Time to say enough is enough
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: October 05, 2023 -

THE ongoing humanitarian crisis in the northeastern state of Manipur has completed five months with no sign of possible resolution any sooner.

Even though there has been no report of any fresh gunfight, tension continues to run high in this tiny multi-ethnic state.

The crisis that broke out on May 3 last following clashes between the Meetei/Meitei and Kuki Chin communities after a Tribal Solidarity March organised by All Tribal Students' Union, Manipur (ATSUM) against the directive of the High Court to the state administration for sending recommendation to the centre for inclusion of Meitei/Meetei in the ST category turned violent in Churachandpur district.

The violence that broke out in Churachandpur where the houses of Meetei/Meitei were targeted, before it soon spread to other Kuki-Chin dominated areas like Kangpokpi and Moreh, forced the angry Meetei/Meitei people living in the valley area to retaliate.

The crisis has not only left a trail of destruction on both sides of the class divide, but also caused untold suffering to people of other communities who have remained neutral and stayed away from taking part in the conflict.

According to the state's police department, since the outbreak of the violent conflict on May 3 evening till September 13,175 people have lost their lives, 32 people are missing, 1108 people suffered varied degrees of injuries and 4786 houses reduced to ashes.

Of the 175 people who lost their lives, the identities of 165 have been established. And again, out of these 175 people killed, bodies of 79 have been claimed while mortal remains of 96 victims are still lying unclaimed in the mortuaries of JNIMS (26), RIMS (28) and Churachandpur District Hospital (42).

If the 32 missing cases, which could very well be concluded as death by now are added, then the total death toll in the ongoing crisis could be rounded off to 207 without any question.

With the impact of the five-month long humanitarian crisis being felt by people of all the communities in the state, it's time to find means and ways of bringing peace and normalcy by joining hands.

As we have stated through this column earlier, no one is going to gain anything from the current crisis.

The history of human civilisation is a long testimony to the futilities of war and bloodshed.

So, there is no point in allowing the violent confrontation to go on when it could bring nothing good but miseries to all.

We need to identify the forces behind the current crisis and understand their devilish plan of pitting one community against another.

Common men and women whose daily activities for eking out living have been thrown into total chaos since the crisis erupted should not allow themselves to be used as pawn by those so-called leaders on either side of the class divide who are acting at the behest of divisive forces and whipping up public sentiments.

It is time to think over what kind of future we are going to bequeath to our children who have been forced to take shelter in relief camps which could never be the substitute of their homes and hearths from which they have been uprooted.

Instead of allowing our children, who are the future hope of the society, to live with emotional and in some cases physical scars of the communal hatred unleashed by their elders, we should demand justice for every victim who have lost their lives and allow the law to take its own course.

Now that the entry of National Investigation Agency (NIA) has revealed a larger conspiracy at play in fuelling the present crisis, we should no longer remain blind.

In the last five months, the two warring communities have done enough harm to each other.

It's time for all of us to say enough is enough.