National Highway still not open to all : Instruction of Governor
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 14, 2024 -

In pumping in 60,000 security personnel after Manipur went up in flames on May 3, 2023, New Delhi did respond swiftly and the effectiveness or otherwise of deploying such a huge number of security personnel is best exemplified by the fact that Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya felt it necessary to instruct the top honchos of the security personnel to ensure free passage along the National Highways.

That this instruction has come after 15 months of Manipur going up in flames should point to the fact that in the last 450 days or so, the highway has been ruled by armed persons and this leaves open the question of what the security personnel have been doing in the last 15 months.

A heavily militarised place, where security personnel, armed to the hilt, are a common sight and yet it should say so many things that smooth flow of goods and people on the highway is still a pipe dream for many.

In as much as no Kuki-Zo folk can return to the valley districts and Imphal in particular, it also remains that there is not a single passenger vehicle carrying Meitei folks along National Highway-2.

Even drivers and handymen of passenger buses and goods carrying trucks are all non-Meiteis and this more than highlights the fact that even after more than 15 months of the conflict erupting in all its ugliness, some elements are left free to impose their writ on the highway, particularly after one crosses Kanglatongbi along the Imphal-Dimapur line.

Cut back to August 7 this year when armed persons, who identified themselves as cadres of the Kuki National Front (KNF) stopped a truck carrying newsprint in front of a gate near Gamgiphai, Motbung and later set the newsprint being transported on fire.

The Sangai Express has already commented on this and questioned what the uniformed and booted security personnel of the Assam Rifles were doing and juxtapose the directive of the Governor to the top honchos of the security personnel and things should certainly fall in line.

If New Delhi is at all sincere about addressing the human crisis here, it should have directed the 60,000 troops to clear the highway and it would not have taken more than two or three days to clear the 25 kilometre stretch of the highway from Kanglatongbi to Kangpokpi.

For reasons best known to the Government of India, clearing the highway has never ever figured on the agenda of the security personnel and it is flummoxing that here is a case of a place overcrowded with security personnel yet its lifeline remains cut off.

This should say so many things, the most prominent being the question of whether the security personnel are dispensing with their duties or not.

It remains to be seen whether there will be follow up actions on the instructions issued by the Governor or not, but it is important to note that such an instruction was felt necessitated even after more than 15 months of Manipur going up in flames.

Underlines the point that for over 450 days no concrete efforts have been taken up to clear the highway to ensure the free flow of goods and people and this is where one is left wondering on the sincerity of New Delhi.

Imphal may take comfort in trumpeting the line that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken on Manipur at least three times after the place went up in flames but talking on the Manipur violence must mean more than a mention of the place.

What Manipur wants is the issue should be discussed in such a way that a roadmap may be charted out and if Imphal wants to remain satisfied with just the claim that the Prime Minister has indeed mentioned Manipur on more than one occasion then what can the common people say?

And this line should be understood against the instruction given by the Governor to the security honchos to ensure free flow on the National Highways, an instruction which has come about after 15 months!