What is your philosophy of the 'killings'?

Bishwajit Okram *

'The moral and ethical question is how can one justify or excuse the taking of multiple lives in order to save one's own'.
- Herbert L.A Hart

It will not be preposterous to say that the answer to Herbert's question is very simple, as all the killings, such as being seen in Manipur are the direct or the indirect result of philosophies adopted and practiced by the ones taking such multiple lives. Rightly or wrongly, today, philosophies supposedly to be used in nurturing the society, are directed to destroy our society and humanisms.

The on going violence and killings in Manipur can be likened as those of multiple conflicts that had raged the world before or during the Second World War under different philosophies adopted by different groups and countries. It is indeed a miniature of that kind. Ethnic and community based killings and violence, factional fighting, state sponsored armed groups, stringent Draculian laws of the state (eg.AFSA), deteriorating economy and flourishing corruptions, all for showing their racial supremacy are some of the symptoms of a chaotic and confused society that existed in Europe before or during the Second World War. Are we heading for such a show-down to show our racial supremacy against each other?

My heart sinks and bleeds whenever the news come for any killings , as I consider 'life' the most sacred possession of every human beings. Be it locals or non locals, life is life for every human beings and must be respected by all.

Leave aside what the state is doing as we all know they are no better in saving lives and protecting our rights. But, how about our own people committing the similar crime? Can't we set our own example of tolerance and respect for life? Are we being fooled with some ones' design to protect whatever they considers 'public order' or 'the best interest of society' and other similar terms used to falsely convey an impression of legitimacy and lawfulness? As seen in the past Naga-Kuki killings, Meitei and muslims killings, Locals and non locals killings , killing among tribes and communities, etc. to me they are just like Nazis referred to their racial supremacist 'laws' as the 'law of nature' in order to convey a perception of legitimacy and lawfulness for their otherwise unlawful conduct. For Nazis, this was the philosophy, is it the same philosophy for us too?

This state is at present being ruled and governed by many intolerant totalitarian entities. No matter they are extreme left or extreme right or without any ideological coloration ; tyrannical entities rely on the same manipulation techniques of the positive law philosophy to achieve their nefarious ends. Fascism, Nazism, communism or autocratic society, principally have such common features in their functions and policy of governance as driven by philosophy of positive law. This is what apparently being adopted by non-state entities in Manipur.

Who is responsible?
Not the perpetrators! But, we, the public who remains as mute spectator all the time. Where are those meirapaibis and clubs? Why such indifferent attitude when non-locals are killed in barbaric manner? Where are those Joint Action Committees gone? Why there has been not a single condemnation until now from our civil societies? Where are the torch bearers of our human rights? I think we are under a system governed by positive law philosophies where crimes committed by some people is made possible by the systems, because of the majority which remained silent or indifferent and no one intervened from outside to prevent the commission of the crime, or to stop it after it began. Are we then ready for any future re-percussion? Let's be prepared!

It seems we are in a system driven by such philosophies as discussed above that protect the perpetrators. Frank Naubacher argued that 'the perpetrators of state crimes such as 'crimes against humanity' are often not considered criminal by those in their own society, since their behavior conforms to the expectations of others in that society. Is the same true for us as well? Now, the statutes of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court say very lucidly that crimes against humanity can be committed by non-state entities as well. The recent killings of non-locals in Manipur can be purely termed as an act of crimes against humanity according to these international statutes. Our public must raise their voice against such dastardly acts otherwise it will amount to condoning the illegal acts of such perpetrators. More so, the silence of the public can be interpreted in a different ways by the victims' society.

Lastly but not the least, we must collectively denounce such philosophies of taking innocents lives and prevent them from committing such crimes again in the future.