Skeletons in the 'surrender closet' : Propaganda warfare
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 07, 2012 -

03 cadres of various insurgent groups operating in Manipur laid down their arms on 30 April 2012 :: Pix - David M Mayum

That propaganda warfare has become central to CI-Ops as well to those who have raised the banner of 'revolt' against the Government of India is old hat now.

'Home Coming Ceremony' is the catch phrase coined by the Government or the security forces to highlight, publicise and hype any surrender ceremony of underground cadres with the underground outfits countering and rubbishing the claims of the Government or the Army/Assam Rifles as nothing less than a drama staged for effect.

Such is the nature of the situation in Manipur today that the theatre of conflict can no longer remain confined within the jungles and guerrilla warfare or within the understanding of laying ambushes or over running camps or any kind of pitched battles but has to move to the realm of the civil population and nowhere is this more pronounced than the propagandist statements that have been issued from time to time by either the Army/Assam Rifles/Police and the underground outfits on the other hand.

While claims and counter-claims of inflicting damages against each other are a given in such a situation, the pitch reaches its crescendo whenever there is a highly publicised or high profile surrender ceremony staged either at the headquarters of the 57 Mountain Division at Leimakhong or the headquarters of the IG AR (S) at Mantri-pukhri.

It is not the case of The Sangai Express to opine on the 'reliability' quotient of the two opposing sides, but raising questions on the modalities of the surrender ceremonies is certainly within the realm of any newspaper worth its salt and it was on this premise that an independent investigation was conducted by a team of hand picked staff reporters to file a story on this subject.

It took months to come out with something concrete and so it was that the story headlined 'Skeletons tumble out of surrender tamashas : Not all surrenderees were UGs' was published in the May 5 edition of this paper. The Press Information Bureau (Defence Wing) responded and gave an account on the norms and procedures followed in such cases and while the explanations of the Army may have its merits, it still goes against the grain of what is universally known as the 'ground reality.'

According to records available at The Sangai Express, the number of underground cadres who were paraded during the Home Coming Ceremonies, between September 2011 and April 2012, is 284.

As per an arrangement made by the State Government in consultation with the Union Home Ministry, the surrendered cadres are to be housed and rehabilitated at the Surrenderees Rehabilitation Centre but during the course of the investigation conducted by our team of hand picked staff reporters, it came to light that there were less than 20 surrendered cadres at this Centre, which has a capacity of housing only 30.

The question that naturally follows is where are the other surrendered cadres ?

The statement from the PIB (DW) has not elaborated on this, sidestepping the question on the ground that it is the duty of the State Government to house the surrendered cadres. This is fine, but this still does not answer the question of where all the surrendered cadres are housed or rehabilitated.

The answer is anyone's guess.

Another gaping hole in the explanation given by the PIB (DW) is the statement that the 57 Mountain Division makes it sure that the names of cadres willing to surrender are published in all leading newspapers of Manipur 3/5 days prior to accepting the surrender.

We cannot speak for the other newspapers, but The Sangai Express has received only one such prior information.

Or is this solitary instance enough to rest a claim on ?

As has been pointed out so many times by the mandarins at New Delhi and by the political leaders of Manipur, the solution to the armed movement lies in a political dialogue and surrender and rehabilitation programmes of the cadres who come forward to lay down their arms is part and parcel of this process.

Propagandist approach goes against the spirit of sincerely trying to bring the armed groups to the negotiating table. The situation and the reality does not call for scoring brownie points.