that Chief Minister O Ibobi to intervene to see that she is granted bail.

Is Landhoni a hard core ultra who deserves an unbailable detention? Posing this question would lead to splitting hairs on the issue. The moot question is, can this woman be denied access to her children by the NIA? The question needs no answers.

This is a sort of situation where the meaning of sympathy, empathy, humanitarianism and human rights impacts everybody's minds. We have to read between the lines here. Landhoni has been accused of attempting to rope in Maoists into the conflict situation in Manipur, a charge which indirectly gives a larger than life rogue image to the Maoists, but it is these very Maoists the Government of India is wooing and fervently trying to come to an understanding with.

Seen from the angle of the GoI outlook the Maoists are people with legitimate grievances, and that through talks an amicable settlement can be reached with the Centre.

However, seen from the angle of the GoI outlook on Manipur's ultra, the term Maoist itself is unmentionable. Seen from this angle, Landhoni's alleged help in efforts to create a common platform for Manipur ultras and Maoists is a seditious act aimed to 'destabilise' the country.

As far as Landhoni's case is concerned, the judicial factor need not be presented for a public trial. That is for the law to decide. Our concern is the humanitarian and human rights factor.

To begin with the women bodies have petitioned the Chief Minister that Landhoni's two children who have been separated from their parents for nearly eight months are suffering from mental depression which may even cause permanent disorientation.

Why cannot Landhoni's case be transferred to Imphal and that she be permitted to live with her children, even though it may be in a special cell? After all Hopeson Ningshen who cracked open the skull of SDO Thingnam Kishan out of pure spite and vileness was granted his wish that his trial be conducted in Delhi.

What kind of people are those who constitute the NIA that they refuse to acknowledge the mental trauma caused by their acts on the two young children of Landhoni.

Are they not born of mothers, do they not have children? Or do they have the same spite and vileness of Ningshen? Other people in their places would have had sleepless nights thinking about the mental agony their actions are causing to the two young innocent children.