Surrender deadline ends, public lens on centre
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: March 08, 2025 -

WITH 50 per cent of the arms looted from police armouries suspected to be either in possession of the village volunteers or already sold to anti-social elements and armed groups, it is obvious that the government authorities would intensify search operations in the coming days as effective disarmament of the communities in conflict remains the surest means to aid the administration in accelerating pace of the normalisation process.

During the two weeks of amnesty period, many civilians have deposited illegally possessed firearms, thereby indicating that the public trust Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla to keep his promise of finding solution to the nearly two-year old conflict in the state.

On the last day of the deadline for surrendering looted and illegally held weapons set by the Governor, at least 77 firearms including 34 in the valley and 43 in hill districts along with large number of ammunition, explosives and other military gears were handed over to security authorities in different districts, thereby implying that the general population are not interested in prolonging the crisis.

Pending recovery or surrender of the remaining looted weapons, security authorities should acknowledge that by voluntarily handing over 850 firearms till date after the Governor made his first appeal on February 20, the people are aware about futility of abetting the crisis.

With Manipur seeing deployment of unprecedentedly large number of central armed police forces, rounding up the disruptive elements or foiling subversive activities of non-state actors doesn't seem to be an arduous task in case there is sincerity on the part of the security authorities, and synergy between the security forces and the various intelligence agencies.

While possibility of surrendering some of the missing arms in the coming days cannot be ruled out in case the administration could prevent firing incidents through stringent enforcement of preventive measures, the general population would be keeping a close tab on whether or not the Union home ministry translates into action the assurance given to allow free movement of civilians on the state and national highways, which for now are off-limit to both the warring communities.

By dismantling some of the illegal bunkers set up along the highways on the ground that these bunkers were used for extortion activities and to ensure disturbance-free movement, the central government demonstrated that it is prepared to firm tackle elements which are averse to the idea of peace and normalcy returning to the state.

However, simply demolishing the bunkers cannot guarantee safe movement to civilians along the highways as fruition of the centre's initiative to restore order would depend entirely on deployment of security personnel in adequate strength, issuance of firm directive to the men and women in uniform to assert their presence and zero tolerance against whoever tries to sabotage the peace initiatives.

As the centre is certain to be fully aware about by now which among the two warring communities is yearning for peace, and who had been abetting the violence, the efforts to put Manipur back on track must include conveying a strong message to armed outfits, which have signed peace agreements with the government, that violation of ground rules of the treaties would be dealt with an iron hand.