Sharmila-Elizabeth : The beasts in us
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 05, 2010 -

There is nothing in common between them. One was the child of a prominent personality, a Cabinet Minister, from Senapati district while the other comes from a non-descript family in Imphal East. One was studying in one of the most sought after all-girls school in Manipur, Little Flower School, while the other is just a matriculate and the school where she studied is of little importance to the public.

Why this is so, must be clear to all. Vastly different backgrounds, different communities, different religion, but somehow or the other linked by “man manufactured fate” and this is where they may be placed on the same ground-the cruelty of humanity. November 4 is the date that Baby Lungnila Elizabeth, was kidnapped from just outside the campus of her school in 2003 and her decomposed body was found dumped in a gunny bag at Tera Sadokpam Leikai on September 12.

Three years before this ghastly deed, a gutsy, young lady had decided to say enough is enough and today (November 4) marks the tenth year of the fast unto death agitation launched by Irom Chanu Sharmila. A cruel irony, we should say for while Sharmila is waging her lone battle against the state after ten people were killed in indiscriminate firing by Assam Rifles troops on November 2, 2000, the young and innocent life of Baby Lungnila Elizabeth was snuffed out by the hands of some perverted criminals.

Pardon us but we do not have words strong enough to describe the people responsible for the Malom massacre as well as the cold blooded killers of a young girl. It is the level of cruelty that mankind can stoop to, that is frightening and needs to be stopped and this level of cruelty has come in the form and shape of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

The web of mystery, the heard and unheard stories being whispered about, the arrest of the supposedly master mind of the killing, James Kuki, the possible involvement of any high profile personality, or whether there was a political angle or twist to the kidnapping and murder of the little child or whether it was just a case of the kidnappers panicking later and in the process to silence her administered an overdose of chloroform, are all stories linked to Lungnila Elizabeth primarily because the Special Task Force that was formed at that point of time to investigate the case did not come up with any substantial findings, neither has the CBI, whose service has been roped in. The status quo still remains and her killers are yet to be brought to book and no one knows whether justice will be delivered in the end or not.

The story of Sharmila, post November 2, 2000 also follows a somewhat similar trajectory, with no one sure whether the Government of India will wake up to the mounting pressure to scrap the controversial Army Act or buckle under pressure from the influential Defence Ministry. No common background between the two but somehow or the other linked by deliberate acts of cruelty.

The killers of Baby Lungnila Elizabeth carried out their devilish act, under the garb of anonymity, while the Assam Rifles mowed down ten civilians in indiscriminate firing at Malom, under the legal immunity granted by AFSPA.

While we can say that human cruelty is the link between the two girls, on the other hand, another link can be found in the show of solidarity to both Elizabeth and Sharmila by the public of Manipur. It was awesome in both cases. No scientist has been able to discover or define the genes that make beasts out of man and angels out of man too.

The total absence of any sense of human compassion in the killers of Elizabeth and the haughtiness of the Assam Rifles troops that they can open fire at civilians under the glib knowledge of the immunity granted to them starkly stands out in comparison to the humane response from the general public. Maybe this is one mystery or say the beauty and ugly parts of life and the answer may lay beyond the immediate realm.

Delhi knows that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act has outlived its utility and on the contrary has lend a certain degree of legitimacy to the allegations of “State sponsored terrorism” raised by the militants and their sympathisers, either in Kashmir or Manipur. This is why the Prime Minister himself deemed it necessary to constitute the Justice Jeevan Reddy Commission to study the Act in its entirety and hear the response of the public.

And lest it blows over our head, the 2004 intense agitation demanding the revocation of AFSPA, the never before heard nude protest before Kangla after Manorama was done to death by the Assam Rifles after picking her up, may not have touched such dizzying heights if there was no Sharmila. In the same vein, the story of Muheni Martin and Hriini Hubert may not have tugged the hearts of the people that much if the story of Elizabeth remained untold.

So while the Ngajokpa family along with the authorities of Little Flower School and well wishers as well as friends and former classmates of Elizabeth gathered at her old school campus to maybe say a short prayer or pay respect to the departed soul, it is with a tinge of regret and sadness that we find it extremely difficult not to feel entirely guiltless for as adults of society we failed to protect a minor child.

Irom Chanu Sharmila, on the other hand is still alive, but only in the technical sense, and if the situation takes a turn for the worse (God forbid, we pray) then we, as members of the great human species will have to shoulder our share of responsibilities for it would have more than shown that we did not do enough to drill sense into Delhi or failed to take the international community along with us.

We failed in the case of Elizabeth and Hubert and Martin but let's not forget that the Sharmila test is still on and we have miles to go before we call it a day.