From March 8, 2025 to April 22, 2025 : Heinou Makhong to Raj Bhavan
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 22, 2025 -

The free movement call from March 8 ended in a fiasco.

Hot air with nothing to show that some sincere efforts had been put in to realise the call of Union Home Minister Amit Shah but what steps have been taken up or are in the pipeline to open the highways to all section of the people ?

Or is Delhi really serious about opening the highways ?

Apart from the joint Delhi meet held under the aegis of the Union Home Ministry on April 5, what other steps have been taken up to resolve the ongoing crisis ?

More importantly, is the Union Home Ministry satisfied with the outcome of the joint meeting ?

Nothing on this has been said so far and there could be a reason for keeping quiet on the outcome of the meeting, but it is heartening to note that at least some efforts have been taken up to bring the Meitei and the Kuki-Chin communities to the negotiating table under the aegis of Delhi.

This is a suggestion which The Sangai Express had floated since the early days of the ongoing clash and though it has come rather late in the day, at least a beginning has been made.

This is what can be discerned.

That the Kuki-Chin representatives refused to sign on the points drawn up by the Union Home Ministry after the meeting is something which must or should have been noted and while many points may be looked into the line, ‘will first consult with the people’ one thing emerges clearly.

The Kuki-Chin representatives did not have the mandate to represent the people they claim to represent and Delhi must have noted what they meant by ‘first consult with the people’ line.

Nobody in Manipur is naive not to read between the lines and understand who or what the ‘people’ meant.

This is what stood out glaringly from the Delhi meet but the Centre still seems reluctant to acknowledge the fact.

And it is for this very reason why allegations of a proxy war have been flying thick and fast.

Out Heinou Makhong, in Raj Bhavan and this is as per the script laid down by Delhi, but apart from the guns going silent and the call to surrender all illegal arms, what are the other meaningful steps that have been taken up so far ?

Not a question that can be answered with the snap of the finger, for the fact is, there is nothing much to suggest that things have taken a turn for the better.

Guns going silent cannot exactly be equated with normalcy returning and the Government certainly need to look beyond this.

For starters, Delhi should work towards hosting the second round of talks with the firm stand that nonsense will not be tolerated.

On March 8 the free movement call of the Union Home Minister was punctured with disdain.

On April 5, the Delhi meet call was left half baked with the Kuki-Chin representatives refusing to append their signature to the points laid down by the Union Home Ministry and the annual religious pilgrimage to Mount Thangjing was blocked.

The efforts being taken up is noted, but has any of the points raised by Manipur been answered ?

This is the question that needs an answer. True Delhi has decided to start fencing the Indo-Myanmar border and put certain restrictions on the Free Movement Regime, but will these steps answer the question of defanging the drug cartel ?

After Manipur went up in flames on May 3, 2023, cases of drug seizure from the highways of Manipur have come down drastically or there have been no reports of huge seizure of drugs.

Rather the focus has shifted to Mizoram. How about poppy plantations ?

With the coming of President’s Rule reports of poppy fields being destroyed or razed to the ground have dropped drastically and more importantly has the War on Drugs campaign been put on hold ?

These are questions which only the PR regime can answer, but poppy plantations and drugs are points which are central to the eruption of the violence on May 3, 2023.

And Delhi should also note the fact that violence on May 3, 2023 did not start at Imphal or in any of the valley districts but at Churachandpur which quickly spread to Kangpokpi and Moreh.

Imphal and the valley districts retaliated only late in the evening of May 3, 2023.

These are facts that should be kept in mind, even as Raj Bhavan and Delhi search for the path that will put Manipur on the road of normalcy.