The devil's advocate
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: May 09, 2013 -

'Quit notice' to Meeteis in Churachandpur district to leave 'Kuki-land'! That too, at a time, when the entire people in Manipur are trying to grapple with various burning issues, ranging from escalating crimes to mis-governance!!

This is exactly how the minds of the devil and his advocate would have worked in a volatile situation to create more confusion.

The circulation of 'quit notice' to people belonging to Meetei community in Churachandpur district by some unknown miscreants was indeed unfortunate.

The quit notice, which were found circulated in some pockets of Churachandpur district inhabited by Meeteis on Monday has threatened the Meeteis to leave 'Kuki-land' in two day's time or face dire consequences.

A day after the quit notices, which were written in marker on some plain papers without giving the name of any group or individuals issued them, were found circulated, a joint meeting of the leaders of both Meeteis and Kuki communities in Churachandpur was convened during which the Kuki leaders clarified that there was no such act of intimidation from their side, and thus, the feeling of insecurity created among the Meeteis subsided.

But the minds of the devil and his advocate could not be rested that easily and attempt was made to set on fire 'Khelemba Hotel', an eatery runs by a local Meetei named Opendrajit, to rake up the tension once again.

This is not the first time that efforts have been made to create tension among the different groups of people living in Churachandpur district. In 2006, Hmar National Assembly (HNA), an armed outfit, issued similar quit notice to the Meeteis settling in Churachandpur district, thus drawing sharp reaction from various quarters.

As a matter of fact, Churachandpur district has already seen been enough bloodshed in the past from senseless acts of immature minds.

The district has been scarred by the bitter ethnic clashes between the Kukis and the Nagas during 1990s and between the Kuki and Zomi tribes in 1997, thus resulting in an undocumented number of fatalities and large internal displacement.

From all these past incidents, people of Manipur and the denizens of Churachandpur in particular have learnt enough enough lessons on how creating of inter-community chasm by anyone resulted in more chaos and despair in the society and nothing else.

Though the identity of the devil and his advocate behind the latest 'quit notice' are yet to be known, condemnation over the mischievous act of issuing 'quit notice' to test the strength of the existing bond of brotherhood among different groups of people in Manipur have already been started pouring in with various social organizations like Zomi Council (ZC), Zomi Students Federation (ZSF) and Kuki Inpi, Churachandpur leading the brigade.

As these organizations have noted that issuing of the latest quit notice could have been the handiwork of some individuals who take pleasure in pitching one community against another to ignite communal clashes and see the whole State going up in flames, no effort should be spare to maintain peace and harmony among the people.

That would be the most befitting reply to the sinister design of devil and his advocate.