Time, they say is the best healer but there are times when the cut is so deep that time also fails to heal completely and the pain still persists.

And the Naga-Kuki ethnic clash that took place in the early part of the 90s can perhaps be clubbed amongst the scars which time has not been successful in completely healing.

The pain still seems to persists and while Black Day is observed by the Kuki community to recollect the day in which 117 of their kindred were killed in a single day on September 13, 1993, the people of Manipur should learn a lesson from this ugly episode that violence does not pay in any sense and ethnic clashes do nothing except leave a trail of destruction, orphaning and widowing many.

It is difficult to provide the exact number of people killed or the number of villagers uprooted and displaced from their homelands, but there are numerous accounts of gory deaths and mayhem from the clashes between the two dominant tribal groups of Manipur.

Even as the Naga-Kuki clash singed the hill districts of Manipur, the Meite-Meitei Pangal communal clash erupted in which numerous minority Meitei Pangals were hacked to death amid rumours and false propaganda.

This was not all, as the Kuki-Paite clash followed at Churachandpur district which again left many dead and orphaned and widowed many.

The pain, the shame and agony of these past should not be brushed aside for there are valuable lessons that we can learn from these ugly incidents.

Manipur is home to a number of community and ethnic groups and any stand off between any of these groups of people will do nothing except add to the tears and misery of the people.

This is the number one lesson we have to learn from the three gory pasts we have just mentioned. v On the other hand we cannot allow ourselves to be caught by the hatred and senselessness of the past and the best way is to look forward and work for an environment where our children can enjoy the fruits of peace, communal harmony and love between different sets of people.

The Black Day observed by the Kuki people on September 13 should ideally be observed by the State, not to rekindle the spirit of hatred and animosity but to declare to each other that we will not allow such senseless killings to occur in the future.

The victims of the September 13 massacre were innocent Kuki villagers no doubt, but it is also true to a certain extent that it was a manifestation of how we as a people had failed to provide security and protection to our fellow brethren.

It was also a telling example of how the State machineries failed totally to protect its citizens and this what we should all be ashamed of.

To move forward and search for the healing touch for all the ugly incidents of the past, we have to look forward and take a leaf out of the past to ensure that it is not repeated in the future.

The present is the product of the past and the future will be shaped by the present.

Can we as a people, assure that such incidents will not occur again ?

This is the question that we need to address to on a priority basis.

And the first step is to stop pointing accusing fingers at anyone but adopt a reconciliatory stand.

This would be the most noble and bravest act of all.