More than sighting a flying object : Still unidentified
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 21 2023 -

Twenty four hours later and there is no answer yet.

Tough to say whether there will be any answer in the coming days, but it is clear that it was an unidentified flying object.

Not the UFO that one generally associates with an unidentified object seen flying around on very rare occasions, complete with the said object crashing on a wasteland and aliens emerging in a fume of smoke or a thick haze of smog.

Not something any imaginative six or seven or eight year old child would come up with, but it did leave Imphal in daze for quite sometime in the afternoon of November 19.

No reports of machines or computers or any of the high tech gizmos installed at the airport and nearby going kaput but it sure did pique everyone's interest coupled with, a sense of foreboding, given the current situation that Manipur finds herself in.

The Imphal office of the Airports Authority of India did no better with no explanation forthcoming except a two line statement that explained why the sighting of an unidentified flying object within controlled airspace led to the diversion of two incoming flights and the delay of three departing flights.

Flight operations commenced after receipt of clearance from the competent authority was the two line statement that came from the Director of Imphal International Airport.

The question uppermost in the mind of everyone is what was or is the unidentified flying object ?

With no clear cut answer coming on this count and with the prevailing situation in Manipur, compounded by the upheaval in neighbouring Myanmar and the on and off position of China and Russia on the situation, speculations continue to fly with the more fertile imagination coming up with some fantastic theories.

Reports have also come in of the Indian Airforce sending two Rafale jets from the Hasimara Air Force Station, Alipurduar district, West Bengal to get an account of the sighting and that is the last that is heard of the follow up action and the said flying object continues to remain unidentified.

So the UFO continues to remain that-unidentified-and it did send waves across the country with the office of The Sangai Express receiving calls from places as diverse as Delhi, Bengaluru and Ukhrul late into the evening to inquire about the sighting of the said flying object.

With no satisfactory explanation received, conspiracy theories have done the round and are still doing the round.

Not surprising, for remember the situation in Manipur and the ongoing clashes at Myanmar and many 'experts' have joined in to connect the dots though no pattern can be seen from the exercise of connecting the dots or dotting the Is.

This is where AAI, Imphal would need to come out with more than just a two line statement on the sighting of the flying object within the controlled airspace of Imphal.

One respects the official protocol, but remember the case of the UFO flying within the controlled airspace of the Imphal International Airport should be seen and understood as some sort of an invasion on the air space of the country and this concerns everyone.

Conspiracy theories which are doing the round can only be to the detriment of Manipur and hence India in the long run and o'ne certainly expects a better explanation.

It was something much more than a couple of flights being diverted or delayed.

There is a reason why the unidentified object in the air made it as, the lead news in all the major newspapers published in Imphal.

Or if it was a case of much ado about nothing, then this should be admitted and made known to the public.

The situation in Manipur does not need a reminder and with everyone on tenterhooks and so many more than ready to smell something fishy in anything that may come out of the ordinary, necessary steps should be taken to ensure that, doubts are put to rest as soon as possible.

The present situation in Manipur demands this and this is not asking for something which is beyond the possible.