Lying for a lost cause
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: November 06, 2023 -

NOW that the false narratives spun around the ongoing security operations in the border down Moreh have been debunked by none other than IGAR (S) Major General Rajan Sharawat himself, one wonders what the civil society organisations and elected representatives of Kuki-Chin community are going to say.

Soon after the launch of joint operations to nab the Kuki militants responsible for the killing of Chingtham Anand Kumar, who was the Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) in Moreh on October 31, civil society organisations and the elected representatives of Kuki-Chin community have been alleging Manipur Police Commandos of resorting to arson, indiscriminate firing, looting of civilian properties, and unprovoked brutality, including assaults on women, forcing a huge number of people, including women and children to flee into the nearby jungles.

The 10 elected representatives of Kuki-Chin community, who first raised the demand for a separate administration within days of outbreak of the conflict between the Meitei/Meerei and Kuki-Chin communities on May 3 last, had even jointly issued a statement appealing to Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India for intervention and replacing all the commandos deployed in Moreh and other Kuki-Zomi-Hmar dominated areas with neutral central forces.

In the joint statement, they said, "While the loss of life of the officer in the line of duty is condoled, we would like to highlight the continuing excesses and atrocities perpetrated by the state forces against our people in Moreh and other places in Tengnoupal district based on ground reports."

They went on to claim that "on November 1, 2023, Sinam Kuki village in Tengnoupal district was attacked and houses and properties /vehicles destroyed by the Manipur Police Commandos.

In the operation that is underway at Moreh, the state forces resorted to arson, indiscriminate firing, looting of civilian properties, vehicles, household items, including valuable ornaments/documents/gold/cash and unprovoked brutality forcing common people including women and children to flee into the nearby jungle. Several women have been mercilessly assaulted/molested by the commandos and admitted to the local hospital".

Interestingly, the claim made by the 10 elected representatives of Kuki-Chin community, which was also echoed by other civil society organisations of the community including Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) and Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF), have been rubbished by IGAR (S) major general Rajan Sharawat.

During a joint meeting with leaders of Kuki Women's Union (KWU) Tengnoupal and Kuki CSO leaders in Moreh town on May 4, major general Sharawat, who was in the border town for taking stock of the prevailing security situation, made it clear that there were no incidents of looting properties and harassing public during the joint operations being carried out by Central and state security forces.

Asking them to stop levelling unfounded allegations against the security personnel, who are only doing their duty, the major general also conveyed that the search operation will continue to hunt down all those militants responsible for the killing of SDPO Anand Kumar.

Furthermore, he asked them to vacate the Kuki women from in front of AR camps and made them to return to their respective homes, otherwise, security personnel would use force to disperse them.

Following this strong instruction, Kuki women who were sitting in front of AR camp gate reportedly left the place after two Kuki men came there and clapped their hands without saying a single word.

All these dramas have once again shown how the Kuki-Chin people, right from their elected representatives, have been trying their best to play the victim card in the ongoing communal conflict, the first spark of which was also lit by them by targeting unsuspected Meitei/Meetei people and burning down their houses in Churachandpur district, before it soon spread to other Kuki-Chin dominated areas on that fateful day of May 3.

After this shameful exposure of blatant lying, which fortunately, has come like the proverbial final nail in the coffin of Zale'ngam, there is no more any compelling reason for allowing the Kuki-Chin MLAs including seven from the ruling party BjP to remain as members of the Manipur Legislative Assembly.

By the way, are they going to say IGAR (S) Major General Rajan Sharawat had been bought by the Meitei-centric communal government as well? just asking, out of curiosity.