Two wrongs do not make a right : Firing at the foothills
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 12, 2023 -

Two wrongs obviously do not make a right. This is the universal truth.

But there is also the need to study the two wrongs and pointing fingers at only one wrong is not exactly looking at the way forward.

More than 4000 arms are believed to have been looted from the police armouries with some being returned or recovered after the combing operations that followed soon.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has more than made it clear that the missing arms should be returned and the concern expressed by the man from Delhi is understandable and appreciated.

The same line of thought has also been echoed by numerous conflict experts and people who can have a hand in taking Manipur on to the track of normalcy and peace.

So in whose hands are the allegedly stolen weapons ?

Apart from this poser, does it mean that the guns being fired are only those stolen from the police armouries ?

Can one attribute the bullets that have been raining on the settlements at the foothills as coming from the guns that have been ‘picked’ from the armouries ?

Or are the reports published in the newspapers to this effect in the last couple of days cooked up by the fertile minds of the newsboys in the newsrooms ?

So if the Government has expressed a sense of dismay and struck a tough pose on the arms being taken away from the armouries, then shouldn’t a similar stand be adopted on the guns that are being used in the hills ?

There are also indications that save for those who were killed in the mob violence at Imphal and in the valley districts, the other deaths were mostly due to bullet injuries.

Were all the injuries inflicted by the guns stolen from the armouries ?

Perhaps the ‘experts’ may be in a better position than The Sangai Express to give a coherent reply to this poser.

This question is also closely linked to the gun brandishing ‘heroes’, the video clip of which has gone viral, who made their presence felt during the May 3 peace rally held under the theme Tribal Solidarity March at Churachandpur.

Just a few days back, the Kuki Inpi, Manipur talked about the changing narrative, but as a responsible apex body of the Kuki community it should not forget how Torbung was attacked and set on fire on May 3 after the Tribal Solidarity March.

This is the vital link in the narrative that should not be given a miss.

This vital link should not be clouded by the doctored propaganda that envelops the act of setting on fire the Anglo-Kuki War Centenary Gate at Leisang Vaiphei Kuki village on May 3.

As the name itself suggests, the Centenary Gate is located at a Vaiphei-Kuki village, which is just 7.5 kilometres away from Churachandpur town.

Plain logic says that no Meitei would have had the temerity or foolhardiness to venture to a Kuki village and set on fire a gate which is held in high esteem by the Kuki people.

And certainly not on May 3, a day when the highly charged Tribal Solidarity March was in progress at Churachandpur town.

The finger of accusation pointed to some ‘miscreants’ should never have been qualified by the term Meitei and give it a totally doctored version.

It should also not be forgotten than a good many Kuki people had left Imphal just a few days before the May 3 rally.

More than enough pointers that the first match stick that was struck at Torbung was done so after considerable homework.

These are points which should not be swept aside under such high sounding slogans as ‘separate administration’ or ‘solution first, peace later’ for this is nothing much more than giving a twist to the situation and make people forget to raise the questions which are very relevant to the ongoing clash.

Answers to the points raised would be solicited though silence is the only answer one can expect.

Any answer would be self defeating for the trouble mongers and it is by adopting confrontationist positions that they can hope to remain significant.