Onus on security forces to win public trust
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: October 21, 2022 -

BARRING occasional public agitations over varied issues and occurrence of social crimes, there has been notable improvement in the law and order situation in the state since the past few years, for which the present government has every right to claim the credit.

Taking into account of the fact that commercial outlets have been doing brisk businesses well after dusk, school students walking or cycling home from tuition/coaching centres till late evening and passenger carriers operating with full capacity, one can say these are some vivid examples of people of Manipur experiencing one of the most peaceful times after decades of enduring hardships and uncertainties due to various factors, including insurgency movement and disturbances caused to normal life owing to public agitations.

Such positive changes in the overall law and order situation naturally give the present government the right to brag that its focus on delivering good governance is the primary reason for Manipur heading towards an era of development and gradually shedding its previous unwanted tag of being a forbidden land.

From being a region considered hostile for both tourists and locals, the state today is witnessing visitors as well as natives foraying into distant but scenic villages for recreational activities thereby testifying that despite lingering apprehension that the situation could turn unfavourable the risk factor has dipped significantly.

With villages, which have potential picnic spots and scenic landscape to draw visitors, too realising that tourism at even mediocre scale could contribute significantly to the local economy, there have been ample evidences of collective efforts being made to popularise their respective areas through the conventional and social media platforms. Amid such positive vibes, chief minister N Biren has rightly stated that both the security forces and the public should discard the old mind-sets and views of casting aspersions against one another.

It is heartening that the chief minister has acknowledged that 'sometimes back', armed forces deployed in Manipur particularly the Assam Rifles suspected the entire people of the state as insurgents while the public feared of being apprehended whenever they came across AR troopers.

The CM might have made specific mention of the Assam Rifles as the event he attended on Wednesday and made such a bold statement, which might offend top brass of Assam Rifles, was organised by the para-military force.

However, the people of Manipur are fully aware that it is not the Assam Rifles alone that created fear among the masses, for there were uncountable number of incidents of rights abuses committed by other security forces deployed in the state.

The public, particularly, were not amused with acts and activities of the Manipur police commandos for personnel of this elite force were not only involved in maximum cases of encounters, including controversial ones, but also led/guided the central forces in almost all the counter-insurgency operations.

One mustn't ignore the fact that the insurgency-related incidents declined sharply in the state in the aftermath of the infamous BT Road firing in July, 2009 and the Supreme Court's decree to investigate 98 alleged fake encounter killings out of 1528 such cases documented in the petition filed by Extra Judicial Execution Victim Families Association (EEVFAM).

Thus, it could be safely concluded that in case security forces avoid harming civilians and staging stage-managed encounters, be they be with armed insurgents, the people would automatically have trust on the men in uniform, help the government authorities in rebranding of Manipur as a peaceful state and more importantly realisation of CM Biren's dream for discarding the inimical perception between the security forces and the public.