Unsettled dispute; Uncertain fate of Manipur
- Imphal Times Editorial :: December 30 2016 -

The UNC’s decision to intensify its agitation against the creation of 7 new revenue districts by Okram Ibobi Singh government is not a good sign for the future of Manipur.

State government inability to find a solution to the present crisis certainly shows that the interest of certain section of the state called Manipur has been sidelined.

This is the juncture where people have reason to think on whether this government led by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh represent the whole of Manipur or not.

The issue of UNC which is backed by the NSCN-IM is not a new one.

In the past few years since NSCN-IM signed peace pack with the government of India UNC in connivance with the NSCN-IM has been spearheading various form of agitation to segregate the NSCN-IM dominated lands from the purview of the state government inside the territory of Manipur.

The wisdom of the majority people which always dreamt to live together as one and which always work hard to maintain peace and harmony in the state had foiled the attempt to distort the territorial boundary of this erstwhile kingdom merged to the Indian union on Oct 15, 1949.

The state government too was acting in full seriousness with extra caution not to hurt the sentiment of the agitators.

The year 2010 witness the intolerable agitation by UNC. The then NH 39 now NH 2 and the then NH 53 now NH 37 was closed for over 120 days. People in the state faced were put to extreme hardship with price of essential commodities reaching its peak.

One way or the other the anger of the agitator which was trying its best to distort the state was calm for time being and the state continue to exist as it was at the time of merger to the Indian Union.

Conflict has been an order of life in the state of Manipur and those conflict arisen of misunderstanding was settled with the collective effort of the civil society leaders from time to time.

This time, the UNC’s economic blockade has entered almost 56 days.

And instead of the appealed and prayers from various sections of the people to lift the blockade , the UNC has declared to intensified its agitation in its meeting held yesterday at Senapati district, which is a very integral part of Manipur.

Now as per the decision the supporters of the UNC will surely strike to government offices in almost all Naga inhabited area in Manipur from January 1 next year.

That would definitely mean that there will not be any state administration in these so called Naga dominated area.

Already there were much criticism on the part of the state government over its failure to reach out its administration to the Hill area of the state.

The announcement of 7 new districts in the state for the convenient of administration will have no meaning if the government failed to contain the destructive move by the supporters of UNC.

At this juncture one need to ponder on whether the declarations of the 7 new districts at a juncture when legislative assembly election is just round the corner is right or wrong.

It is alright in the creation of the new districts but it will be definitely wrong if the state government fails to control the rage of the UNC supporters in the coming days, as it would be no different from segregating the land from Manipur’s territory as government administration will be barred from these areas.

If the declaration of the new districts is not for taking political mileage, then the state government should definitely find a way to settle the issue with the UNC.

After all much has been talk that not every Naga are UNC and the government have many representatives of the Naga people as well as bureaucrats working in the government.

Why don’t the government showed some seriousness to settle the issue instead of playing blame game to other third party?

One thing needed to be understood by all “you can fool some people for sometimes, but you cannot fool all the people all the time”.