A diversionary war tactic and a bigger question
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: September 29, 2023 -

IT'S really sad that Manipur is on the boil again after some photos of two students, who went missing since July 6, surfaced on social media within days of restoring mobile internet service that had remained shut down following the outbreak of violent clashes between the Meetei/Meetei and Kuki-Chin communities since May 3 last.

After some semblance of returning to normalcy in the tiny northeastern state, emergence of the disturbing photos, one of which shows the two missing students, a boy and a girl, sitting on the ground in fear with armed Kuki militants seen in the background while another showing their lifeless bodies slumped beside a boulder, has once again brought to the fore the deep divide between the two communities that has been created by some fringe elements to advance their nefarious agenda.

Angry over the failure of the state administration and its police force to trace and save the two missing two students while there was still time, agitated students across the valley have been coming out on the streets demanding justice despite declaration of holidays in all educational institutions.

Unfortunately, the demand for justice raised by the unarmed young students in school and college uniforms has been met with brute force unleashed by the state police and RAF personnel, resulting in grievous injuries to many, some of whom may be maimed for life.

The brutal crackdown of the security personnel on the student protesters, who are only demanding justice for the two innocent students whose lives have been nipped in the bud while in the captivity of armed Kuki militants, has also acted like pouring oil into an already blazing fire, thus, making the state to boil again.

While the photos of the two missing students which went viral on social media have shaken the collective consciousness of the country, the timing of releasing these photos when the strife-torn state is slowly limping back to normalcy has raised some pertinent questions on the violent conflict between the Meitei/Meetei and Kuki-Chin communities, which has been going on for close to five months now.

Even though the first spark of the current violence was lit in Churachandpur district on May 3 last following a Tribal Solidarity March taken out in protest against the directive given by the High Court of Manipur to the Government of Manipur for sending recommendation to the centre in connection with the demand for granting ST status to Meitei/Meetei community, today everyone is becoming fully aware of the fact that the said protest march was only a ruse devised by leaders of Kuki-Chin community towards attaining their ultimate dream of 'Zalengam' or the "Land of Freedom".

From a close study on the pattern of the ongoing violent conflict, one could also notice that every time there is some semblance of normalcy returning in the state, something always come up to put the state on the boil again.

The current tense situation in the state exactly fits this pattern.

As World Meetei Council has pointed out, why would the Kuki militants release the photos of the two missing students that reveal their ultimate fate and implicate themselves for the heinous crime if it is not for diverting the attention of the people so that they could harvest poppies without any disturbance and interference from anyone.

If this is the case, then why the BJP Government in the state and its Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who is supposedly fighting a War on Drug, has not shown any seriousness to the offer made by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to a delegation of Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) recently for providing IAF's planes in destroying the poppy plantations if the state government request for it?

This is another bigger question that needs to be answered by the Chief Minister, especially in the light of diversionary tactic of warfare being employed for prolonging the humanitarian crisis in the state.