NSF-State Govt stand off : Deadlock continues
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: February 26 2016 -
The deadlock continues. Both sides continue to stick to their guns.
Caught in the middle are the common people, the people who actually matter. But who cares ?
So far nothing to suggest that the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) will roll back its decision to ban the movement of all vehicles belonging to Meiteis/Manipuris in Naga inhabited areas and on the other hand there is nothing to suggest that the State Government is ready to pull up the policemen, who allegedly humiliated the NSF leaders on February 14 at Mantripukhri.
Both sides seem to have their own version of what happened on the said date and the truth may lie somewhere in between, but this is no reason for the Government to wave aside the grievances of the student body.
Likewise it also does not make any sense to communalise what happened on February 14 and target one single community, the Meiteis in this case.
Both sides need to relook their stance and see if there can be a meeting point. This is where the voice of sanity becomes important.
Right time for civil society organisations to step in and try to play the bridge between the NSF and the State Government.
It is the people to people relationship that is at stake here. Meiteis and Nagas are neighbours and no one can run away from this truth.
This is where it becomes important for sane voices to come to the fore and minimise the impact of the radicals on either side, for remember what is happening today can definitely snowball from a stand off between the State Government and the NSF into something bigger and uglier.
This is where it becomes important to note some bare facts.
As the name itself suggests, the NSF is not a Nagaland centric student organisation.
It is a federation and its federating units are present across the country, wherever there are Naga student organisations.
This is also the reason why it is able to enforce the ban on the movement of vehicles belonging to Meiteis/Manipuris in the hill districts of Manipur, particularly in Senapati district where more than 100 trucks were reported to have been stranded.
And this is all the more reason for the student body to act maturely and not mistake the State police with any particular community.
Manipur is home to numerous tribes and communities and identifying any arm of the Government with one community will amount to communalising an issue.
On the part of the State Government, it should be realised that there can be absolutely no harm in inviting members of the student body to talk things over.
Positive to note that DGP LM Khaute has got in touch with his Nagaland counterpart to talk things over and it is also positive to note that DIG IK Muivah has been appointed to investigate the February 14 incident but something more needs to be done.
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