Roadblock to move for lifting Kangpokpi road blockade
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: July 04, 2023 -
AFTER two months of complete cessation of movement of goods carriers in Kangpokpi area along the Imphal-Dimapur stretch, the armed United People’s Front (UPF) and Kuki National Organisation (KNO) has announced lifting of the blockade.
Though passenger service operators plied along the said route amid the unrest situation in the state, the travellers were mostly non-Meeteis as the Kuki volunteers conducted intense checking of identification papers of the passengers and documents of the vehicles to ensure that none from the Meetei community pass through the district headquarters, where sand/earth bags were piled up to make bunkers apparently to discourage the prohibited ones from using the highway and intimidate the security forces from trying to clear the highway.
Mention may be made that during his visit to the state after nearly a month of outbreak of the ethnic violence on May 3 Union home minister Amit Shah had appealed to the blockade enforcers to lift the embargo contrary to valley-based civil societies asking the central government to ensure free passage to all vehicles to showcase the centre’s commitment in finding solution to the crisis situation.
Regardless of the blockade intended to cut off the chain of supply to the state’s capital and beyond, there has been no serious shortage of essential goods after the government of Manipur decided to divert and escort movement of vehicles through the Imphal-jiribam section of NH-39, which serves as the alternate lifeline whenever there is disturbances on NH-2, while the local agricultural workers and handful of food item manufacturers ensured constant supply of seasonal crops and other consumable items.
Amid deep sense of distrust between the communities in conflict, it is heartening that UPF and KNO have decided to end the embargo with immediate effect to ensure uninterrupted supply of essential commodities in Manipur.
While availability of essential items, including petroleum products in the state, the plains in particular in-spite of the protracted blockade, could be one of the reasons for lifting the highway siege, there is no doubt that the blockade agitation is one of the reasons for derailment of all efforts to facilitate negotiated settlement to the ethnic feud.
Moreover, with agitators in the fringe valley districts checking contents of all vehicles to prevent essential items from reaching the Kuki populated areas it’s obvious that the blockade and counter-blockade has started to hit commoners the hardest.
For instance, there are reports that prices of LPG and other basic items in Churachandpur town escalating in-spite of the said products transported via Mizoram, where people displaced from Manipur and belonging to the Zo ethnic community have been trickling in unceasingly after the ethnic strife broke out here in the state.
Considering the anxiety and distress suffered by the general population due to the violence and the highway blockade, there is no doubt that the decision by UPF and KNO to lift the blockade is to ameliorate inconveniences caused to the public.
However, it is still too early to expect that the two outfits’ decision will make any substantial change to the restive situation taking into account of the report that the announcement has been outrightly opposed by other equally influential Kuki organisations.
As the previous announcement made by Kangpokpi district-based Committee on Tribal Unity to suspend the blockade imposed in Kangpokpi sector of the Highway had also faced stiff resistance from different units of Kuki Students’ Union, it is advisable that transport operators assess the situation before taking the road on the basis of the decision by the UPF and the KNO to reopen the highway.
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