Fanning humanitarian crisis with ingenuity
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: August 22, 2023 -

THE audacity and ingenuity of some people who have working extra hard to create confusion and fan the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the tiny northeastern state of Manipur is simply astounding.

After the recent disconcerting event of the flight tickets booked from the Air Ticketing Counter (ATC) of Air India at Imphal International Airport found displaying the address of the Air India ATC as "Lamka" instead of Imphal, the Meitei localities in the border town of Moreh have been found changed and renamed by Kuki names in the government generated documents like the ration cards issued under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and the health insurance cards provided under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) that were distributed to the Meitei/Meetei people who fled from Moreh following attacks by the armed Kuki-Chin militants and are now taking shelter in different relief centres set up in Imphal and elsewhere.

One could see easily from these government issued documents that the addresses of the people fled from Meitei/Meetei localities that have been existed in the border town since 1940s like Heinou Makhong, Turel Wangma Leikai, Tali Road, Moreh Bazar, Khunou Leikai, Dharmashala Leikai, Premanagar Leikai and Loubuk Leikai have all been altered and replaced by Kuki names like Chikim veng, Phaicham Veng, Molhoi Veng, Ngamkhai Veng, TYangnom, D Monaphai, etc.

For lack of better word and expression, we say, this is just perplexing.

While the earlier issue related to the address of Air India ATC found altered from Imphal to Lamka had been promptly rectified upon detection by the Airport officials who were literally caught off-guard without releasing any official statement on the cause of the "error" despite public outcry, the state government is learnt to have ordered an inquiry at least into the latest controversy surrounding renaming of the original Meitei localities in Moreh by Kuki names in the PMJAY health cards that were distributed for the first phase to beneficiaries from among the displaced people from the border town who are now stayingin the relief camp opened at Ideal Girls' College, Akampat and Kodompokpi Sports Complex, Wangjing after officials of the state revenue department verified the matter.

However, if a similar probe has been ordered or action taken up regarding changing of the original names of the Meitei localities in Moreh by Kuki names in the ration cards issued under NFSA is not known.

Whether the incidents of replacing the address of Air India ATC from Imphal to "Lamka" in the flight tickets or the original Meitei localities in Moreh found to have been changed by Kuki names in the government issued documents like NFSA ration cards and PMJAY health cards are mere technical errors or intentional acts of a larger cyber-warfare launched by the Kuki-Chin people who are raising the demand for a separate administration could not be said with certainty at the moment.

But the presence of some people among our midst who are working extra hard and employing their ingenuity to good use for treating confusion and fanning the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the state is a sure certainty.

Coming at a time when the fury of violent clashes between the Meitei/Meetei and Kuki-Chin communities is only intensifying even after more than three months with no solution in sight, these incidents should not be relegated and swept under the carpet as some innocuous acts of aberration perpetrated by mischief mongers, for it has all the bearings of a larger conspiracy centering around the game plan of claiming ownership over the land and that would have serious implication in the effort of securing the future of the state and its people.

So, the government and its related agencies should use all available means and resources to track down the mischief mongers and make them to face the music.