Lethal dispute over a picnic spot : Senseless body bags
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 03, 2012 -

It is senselessly pathetic and tragic.

Will the body bags decide who has ownership rights over the disputed land, a popular picnic spot known as Phangrei in Ukhrul district ?

From the little that we know, the dispute over Phangrei peak between Sihai village and Lunghar village dates back some years and while this dispute may linger or is resolved, can anyone say that the loss of three precious lives was worth it ?

Professing the same religion, Christianity, and claiming to belong to the same tribe, Tangkhul in Ukhrul district, the blinkers on the eyes of some of these villagers need to be removed and fast.

Land dispute is not unique to Sihai and Lunghar villages, but the deep rooted sense of hatred that took an identifiable form in the death of three villagers on June 30 is something that is removed from the normal and the average.

Such hatred does not belong to the realm of humanity either. It defies logic for the simple fact stands that body bags or the statistics of the dead and the injured are not going to decide to whom the land belongs.

This is a fact that should register in the minds of the villagers lest the deadly clash sows seeds of further confrontation.

Machetes, knives, lethal weapons and physical confrontations are not going to be the deciding factor of ownership and the sooner this is realised the better it would be for everyone.

Today, it is Sihai village which has to weep for its dead and if hostilities or even an idea of revenge continues to dog the minds of the villagers, then more tears will flow.

This is the only thing that can be said with certainty and it is up to the villagers concerned to decide which way they want to traverse. Hostility begets more hostilities and there is nothing healthy about this.

Hatred or the yearning for revenge can only blind a people to the reality and render them immobile and the time calls for everyone to have a clear vision of the future and accordingly take their steps towards the right direction.

In as much as the issue is between two villages, it is also about the bigger Tangkhul family and the whole people of Manipur. And it is here that civil society organisations should step in and bring the two villages to the negotiating table.

The task for the Tangkhul Naga Long, the Tangkhul Mayar Ngala Long, Tangkhul Wungnao Long, Tangkhul Katamnao Saklong and the Church and civil society organisations representing other communities as well as community elders are cut out.

Young as they were, the three men who died in the bloody clash probably did not know the genesis of the dispute much less on the ownership of the picnic spot and this is where their deaths become all that more senseless.

A piece of land, a picnic spot is the reason that three lives were so abruptly cut short and the sense of tragedy becomes all that more acute.

The proverbial six feet by six feet of piece of land that one is entitled to at the time of death cannot be more significant than now.

As the past has shown us, there could be a number of vested interested elements whose sole agenda would be to sow the seeds of hatred and animosity in the current situation and it is these elements which the people of the two villages should seek to unmask and throw out.

There can be only be a way forward and that is to peacefully discuss the issue and come to an understanding.

Let the death of the three persons open the eyes of the people of Lunghar and Sihai.