Indifferent Delhi, lost Imphal : Scripting the tragedy
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 07, 2023 -

An indifferent Delhi and a lost Imphal.

A near perfect cocktail to complement the design at work behind the mindless violence that has claimed over 140 lives, reduced numerous houses to ashes, rendered thousands homeless sending them to relief centres while many have gone missing.

The story of the opposites - of mindless violence and a method - should be clear to all, but what is the way forward ?

Imphal is still lost, not able to tell the right from the left, while Delhi has remained aloof to the extent of being indifferent to the vast tale of human tragedy that is unfolding across the length and breadth of Manipur.

Go to YouTube and this tragedy is perhaps best visible in the arms training imparted to boys as young as 19/20/21 and mentally trained to know their enemies - a fabricated nemesis - all caricatured by the imaginative and fertile minds of the adults who have no compunction in poisoning the young minds.

The propaganda machinery of Nazi Germany is not something which the youngsters will get to read only in History textbooks, for they are living it and interacting with such minds on an almost daily basis.

The result is the tragedy that strikes Manipur on a daily basis, ever since the evening of May 3.

The hate propaganda is complete on either side of the clash divide and this is written in bold over the bodies and the blood spattered scene of the three persons, including a father-son duo, who were hacked and then shot dead in the wee hours of August 5 at Kwakta in Bishnupur district.

As The Sangai Express has documented the story from the people of Kwakta on August 5, it is more than apparent that it was only the dogs which gave them some sort of a pre-warning with their incessant barking just a little after the clock had struck 12 am on August 5.

It was again the dogs that woke up the people at about 1.30 am but by then the Kuki militants had already entered the village and then went about systematically picking out the three Meiteis and slaughtering them in the dead of the night or the wee hours of August 5.

How did the fully armed Kuki militants cross the much trumpeted buffer zone is a question for which no answer has been received even 24 hours after the triple murder.

This question should be answered and the onus of answering this question should lie on the security personnel tasked with the job of ensuring that it serves its purpose.

What would be the answer of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who reportedly instructed Chief Minister N Biren to take care of the valley area while the hills would be his responsibility.

The Centre has taken grave note of the arms and ammunition looted from the police armouries in the valley area but it is important that questions be raised on how the guns continue to fire from the hills.

From where have the guns come from ?

Where have the endless rounds of bullets come from ? Or aren’t these points noted at all ?

The frontline is the place that youngsters undergoing arms training somewhere at Churachandpur have set their eyes on and obviously weapons is not the issue, it appears.

This should more than jolt the Centre awake to the fact that they need to look beyond the arms looted from the different police armouries and such armouries have been looted not only at the valley but also in the hills.

Why has no one in Delhi spoken out on this ?

It is this double standard approach that will run counter to the idea of urging the people to work out a way for peace and normalcy to return.

Given the situation and the harsh reality, expecting one group to just sit back and become sitting ducks for practise shooting from the hills would sound grossly unfair and far removed from the reality.

Delhi should take note of the slogan, ‘Peace later, solution first‘ that has been raised and the agenda behind sticking to such a slogan.