A twist to the War on Drugs drive : Worrying incursions
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: February 07, 2023 -

Giving a more mysterious twist to the War on Drugs and while the Government seems nowhere near unmasking or pulling up the big fishes-the people with the needed financial and muscle power to operationalise the ‘drug business’, the offensive launched against poppy plantations in the hills has already claimed the life of a VDF personnel.

At the moment no one seems to know who was responsible for the death of VDF personnel, Ningombam Premananda, but it stands that he went missing while on a poppy destruction drive launched by the Government and his lifeless body was recovered only after a massive manhunt.

One can only rely on the findings of the judicial inquiry which has been promised by the State Government but the death of the VDF personnel under mysterious circumstances has given a new twist to the drive against large scale poppy plantations in the hills of Manipur.

Who was responsible for the death of the VDF personnel ?

A question at the moment, but the answer to this could go a long way in taking the fight against the drug menace a step or two upward.

The Government must have noted the importance of the answer to the question and the judicial inquiry assured to the JAC formed in connection with the death of the VDF personnel should hopefully throw some significant light on the fight against the drug menace.

Or if the death was not in any way related to the drive against drugs, then questions may still arise, why the VDF man was done to death during a poppy destruction drive.

Questions which the Government should answer for the man was found dead while discharging his official duty.

This is the best farewell that can be given to a man who died while in the process of discharging his official duty. Linking the death of the VDF personnel to the drive against drugs or more precisely to the poppy destruction drive may look like jumping the gun at the moment, but it stands that the mysterious death has already given a new twist to the understanding of the drug cartel, which has already taken a heavy toll on the people and the State.

And even as the State Government is burdened with the War on Drugs, compounded by the mysterious death of the VDF personnel, the number of Myanmar citizens being detected and pulled up in the last many months, is another worry.

Officially over 200 Myanmarese have been pulled up since 2022, but the important point is not to let the matter end with the detection and ‘arrest’ of the illegal immigrants.

It is much more than just a question of detecting a good number of foreign Nationals on the soil of Manipur, and the Government must take note of this.

The answer to how they entered Manipur on the sly may be understood given the porous international border and the question of greater import is, who are the people who felicitated their entry ?

Who gave them the initial shelter once they entered Manipur and lived amongst the local people ?

Shouldn’t those who provided shelter to them be also pulled up ?

These are points which the Government will need to study with the merit they deserve for as stated many times in this column, it would not be that difficult for the illegal migrants from across the border to merge with the local population and in such cases the complications that will arise in due course of time is something which need not be elaborated here.

Manipur has already seen it first hand. Understandable that the focus of the Government is on the War on Drugs at the moment, but it cannot turn a blind eye to the incursions from across the border.

It would not be difficult at all for the illegal migrants from across the border to merge with the local population and this can obviously impact on the scarce resources of the indigenous folks, particularly land.

Already the unprotected valley area is exposed to the grave possibility of being swamped by unknown entities which may not have anything in common with the place called Manipur and already the outcome is being felt in many places of Imphal.