Targeting civilians for High Court order
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 10, 2023 -

Finally, after a gap of almost 66 days since the macabre violence erupted in this tiny hill State, the Government of India has taken up the first single tangible step toward resolving the vexed crisis.

As per media reports, New Delhi is pursuing a series of meetings with civil society organisations of both the Kuki and Meitei communities.

Already, leaders of Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) and Manipur Tribal Forum, Delhi met Intelligence Bureau Director Tapan Kumar Deka on July 7 but what transpired at the meeting has not been revealed.

It is also not clear whether any Meitei CSO has been invited for talks with New Delhi.

Hopefully, Meitei CSOs would be invited soon, if they have not been already invited, for New Delhi needs to listen to both the parties before endeavouring to find a solution.

The back-channel talks being pursued by New Delhi is indeed a positive step in the right direction although it came too late.

If New Delhi is finally ready and willing to intervene, it must tread its path with utmost care.

Any gesture or act of partiality will breed long term resentment and this will not bode well to the national interest.

Before making any final call, the Government of India ought to collect a detailed and correct account of the violent crisis.

Perhaps, the Government of India is already aware that there are some war-mongers in Manipur and the violent conflict is their handiwork.

Ascertaining whether the current violence, killings and arson were planned to achieve some political goals is of paramount importance.

Lest the Central leaders are misguided by the nomenclatures 'Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum' and 'Manipur Tribal Forum, Delhi', it must be pointed out that these bodies do not represent all the tribal communities of Manipur. On the contrary, they represent a single tribal community.

Any serious analysis of the chronology and sequence of events of the violent conflict will reveal signs that the violence and killings Were pre-planned and pre-meditated meticulously.

There have been several instances of people's persistent and stiff resistance against different policies and activities of the Government.

There were also strong community-exclusive movements. For instance, Meiteis' demand for inclusion of Manipuri language in the 8th Schedule and Kukis' demand for creation of Sadar Hills district.

The demand for creation of Sadar Hills district was fulfilled by the Ibobi Singh-Government after decades of public protest and struggle.

Throughout the courses of these different community-exclusive movements, people belonging to other communities were never harmed or targeted.

All the ire and energy of the people's struggles were directed at the Government and no one belonging to other communities was harmed.

But the infamous May 3 rally at Churachandpur was a totally different story.

The rally was supposedly planned against the High Court of Manipur's order which directed the State Government to send a recommendation to the Centre for putting Meitei community in the ST category.

But the rally turned out to be just a facade for the radical elements to direct the people's angst against Government policies toward Meitei community.

Within hours at the end of the rally, Meitei people were thrown out of Churachandpur district and all their houses were burnt down to ashes.

Simultaneous attacks were reported from Kangpokpi and Moreh, indicating that the violence was pre-planned and pre-meditated.

Otherwise, why should they target innocent civilians for their fury against the Government and its policies?

This was followed by large scale violence in Imphal valley.

In short, the Churachandpur violence sparked a series of chain reactions.

By driving out Meitei people from Churachandpur, Kangpokpi and Moreh, Kuki exclusive domains were created successfully at these places, albeit at the cost of hundreds of precious lives.

Perhaps, this was the first step toward creation of a separate administration or a Kuki-exclusive homeland.

All these facts must be taken into account before exploring any solution to the vexed crisis.