Anything but a roadmap to peace : SoO pact and its impact
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 26, 2012 -

The Suspension of Operation agreement is anything but a roadmap to peace. It has not in anyway gone on to instil a sense of security amongst the public, who are in fact the biggest stakeholder in the rigmarole of 'peace politics' that has been staged with much aplomb.

And nowhere is this more clearly demonstrated than the manner in which the names of some armed outfits, all signatories to the SoO pact, have been dragged into the politics of power being staged over the post of Chairman of the Sadar Hills Autonomous District Council.

With charges and counter charges flying thick and fast, the hands of the armed outfits pulling the strings of the ADC members are clearly visible and this is a manifestation of gun power intruding into the bigger theatre of democracy at the grass root level. A case of having your cake and eating it too.

Or is it a case of the ADC members using their political clout and opening the doors to let in the armed groups for their own vested interest ? Either way it sucks and this is where the picture becomes bizarre.

Armed groups which are in a dialogue with the Government entering the domain of mainstream politics or professional politicians using the armed groups for their own narrow political interest.

The two possibilities may overlap and there may not be a clear defining line to differentiate them and truly the uglier face of the politics of peace cannot get seamier than this.

To Delhi and Imphal, the course is on par as long as there is something on paper to show that the Government agencies are politically engaged with the armed groups, never mind if the real essence of peace and its underlining features do not percolate down to the public.

Nothing to lose is the line that Delhi and the State Government have been toeing even as the armed groups which are supposed to be in a peace negotiation continue to throw their weight around.

For decades Manipur has had to pay the price that is extracted in the name of peace. Open extortion on the highways by armed groups, which are otherwise engaged in a peace process with the Government, threats and diktats, abduction for ransom, killing civilians in acts that border on terrorism, etc are all prices which have been extracted from the people of Manipur down the years.

The negatives of such a political culture is all pervasive. It is a sure shot formula to erode the confidence of the public in any peace initiative that may be taken up by the Government and by extension this offers the best example to be quoted by other groups to justify their stand against any political dialogue with the Government to settle the myriad of issues besetting the people and the land.

Turning a win win position into a lose lose position and we have no one but the Government to blame for this. Berating the Government may just amount to flogging a dead horse and herein lies exposed the utter lack of any sincerity to take any peace initiative to its logical conclusion.

As long as the understanding of peace remains caged within the realm of the guns falling silent between the armed groups and the Government forces, then no peace initiative will bear any fruitful objective.

The question of sincerity on either side of the peace process must be seriously addressed to. This is what the situation demands.

The SoO pact stands as an outstanding example of smoking the peace pipe with an intention that is anything but ensuring a sense of security amongst the public.