Ambush with a difference : Time to stop selective silence
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 16 2016 -

This is not the first time that policemen have been ambushed. More than certain that this will not be the last either.

What however sets apart the two attacks on the policemen along Imphal-Moreh stretch of the National Highway is the timing of the attack.

Would do good for all to acknowledge the ground reality and the present is one such situation when deep distrust and even animosity among the different communities living in the State is running high.

At the moment no group has claimed responsibility for the two attacks and most likely no one will claim responsibility for the attack, again which is something different from the earlier such offensives launched against security personnel.

And there is a reason why there is a huge doubt that any group would claim responsibility for the two attacks.

So deeply divided is Manipur today that everything is viewed and understood along community line that even armed groups are understood along this line.

So there are Naga armed groups, Kuki armed groups, Meitei-Pangal armed groups and Meitei armed groups. This is the reality.

It is this divide that may be read into the twin attacks made worse by the polarised positions adopted by different communities over the decision of the State Government to create seven new districts.

That the attack came when the policemen were on road opening patrol exercise ahead of the visit of the Chief Minister to inaugurate Tengnoupal district has only added gist to this line of thought.

The question is, were the deadly two attacks on the police in any way connected with the declaration of the seven new districts ?

And who would be so well organised to execute such a clinical attack on two groups of well trained and well armed police commandos ?

Again the question arises on what the Assam Rifles personnel were doing ?

Did their much hyped intelligence network fail again ?

Making things worse is the picture of a policeman falling dead in front of a Central security force post near Bongyang, with the picture now going viral on social networking sites like WhatsApp.

This is where the Union Home Ministry need to wake up to the reality that is Manipur.

Shoot and kill and deliver a point.

This is what the attackers sought to convey, but what point ?

Apart from this, four men have been killed, women have been widowed, children have been orphaned and parents have lost their sons.

No reason why the Government should not go forward to nab the killers, try them and penalise them according to the law of the land.

For too long, unidentified gunmen have been calling the shots and it is time the people as a whole stand up and say no to the gun culture, irrespective of community divide.

Selective protest and selective silence should be stopped now.