Neutral communities no more safe
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: January 09, 2025 -

SINCE the first few weeks of the Kuki-Meetei clash till date, incidents of miscreants targeting people belonging to the neutral communities continue to crop up intermittently and there is no guarantee that such unwarranted violence wouldn't recur in the near future due to presence of rogue elements among the warring communities.

With no sign of the crisis abating any sooner in-spite of the union government rushing in additional companies of central armed police forces to aid the state government in maintaining law and order, the law enforcement authorities can't be expected to work out and put in place strategies effective enough to shield the neutral communities from harassment or assault, partly due to complicity of some particular neutral communities, and primarily on account of rogue youths getting hyper active.

While harassment owing to mistaken identity is excusable to an extent, it is the increasing instances of abuse and assault of the neutral communities even after establishing his/her identify which has the potential to complicate and prolong the crisis.

Civil societies of the parties in dispute might find a way to settle sensitive issues peacefully but committing repeated offences would definitely compel the victimised communities to retaliate.

While it is commendable that in some cases leaders of civil societies of the affected communities prevented escalation of tension after the accused party promptly tendered public apology and assured to initiate punitive action against the guilty persons, there had been handful of incidents of assault and firing attack which remain unsolved till date, thereby indicating that the victim parties would still be nursing the wounds, literally, and looking for an opportunity to settle score.

Among other incidents of causing harm to the neutral communities, back in July 2023 slaying of a harmless woman in an outlaying Meetei village evoked widespread condemnations, including from many valley-based civil society organisations decrying the beastly act, and demanding that the perpetrators be punished stringently as per the law so as to prevent recurrence of similar unwanted incidents in the future.

Some civil bodies even suspected that the victim was targeted intentionally to either drag in the neutral communities into the conflict or was instigated by adversary elements to portray the Meetei community as barbaric.

As such the latest incident of a Naga woman, who was overseeing ground levelling work for construction of her house at Konsakhul K Lungwiram village in Kangpokpi district, thrashed by some Kuki miscreants on Tuesday, merit urgent intervention by leaders of Kuki civil society leaders, failing which the issue might get out of hand and spark undesired situation.

As there is no point in shielding the guilty, Kuki civil bodies should candidly admit the misdemeanour of the culprits, act with maturity and reach out to the aggrieved party, for prolonging and complicating the violence would only cause inconveniences to the general population, and not the so-called public leaders.

Seriousness of the issue could be comprehended from Naga bodies strongly condemning the incident, and terming the attack and molestation of the woman premeditated and a direct affront to identity and dignity of Naga people as a whole.

Moreover, a particular Naga organisation serving 48-hour ultimatum to leadership of the perpetrating community to issue a formal and sincere apology in writing to both the victim and the Naga people, underscore the general sentiment of the neutral community.