Peace for all through legal ways

Lt Gen (Dr) Konsam Himalay Singh (Retd) *

On Oct 25, The Sangai Express carried a thought provoking article "Oh Manipur, My Manipur" by PC Lawmkunga, former Chief Secretary of Manipur Govt. The Hindu dated 24 Oct 24 also had a middle page impressive article on Manipur by Dheeraj Murthy, an Advocate in Telangana High Court and Faizan Mustafa, Vice Chancellor of Chanakya Law University, Bihar.

Both these articles made me ponder over the critical issues yet once again currently faced by our State, reflecting my own thoughts as also an idea or two from these articles. Lawmkunga, besides an emotive expression of love for Manipur of the yore, has also called for "setting up a negotiating table and convince the belligerents to embrace the spirit of "forgive and forget"".

At this time of grave crisis we need to accommodate genuine and sensible ideas to be digested and taken forward. The much talked about recent meeting between the MLAs of the three major communities organized under the aegis of MHA recently at Delhi is a landmark ice-breaker towards conflict resolution in Manipur, as alluded to by Sri Lawmkunga.

Sri Murthy and Mr Mustafa have called for a "Constitutional way to peace" as the only way ahead. In this they have called for "Diversity management" through the Cons- titution to ensure "cultural autonomy" to achieve political stability". To my understanding both these profound ideas have been discussed many times over during the last few decades since the beginning of separatists movements in the NE Region.

I do believe that many valuable inputs are readily available with the authorities. However conflicting demands have pro- longed the case of Manipur due to its unique history. Once described as "An ally of Her Majesty, the queen of England" who ruled over the corners of the world where the sun did not set, Manipur today is in a state where many angels from outside fear to tread !

How do we go ahead ? I am tempted to quote once again 'The world suffers not because of bad people but because of the silence of the good people'.

Going back to the last 18 months, tt was generally perceived thus far that the Centre has been trying to manage the situation to contain the violence between the hardline elements in the affected communities. Conflict management post 03 May 2023 had logical reasoning among many.

Conflict management entailed various steps such as timely evacuation of affected populations to avoid further harm, large deployment of forces in the sensitive areas, prevention of more violence in the State, welfare of displaced population and operations by the forces to ensure that violence level is kept contained to manageable levels.

The authorities appear to have deliberately avoided combing operations, large scale and focused disarming of the weapons floating around in the society. There were no serious efforts to recover thousands of weapons looted from the police deployed in the valley and hill areas. In many instances, armed groups who caused death among the CAPFs were not targeted by the forces.

Reasons are not difficult to see to chart this mode of handling situation. The authorities perhaps appreciated the level of emotionally charged atmosphere and opted for a low level of conflict management. However, considering various dimensions of National security in the State and in the region, it is becoming untenable to let the situation remain in a state of uncertainty, hoping that things may settle down on its own after a certain degree of fatigue.

It is imperative that the situation in Myanmar is not allowed to be spilled over to our side of the border. In some ways it already has to a large degree, but it can spiral out of control if not handled well. Incalculable destruction and harm have taken place in the State in terms of humanitarian angle, businesses, education, psychological and emotional trauma to the people in general and the young in particular.

As is the lessons from history, at the end of it, nothing can be achieved by wanton violence and hatred for others. The chasm in most facets of societal relations have taken a hit where the wounds will take time to heal.

The way forward should remain dialogue through which a certain level of trusts can be built and suspicions could be reduced among the parties. It is no one dimension process. It is a process involving too many layers often at cross purpose and with opposing personal and group interests.

The world has undergone significant changes and in a very short time. So has aspirations of all groups under the democratic system that we have adopted. It is only likely to change even faster in the future. This brings me to the question as to where do we leave our future generations from here ? Can we afford to be isolated from others and from each other ?

Are we heading towards leaving a divided society based on religion, tribes, hills and plains for the future generations to handle ? Can we ignore the possible fallouts of various multi-dimensional threats in the region including drug trafficking, illegal migrants, arms smuggling, continued weaponisation of the society, environmental degra- dation and unemployment issues ? Can we go further worse than this situation ?

How do we navigate the uncertain outcomes of the NSCN (IM) talks with the Centre ? We have a long way to catch up even with States like Mizoram and Sikkim in the region. We are at the inflection point right now. Much will depend now onwards by the collective decision we take for the destiny of the coming generations. Power sharing modalities of Sikkim and Tripura have been cited as examples in the article of THE HINDU.

