21 villagers in Myanmarese custody

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21 villagers in Myanmarese custody
— Heard of now, still uncared for —

By: Thangkhanlal Ngaihte *

It has now been almost two months since this column first brought the case of 21 villagers captured by the Myanmarese army in Singngat sub-division into the limelight ( "Unheard of, Uncared for", June 11, 2006).

It is exactly three months since the 21 villagers were captured and held in Burmese custody. Interest in the case among the educated public waxes and wanes. While the news initially provoked some well-meaning outrage and indignation in mediums like the internet, it has failed to capture popular imagination all along the way.

The case is back in focus now because of two reasons. One, because Outer Manipur MP Mani Charenamei revived it by taking it up in the Lok Sabha on August 3. Two, because the latest news from the ground says that a Myanmar military court in Tonjang had just held the 21 villagers guilty and awarded them 7 years imprisonment (excepting the two minors whose fate is yet to be decided)!

MP Mani Charenamei's intervention in the Lok Sabha last Thursday night is the latest in the chain of events triggered by a Memorandum submitted to the MP on the case by the Zomi Human Rights Foundation (ZHRF), Delhi Cell on June 24, 2006.

Acting with alacrity not common to politicians, Charenamei had written to the union home and external affairs ministries on June 26, apprising them of the situation and urging them to take it up quickly with the Burmese authorities. The MP had also personally met the Myanmarese ambassador in New Delhi.

While the Union Home Ministry had already acknowledged Charenamei's letter and promised to act on the case, "no positive action has resulted so far", prompting the latter to take up the issue in the Lok Sabha.

In his speech made during discussion on matters of urgent public importance, Mani Charenamei pleaded for the External Affairs and Home ministers "to take up the matter with the Myanmar Government for immediate release of the 21 innocent people on humanitarian grounds."

He makes a mention of the reported 'cruel' treatment of jail inmates in Myanmar and said that food is not even served to them. He said: "Either sides of the border areas in Manipur and Myanmar are inhabited by same ethnic group of indigenous tribal people.

The local tribal people living in the border areas use to cross over to either sides of the border in search of their livelihood without any disturbances from any quarter as they use to return to their respective homes on daily basis". The 21 villagers, including a six-year old kid, were arrested by the Myanmarese army on May 6, 2006.

While it is not yet known if anything concrete and positive will result from this latest development, the scattered information emanating from the ground seem to confirm our worst fears. On Friday morning, while I was waiting for a faxed copy of MP Mani's speech, there came a call telling me that a Myanmarese military court in Tonjang had already indicted the 21 villagers of various charges including illegal smuggling of timber across the border.

The military court had reportedly sentenced them to 7 years in prison. The case of two minors among the 21 men captured will be decided in due course, it said. No further details are available.

The two very contrasting developments on the same issue have brought the callous and cynical attitude of the government- specific to this case and in general- in sharp relief.

It strains credulity that a supposedly democratic government, supposedly elected by the people themselves, would say or do nothing for all of two months while its citizens are snatched by a foreign government, held and convicted to severe sentences - all these while not even informing us of the case!!

It remains to be seen if the Government will at least say something now. However, the very fact that it had done nothing in these two months is enough to give credence to those who always says that official India simply do not care what happens in the northeast, Manipur - as long as it does not threaten its 'national security'.

As for the captured persons and their families, perhaps they understand the Government more than we-supposedly educated and urbane-do. Maybe they have known all along that the Government will do nothing in their defence since they are in the fringe, marginalized, alienated, forgotten, the wretched of the earth.

What else explains the fact that the victim's families did not bother to approach the Government in the first place (the case registered at Singngat Police station is a suo moto case), and the Churachandpur DC said he learnt about the incident, much later, through the Singngat police the SDO. Nor did they approach the newspapers (we did).

The case fits snugly too into the general pattern of the Government's routine treatment of the region-be it on non-governance, corruption, insurgency and poverty. It will look benignly on while the situation simmers.

Eventually, the pressure cooker will burst, as happens in the past.

And the Army will be sent in.

It's as simple as that.

Thangkhanlal Ngaihte wrote this article for The Sangai Express
This article was webcasted on 14th August 2006.

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