More than mere sketches : The 'War' of Maps
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 14, 2012 -

Map of Nagalim or Greater Nagaland.

Map of Kuki State.

Map of the erstwhile kingdom of Manipur, stretching up to the Brahma-putra in Assam to the west and South Sea just to the south of Yunan province of China.

Not exactly a war of maps, but the contesting claims on land and territory are unmistakable. History, ancestral lands, indigenous peoples are the terms that have been bandied about to add that degree of legitimacy to the maps drawn up.

The maps that have been churned out by the NSCN (IM), the Kuki State Demand Committee and the International Meetei Forum are not just sketches but reflect the deep ethnic divide that has been tearing the social and political fabric of Manipur apart.

Outlandish is the word that comes to mind, when one takes more than just a cursory look at all the maps that have been drawn up.

Play the ethnic card to its hilt and the end result is undoubtedly the different maps that have been splashed across the pages of the daily newspapers for days now.

Add the politics of blockade, with whatever prefix one might add to it, and the claim over land and territory along ethnic lines becomes all that more clear.

Manipur and her people have been at the receiving end of this type of politics for years now and things cannot get more ludicrous than this.

Map drawing seems to have become the favourite indulgences of some people who know how to churn the ethnic cauldron.

Protecting the territorial integrity of Manipur, Nagalim or Alternative Arrangement and now Kuki State, and sloganeering is another trend that has come to define Manipur today.

Delhi has on more than one occasion said that Nagalim or bringing all Naga inhabited areas under one administrative unit by distorting the territorial boundaries of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Manipur is out of the question.

Years back, when the BJP led NDA Government was in power and the demand for integrating Naga areas was at its highest pitch, the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee delivered a significant political statement in Kohima when he said that the question of integration can be addressed only through consensus.

A fine example of saying what is in the mind of the Government without upsetting the apple cart.

Now that the Kuki State Demand Committee has raised the pitch for a political dialogue with the SoO signatories along with the demand for a Kuki State or Zalengam, it remains to be seen how Delhi deal with the issue at hand.

The State Government, on the other hand, has been clear in stating that carving out a Kuki homeland from the territory of Manipur is not on the agenda of the SoO pact.

Delhi is yet to say anything on this and the KNO too has not responded to the statement of the State Government. Map drawing has taken a new meaning and understanding in Manipur.

And there is nothing to gloss over this.

The situation may appear to be a free for one and all, but ultimately what should be kept in mind is the fact that Manipur cannot become the football of anyone, which can be kicked and passed around. This is the bottom line.