Call for SA : Mischievously dangerous :: Humanity dead in all
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 07 2023 -

The first match stick that was struck at Torbung and the houses that were razed and levelled to the ground at Churachand-pur on May 3 also took away something intrinsic to all human beings-the humanity inside the person of all Kukis and the Meiteis.

This in a nutshell should explain why the clash should carry on with no signs of abating for over 6 months.

This means over 180 days and this is a long period for any community to be engaged in a sort of a war.

So immune have the people become on either side of the clash divide that it has become some sort of an occasion to ‘celebrate’ when news of anyone on either side of the clash divide is reported to have been felled, either by a bullet or by any weapon that one can lay hands on.

Go to the social media sites and one will surely be greeted by different pages each dedicated to the cause they believe in and one will be bombarded by the series of hate uploads.

The more enterprising ones have also coined some ‘superbly comical’ sounding terms to refer to each other and these terms have invariably entered the lexicon of people on either side of the clash divide.

The hate and smear campaign has caught on and Twitter now called X, is the place to be to highlight one’s stand and run down the agenda of the other.

Judging by what is happening at the ground, there is nothing to indicate that things will take a turn for the better.

It is also clear from Day 1 of the conflict that media based in other parts of the country are out there like hawks to milk the situation and spread the narrative of their liking and in the process make things worse.

The Manipur clash provided the perfect landing ground for some of these pen pushers to pack their bags, come here and write their own manufactured stories and tell their own version of the story or stories to the outside world.

Things appear to have changed a bit with the real story now beginning to hit the consciousness of the people, but the country and the world to an extent continue to suffer from the hangover of consuming too much of the adulterated stories in the earlier days.

This is the reality in Manipur right now and it still defies logic to see why the pen pushers have still not decided to go back to May 3 and study who struck the first match stick at Torbung that set Manipur on flames.

The fact however is, it cannot go on like this forever.

Manipur knows this, the people know this, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) knows this and so do too the Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), the Kuki MLAs who have raised the Separate Administration call know this.

Dialogue is the only way forward and Imphal should take the lead.

Former Chief Minister of Mizoram, Zoramthanga talked about reaching out to Nagaland, but never did he once refer to the need to approach Imphal to talk things over, underlining the point that he was just fishing for trouble and really did not have any intention of taking things to a logical conclusion.

Lay off is a two word commandment that Imphal should offer the former Chief Minister of Mizoram, but yet at the same time avenues should be explored to see how things can be taken to the stage of a talk.

But first of all, be very sure that any sell out of the interests of Manipur and her people will not be acceptable.

If at all Delhi agrees to mediate then Imphal should play its card well.

First thing, it should be made very clear that either the Suspension of Operation pact should be withdrawn or if this is not feasible then it should be reviewed.

That the Separate Administration call is nothing but mischievous, half baked and dangerous to Manipur is clear and it is this very knowledge which has pushed forward this demand via the ten Kuki-Zo MLAs.

Initiate a dialogue but that dialogue should not entertain any proposal or idea that could prove detrimental to Manipur.

‘Cannot live with them anymore’ is a lie which is exposed by the very act of agression started after the rally at Churachandpur.