Forced peace not viable line : Dirtying our courtyard !
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 23, 2023 -

‘Forced peace not viable’ and the Committee on Tribals Unity could not have been more right if one goes by what has been happening in different parts of the State ever since violence broke out in all its ugliness in the evening of May 3, after the Tribal Solidarity March.

So curfew did not work (though this came about during the curfew relaxation period), the suspension of internet services did not work, deployment of huge number of men and women in khakis and the blues did not work and the ‘relative peace’ witnessed at Imphal in the last few days was shattered on May 22 afternoon.

A case of ‘forced peace not working or not being viable’ and here are some elements who are hell bent on making the stand of the Committee on Tribals Unity come true.

Here it would be prudent to quote the man appointed by the Centre, the Security Advisor to the State Government, Kuldiep Singh-‘Kuki miscreants suspected to be possessing arms had intimidated the locals including Meitei/Kabui/Meitei Pangal not to open shops in the Tribal Market, New Checkon saying that the land belonged to the Kuki only.’

The above quoted lines are not from the ‘fertile minds’ of The Sangai Express but is a direct quote from the man appointed by the Centre and it can imply so many things.

A case of the unchained gun toting criminal relieving himself in the courtyard of the next door neighbour !

So from Reserved Forest, Protected Forest and any other uninhabited places, land in the unscheduled valley has come to be identified along the basis of a community and give five or ten years and the possibility of it being tagged ‘our ancestral land’ cannot be written off !

The Government should act tough and send out the message that it cannot tolerate such nonsense.

It should also be kept in mind that mobs tend to take the law into their own hands when the Government is seen to be shirking its responsibility of taking hard decisions.

And if hard and tough decisions are not taken now, when would be the time for the State Government to act tough and show that it means business ?

A tough Government should not be identified with only cracking down on those who criticise it on the social media !

Even as the ugly scene unfolded at New Checkon, came the news that three people sustained bullet injuries in a stand off at Moidangpok under Patsoi police station last night (that is May 21 night).

That this has come amid the rising accusation raised against SoO cadres should say something significant and one wonders whether the hue and cry raised by the people everywhere has reached the ears and eyes of Imphal and Delhi or not.

The earlier report from the Security Advisor that not all SoO cadres were found in the designated camps should more than underline that the finger of accusations pointed at them is not without basis.

Read the not all words with yet another observation from the Security Advisor that some arms and ammunition were missing at two designated camps and it is simple maths.

Two plus two makes four and this calculation will stand true whether one does the math in the comfort of an air conditioned room at New Delhi or in the jungles from where the SoO cadres are opening fire at the unarmed civilians.

Forced peace is not viable and the Committee on Tribals Unity cannot be faulted on this, but it should also remember that the understanding of forced peace always go along with the understanding of violence and as a voluntary organisation it should try to understand who is perpetrating the violence right now.

How the violence started is something which The Sangai Express has stated many times in earlier commentaries here.