Manipur would be better off without tainted militants

Babina Wahengbam *

I know I would be their first target for having such an opinion about them but my conscience doesn't allow me to have a better view than this. Then should I keep my mouth shut? No, I cannot.

I'm a journalist working with economictimes.com. I was scanning wires when I saw the news about Raj Kumar Singh, the self-styled captain and commander of KYKL, being arrested from South Extension in Delhi along with a Manipuri film actress, Devita.

What a shame! What makes me more disgusting is Raghunath's claim that they collect 2% cut on all the contracts awarded in Manipur and 1.5% cut from government employees. I'm sure KYKL or any other tainted militant outfit must be saying this with pride but they are nothing less than parasites.

If I'm not wrong, the purported objective militant outfits are to rebuild Manipuri society by clearing it of all vices like immoral activities, drug peddling and corruption. But these outfits actually indulge in extortion in a big way sparing none.

In the name of the state's welfare, they illegally collect taxes from the common people. There are hardly any people who pay taxes to the government but every employee pay these illegal tax including my dad without fail due to fear of losing his life.

Most striking part is that, people have to pay to several groups. They just cannot say no to them. Their guns and bullets speaks, the common man listens to it silently. What a great social work for social cause!

And who are these tainted militants? Some school dropout kids with half-witted ignorant minds who ran away from homes just to have their own way. What good work can he do who doesn't even know what is right or wrong for his own life?

I don't appreciate the leaders of these tainted outfits who welcome these mindless youths in their groups and persuades to work for them by giving the license to kill. I wish they had guided them to the right path.

Today, there is not a single sphere of social or political activities left where they don't come in between. Soon, we will see the day when they will start interfering in out private lives like what to eat and what not to eat, when to sleep and when not to sleep.

They are ready to kill anyone who stands against them but they would give a deaf ear and blind eye when the schools are closed for strikes, when the national highways are blocked by the NSCN, when a child is kidnapped for ransom, when drugs are peddling around, when the cheap restaurants at the roadsides are doing some dirty business at broad daylight, when corruption is prevailing during recruitments, when the common man really suffers from the common threats. I don't appreciate our so-called freedom fighters who are just curbing the freedom of their own people.

They banned everything about Indian but they forget that they are wearing Indian clothes, eating Indian foods and running after Indian money. Why don't they go after dollars and pounds and euros?

So coming back to the point, this is not the first time that a militant has been nabbed. But it has become so common that people started looking at us with suspicion and doubts. I have been living here for a decade now.

Today, I feel ashamed of myself to go to office. I feel ashamed because they have left no choice for us to live in dignity. We already have a bad impression, their act makes it worse!

Though I salute to those who are really sacrificing their lives for the common cause but they are lost in the midst of numerous outfits and several factional groups. I'm ready to fight for our basic rights through proper channels but I certainly don't buy the idea of instilling fear in the minds of our own people in the name of a better Kangleipak!