Assuring justice to the death
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: February 22 , 2014 -

The tension at the border town Moreh; first, over the missing of two Punjabi traders after they went inside Tamu Town of Myanmar; and later, over the recovery of their lifeless and charred bodies on the side of Indian territory, may have been subsided following an agreement reached between the State Government and the agitated public of Moreh as well as with the bereaved family members.

But the incident has raised many questions on the sloppy manner of handling an avoidable crisis by both the authorities on either side of the International boundary.

Of the six traders who newly arrived at the border town and have taken immigration passes from the Myanmarese authorities on February 11 for entering Tamu to tell school uniforms and other accessories, four of them returned to Moreh on the same day while two others did not and remained missing until their severely mutilated burnt lifeless bodies were found abandoned at Jangnomphai village in Molcham area of Chandel district near the International boundary on February 20.

In between the lodging of a formal report to the Myanmarese authorities pleading for providing information on the two missing traders and the recovery of their mutilated bodies with tale tell signs of inhumane torture, both the Indian and Myanmarese authorities were not able to do anything either to locate or tell the worried public of Moreh about the two missing traders.

Such lack of co-ordination between the authorities of the two neighbouring countries which always swear by friendly-neighborly relation in trying to find out the whereabouts of two traders lost in a land completely new to them for over 10 days, was simply unnerving.

Interestingly, a day after recovery of the bodies of the two missing traders, Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh has stated that both India and Myanmar must condemn the ‘inhumane crime’.

No doubt, it is inhumane to torture and kill unarmed, defenceless and innocent traders. But after all that have happened, we feel that such overtly concern of the Chief Minister must have come like adding salt to the wounded heart of the bereaved family members who have been forced to resign to their ill-fate knowing fully well that death alone is the loser in such a hopeless situation.

In fact, rather than shedding some drops of crocodile tears at this stage, both the Indian and Myanmarese authorities should be ashamed of their failure in averting an avoidable crisis that has befallen upon the family members of the two traders.

As we have always stated, any amount of ex-gratia announced or given to any bereaved families could never compensate for the loss they would feel and suffer for the rest of the life.

It is also equally ridiculous on the part of the Chief Minister to assure the bereaved family members that proper investigation would be carried out to find out the culprits and take up necessary action at this stage, when he himself had admitted the inability of the security forces from the State to carry out rescue operation beyond the border.

Even if the public are ready to concede that the State Government had reacted on time to the report of the missing traders, the fact still remains that the lives of two poor traders have been lost due to lack of seriousness on the part of both the Indian and the Myanmarese authorities.

So, what kind of justice is Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh assuring to the bereaved families of the two murdered traders?