One sensible question
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: December 28, 2023 -
LIFE for everyone living in this tiny north-eastern Indian state of Manipur has never been the same after the All Tribal Students' Union, Manipur (ATSUM)-sponsored 'Tribal Solidarity March' taken out in the hill areas on May 3 against the directive given by of the High Court of Manipur to the state government for sending the requisite recommendation to the centre for inclusion of Meetei-Meitei community in the list of Scheduled Tribes of the Constitution of India, turned violent.
The senseless violence of targeting the people of Meetei-Meitei community and burning down their houses by some militant elements from among the Kuki-Chin community that first started in Churachandpur before it soon spread to other Kuki-Chin dominated areas like Kangpokpi and Moreh after the 'Tribal Solidarity March' ended peacefully in other hill areas has cast a long shadow of gloom over the entire state for more than seven months now.
There has been no let-up in the violent confrontation between the two warring communities, thus, causing untold miseries to people of all communities regardless of where they live and take stand on the current humanitarian crisis.
Deployment of large number of central security forces for containing the situation and the repeated assurances given by the governments both in the state and at the centre that everything possible is being done to restore peace and normalcy in the state has not brought any relief to the already hard-pressed people in this resource-starved state.
So far, hundreds of precious human lives have been lost, public and private properties worth crores of rupees reduced to ashes and thousands of families displaced from their homes and hearths, forcing them to seek shelter in relief camps that have been set up across the length and breadth of the state.
Yet, no one knows when this violent confrontation would end. There is no sign of the proverbial light at the end of a dark tunnel.
However, with each passing day, it is becoming evidently clear that more than the diametrically opposite stand-points that the two warring communities are sticking to, lack of political will power on the part of the elected representatives in the state and lackadaisical attitude of the leaders in New Delhi towards resolving the issue at hand with the seriousness it deserves is at the core of prolonging the conflict that would ultimately cost dear to all.
While the elected representatives in the state seem to have abdicated their duties and responsibilities of ensuring the safety and security of the people who elevated them to their present position in the first place, the central leaders are looking at the current humanitarian crisis in Manipur as an opportunity to belittle each other with an attempt to score some brownie political points against each other.
Moreover, with their holier than thou attitude, leaders of the civil society organisations on either side of the clash divide are doing nothing precious for putting out the fire that is slowly engulfing the entire state, other than fuelling it with their inflammatory speeches and dictating terms.
Amidst this suffocating atmosphere, it seems the only sensible thing that the crisis-hit people could do is to keep their sanity intact and hope the leaders of the two warring communities realise the need for dialogue and reconciliation process to bring peace and restore normalcy.
Now is not the time to ask who has killed who and how.
It is time for all of us to ask how peace and normalcy could be restored.
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