Mischievous, dangerous and unacceptable : Sinister plot or senseless act
- Sangai Express Editorial :: June 29, 2013 -

The motive is not yet clear.

The identities of the attacker are also not known.

But the target seemed to be clear. Migrant workers, or non-locals.

Mischievous, dangerous and unacceptable at any cost.

Mischievous, because the hand grenade lobbed at the rented room occupied by non-local workers and which claimed the lives of two migrant workers at Uripok Tourangbam Leikai on June 27 night came at a time when the demand to implement the Inner Line Permit System in the State is gathering momentum and intensity.

A carefully scripted plot to derail the demand to restrict the entry of outsiders to Manipur or a senseless act of telling the non-locals to pack up and leave ?

Too early to draw a conclusion but whatever the case may be, it is terrorism, an act of terror. This much should be clear.

Bombs and bullets may kill a couple or even thousands of people, but it can never serve the intended purpose nor achieve the objective, stated or not, in the long run.

All the more reason to see the Uripok Tourangbam Leikai incident beyond a bomb attack which killed two people and injured four others.

It should be seen in the context of what is happening in Manipur right now.

With different forces and players threatening to pull apart the social and political fabric of Manipur, there are bound to be mischievous players, who will not hesitate to cross the Laxman Rekha and try to distort a purely democratic movement with blood and gore.

On the other hand, there can be elements who will purposely or otherwise turn a blind eye to the real issue at hand and resort to any means that are at hand.

Turning an issue into a ticking time bomb which can explode any moment and set off a series of chain reactions. A possibility which no one can afford to overlook.

Two precious lives lost, with four others suffering grievous physical injuries.

This is not the first of its kind and will not be the last either.

And no force on earth and no measures will be able to guarantee foolproof security to anyone. This also applies to the case of non-local migrant workers, who seem to be the latest target.

More importantly providing them round the clock security is also not the answer besides being absolutely impracticable. This very observation should drive home the point that there can be no easy formula or answers to the situation.

What however should not and cannot be overlooked is the point that in the demand to implement the Inner Line Permit System in Manipur, those in the forefront should realise and be wise to the point that there may be elements out there who may be plotting to turn their democratic movement into something totally different.

And perhaps the first step towards blunting this agenda would be to convey the message that the demand of the ILPS does not centre around the theme of Us (the locals) versus Them (the non-locals).

In endeavouring to protect and preserve the identity of the indigenous people, it is not necessary to paint the non-local or the ‘outsiders’ in the mould of the ‘intruders’ or the ‘villains’ or the ‘enemies’.

The non-local barber, the non-local cobbler, the non-local mason are certainly not the nemesis.

The nemesis is the indifference of the Government to an issue as sensitive as the rightful place of the indigenous people in their own land. This underlying point should not be lost on anyone.