Peacemakers and mediators wanted
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: July 19, 2023 -

WITH no sign of any possible resolution to the unprecedented clashes that broke between the Meetei/Meetei and Kuki-Chin communities since the evening of May 3, titular king and Rajya Sabha member Leishemba Sanajaoba has made a fervent appeal to people of all other communities living in the state to take the role of peacemakers and mediators so as to persuade the two warring groups to stop the senseless violence that has caused untold miseries to everyone living in this tiny hilly state.

Speaking at an event of the Meitei Pangals (Manipuri Muslims) hosted by the Royal Palace on Tuesday, Leishemba Sanajaoba also took note of the fact that the ongoing crisis may look like a communal conflict at the first glance but a deeper analysis will only reveakhat it is not what it appears to be with some people propagating volume of lies and fabricating tales of the conflict that have no bearing on the real issue at stake.

At the same time, the titular king went on to point out that sOme other people have been taking undue advantage of the present situation to settle personal scores and garner political gains. So, it would be in the best interest of all to put an end to the ongoing violence at the earliest possible, he proposed.

In a veiled forewarning of the things to come, the titular king also hinted that if no one come forward to mediate and stop the ongoing violence, then Meiteis/Meeteis, who have been on the defensive side so far, and are always in favour of peaceful co-existence among all the ethnic groups in the state, may be compelled to switch the side and launch an offensive with devastating consequences.

The call of the titular king to people of other communities in the state to take the role of peacemakers and mediate between the two warring groups so that the ongoing senseless violence could bestopped, is, in fact, the urgent need of the houf, and we have been stressing on this point through this column, time and again.

With the two warring communities sticking to their respective stands and continuing to bray for each other’s blood, we have been emphasizing that peace initiatives from the side of communities which are directly not involved in the present crisis but nonetheless felt the same heat of the fire that has engulfed the state would help in tilting the balance of communal hatred and bringing the two warring groups to their ‘normal’ senses.

Regardless of one’s position and stand on the present crisis, we should not forget the hard-to-shallow bitter truth that despite the deployment of large number of central security forces to contain 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, there has been no let-up in the bloody confrontation between the two warring groups even after more than two months.

Apart from common men, women and innocent children living on either side of the communal divide, the swelling heat of the inferno is threatening to consume everyone. Before this to happen, it is high time for people of‘neutral’ communities to heed to the call of the titular king.

After all, neutrality should mean more than just staying away from the mayhem that is unfolding and threatening to swallow us all.