COCOMI-MHA meeting amid uproar over Gwaltabi incident
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: May 27, 2025 -

After declining an earlier invitation for holding discussion on resolving the protracted Kuki-Meetei conflict, a seven-member delegation of the Coordination Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) has decided to meet officials of the Union Home Ministry in New Delhi on Tuesday amid the state experiencing fresh bout of tension and public agitations over insistence by the Mahar Regiment personnel manning the Gwaltabi check post to conceal 'Manipur' from the state-owned Manipur State Transport bus on May 20.

Confirming about receipt of formal intimation from the Ministry to the Committee, which is a conglomerate of Meetei civil bodies spearheading public movement in the aftermath of the Kuki-Meetei conflict that broke out in May 2023, its convenor Khuraijam Athouba said the agenda for the meeting includes the demand for a public apology from Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla over the Gwaltabi incident, and the removal of chief secretary PK Singh, DGP Rajiv Singh, and security advisor Kuldiep Singh.

Like it or not, the top three officers are viewed as incompetent and responsible for making anti-state decisions, consequently aggravating the situation.

As the latter three, who are technically helming the state's affairs under the Governor and are all non-natives, the people have also started to question their sincerity and commitment in resolving the Manipur crisis which is now into the third year, especially after the army unit at Gwaltabi asked a team of journalists en-route to Ukhrul district to cover the inauguration of the just concluded Shirui Lily festival to either conceal the state's name on the MST bus or hire another vehicle from private party to continue the journey.

Such insistence triggered widespread condemnation from civil societies, students' bodies and even political organisations, culminating in the public agitation on Sunday, which left eight women protesters injured.

The crackdown on the mostly women protesters is nothing short of an invite for more intense agitations for the very purpose of marching towards the Raj Bha-van was to prod the conscience of the Governor in a democratic manner and not intended to wreak havoc.

Instead of using force to suppress the people's movement, it is imperative the PR administration entrust officials concerned to engage the infuriated civil society organisations in meaningful dialogue, especially as the Gwaltabi incident is not trivial issue.

The President's Rule regime must acknowledge that the Gwaltabi incident is being seen by the masses as execution ofthe hidden agenda to balkanise the state and obliterate Manipur

. With the May 20 incident deeply hurting the people's sentiment possibility of the excesses committed by the security forces against the women protesters on Sunday triggering protest of unprecedented scale cannot be ruled out.

In such a scenario, security forces, whose authorities perceive maintaining the buffer zone and keeping the warring communities within their respective territories more important than facilitating free movement along the under-siege national highways, might face an uphill task in controlling the frenzied protesters.

With the administrators under the PR government seemingly unconcerned with the evolving situation, it is hoped that the ensuing meeting between the MHA officials and the COCOMI delegation at-least help in defusing the growing tension in the state over the Gwaltabi incident.