In this context, while Sikkimese Bhutias and Lepchas have been empowered under the article 371(F), in the case of Tripura Hindu Deb Barmans and other tribes were empowered via the 6th Schedule of the Constitution after the Tripura Accord in 1988.

In both the States in question, the power sharing was in favour of the erstwhile ruling class who were relegated to a minority status over time, altering the "socio-political history" of their respective erstwhile ancient and independent kingdoms.

In the case of Manipur, Meiteis in particular, it's the fear and apprehension that similar fate awaits them in the near future without a possibility of similar protection in the future due to their not being scheduled as tribes in the Constitution. Meiteis claim that most tribes, scheduled or unscheduled, have similar identity within the erstwhile Manipur Kingdom.

Presently, their identity is clubbed with many advanced communities in other parts of the country, thereby depriving them of the "protection mechanism" of the Constitutional machinery. It is a fact that the Manipuri Hindus do have their distinctive and uniqueness within the larger Hindu faith alongside the Sana-mahi faith.

The coming of Christianity in the last 200 years has also altered the socio-economic panorama of the State. This needs to be factored in while proposing any special power arrangements to allay concerns over safeguards to this tiny island of cultural identity.

The words of Swami Vivekananda haunt me as I recollect his words- 'Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached.' I do believe that the goal for most of us remain the identity and integrity of our State, Manipur.

Further to achieve reasonable progress of our society, we should endeavor to be economically strong, a higher qua- lity of education, reduced poverty, where rule of law exists, where facts override the rumours, a society where our beliefs are aligned to realities of the times and more. As we see today, we are a distant path to our goals. The law of diminishing returns has begun to play out.

Many variables remain constant in the situation at present, therefore, no further input of force application from any side is likely to bring desirable returns. Defining any notion of gain or loss by the conflicting parties in such a gray zone situation is risky. Restoration of status quo ante ie pre 03 May 2023 should be the first aim of the authorities.

It sounds a difficult proposition at present, but the effort should be to work towards this end state. The political dialogue between the representatives of the people should continue to engage with each other with the full backing of the CSOs and the Centre. The dialogue must focus on the facts and realities. There have been far too many manufactured and constructed ideas and narratives during the crisis.

The existence of such narratives in the pasts have also been discovered recently. These should not be allowed to derail the process of dialogue. It is unthinkable to imagine Separate Administration or Union Territory status for any of over 34 ethnic groups in the State. Existing Constitutional and other legal safeguards need a relook to ensure equitable opportunities and development for all groups.

While the roads and other infrastructures in many hill area in pathetic conditions, it is also true that the similar conditions exists in the remote corners of the valley also barring the capital city area of Imphal and surrounding areas where private entrepre- neurship is highly developed.

It is desirable to order a Central Govt agency to study in detail about the alleged inequality in distribution of administrative funds and resources, HDI and other opportunities between the hill and valley districts. This proposed exercise should clearly bring out the facts on ground as also help in future development plans.

The agency should take into account all official and legally established aspects of governance since the merger of the kingdom with the Indian State such as Land, Forest, employment and all such relevant matters. Opportunities available across the board in a wider sense to each of the community should be studied in details.

The main thrust of narrative in present times appear to be the fear of possibility of valley dwellers grabbing land from the hills. It is unthinkable at present that many valley dwellers will like to settle in the remote hills except for limited economic activities, that too in collaboration with the locals of hill villages.

It is important to note that any future development in the hill areas will be made far easier with the monetization of restricted land with economic potential by ensuring greater economic activity while ensuring proper safeguards for the land owners there. Himachal or Uttarakhand land models may also be considered for the protection of high population density areas in the valley areas as well.

It may be relevant to mention here that the present population density in the hills are estimated to be approximately 70-150 per Sq Km while the same will be in the region of 800-1100 in the valley areas.

For the way forward, mutual understanding of the existing and well established laws between the ethnic groups need to be factored in while formulating the way ahead. The Centre will be expected to assert the long term National security imperatives in the region while strategizing short and long term objectives.

The security agencies will also be expected to take actions to recover the remaining looted arms approximately a thousand in the hills and over three thousand in the valley areas, deter any proliferation and use of arms, and to disarm the illegal armed groups. The status of the SOO/COO groups need to be looked at from long term security imperatives rather than short term arrangements.

The rehabilitation of the displaced people in their original places is the one key factor in any long term solution. It is time that our CSOs support genuine efforts to manage and end the conflict in greater interests of the future of our future generations and for a relatively peaceful Manipur. May the angels of peace bless our State.