No major incidence quip of Delhi : Weaponised drones, rockets ?
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 19, 2024 -

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has displayed yet another case of utter lack of any understanding of the ground realities here in Manipur and one just has to look at his quip, 'Except for recent violence that went on for three days, no major incidence took place in the last 3 months.'

A case of the State Government abysmally failing in keeping the Home Ministry updated or the Centre simply refusing to acknowledge the reality ?

Either way it is hard to digest that a man occupying the chair of the Home Minister of India should fail to look at the utilisation of weaponised drones and rocket propelled grenades that has the capability of travelling at least 5 kilometres beyond the 'three days of violence'.

From September 1 to September 3, that is for full 72 hours weaponised drones dropped explosives at Koutruk, Kadangband and Senjam Chirang, all villages lying at the foothills, the hills of which are home to the Kuki-Zo community.

Snipers ably backed up the bomb fitted drones and in the process killed a young housewife besides injuring others, including her child at Koutruk, while she had gone to visit her maternal home.

It seems Delhi is looking at the number of persons killed and the death of the young housewife was tagged 'only one death' and failed to look at the incident beyond just the act of drones dropping bombs.

Then on September 6, a rocket propelled grenade or explosive fell at the courtyard of former Chief Minister, the late Moirang Koireng and the resultant explosion killed a local priest who was there to help conduct a ritual ceremony of an elderly person of the family who had passed away earlier.

Again this also did not fall in the 'major incident' category according to the estimate of the Union Home Ministry and here is a case of Delhi desperately trying to paint the picture that everything is hunky dory in Manipur, save for a hiccup here and there.

Look beyond the loss of two precious human lives is the line that needs to be presented before New Delhi with the seriousness it deserves.

Bomb fitted drone is not something to be taken lightly.

Take two and two together and it should be more than obvious that the war technology being used in neighbouring Myanmar has arrived in Manipur and no Tom, Dick and Harry can easily pick up the know-how of fitting an explosive on a drone.

Take the case of the rocket propelled grenade or explosive at Moirang on September 6 and here is a case of the ethnic conflict going hi-tech, very hi-tech.

One wonders why the Centre is not ready to acknowledge the reality here and treat it as such.

Or is it a case of Imphal just unable or unwilling to present the facts as it happened before New Delhi ?

Either way it sucks and this could be one reason why the conflict has been 'allowed' to drag on for more than 16 months and in the process has claimed more than 230 lives.

No doubt the Centre kept its words on Manipur in the context of the first 100 days, but did it really address the issue here?

The Union Home Minister did say that infiltration is the root cause of the ongoing violence, but he fell short of spelling out what measures would be taken up to identify and weed out those who have already infiltrated into the country.

This is where his silence on the popular demand to update the NRC in Manipur rang out so loudly.

Add the fact that a latest report coming in from Delhi has said that the much touted border fencing has been put on hold at Kuki areas and this is where one can see a pattern emerging.

A case of saying something and doing something at the ground and the games that Delhi plays becomes all that clearer.

The Union Home Minister also said that the Government is in talks with both the Meitei and Kuki groups, but one wish that this could have been elaborated a little more, for this assertion has come just two or so weeks after Chairman of the Peace Committee, MLA Dinganglung Gangmei had said that situation in Manipur was not fit for talks and had sought a decisive stand of the Centre.

One coming from the ground, from a local person and one coming from a personality housed and officed at New Delhi and in such a state of confusion, the mention of Manipur in the first 100 days of Modi 3.0 Govt does not sound promising at all.