Manipur : Economic doldrum and political melodrama
- Part 2 -

T Haokip *

Policemen at the scene during the 'BT Road Shoot-out' on July 24 2009, a major precedent in 'Fake Encounter' incidents in Manipur

POLITICAL MELODRAMA :

Manipur is one place in the world where the art of democratic system of governance has been perfectly merged with the dictatorial rule of law. In other word, the MLAs are selected by extra constitutional authorities and the mandate is delivered through electoral process by use of ballots/EVM which is perfectly manipulated. Money power and muscle politics backed by fire power is the order of the day.

Insurgent organizations are paid colossal sum of money to organize and capture votes either by coercion or proxy voting. There is hardly any protest from the opposite party even if the most unfair means are use by the dominant organization in its strong hold. The use of ballot system or EVM does not make any difference as both can be manipulated as per convenience. The polling party had to reluctantly cooperate or compromise and the security force prefer to ignore or not to interfere with the polling process as long as there is semblance of peaceful polling.

Booth capturing is hardly required as it is already decided for whom the voter will cast his / her vote. Ultimately, the top political bosses in the state owe allegiance to the various outfit organizations because without their support their present position and future career is at stake.

Democracy is no longer in existence in Manipur. A recent study has revealed that Manipur is the second most trigger happy state in India. The U.N. Human Rights body has recently found that Manipur has the most number of human rights violation and extra-judicial killing. Taking shelter behind the AFSPA the armed forces deployed in the state and the state police in collaboration has taken extremely heavy toll of human lives since the inception of insurgency in Manipur.

Allegation and reports of fake encounter from the relatives of victims, highlighted by the media coupled with cry for justice by different groups of human rights and social activists organization taking to the street or calling for bandhs to vent their grievances. Dead bodies of victims lie in morgue for days as relatives and supporters refuse to claim unless the government comes out with firm assurance for court of enquiry and interim compensation of substantial amount is paid by the government.

But despite such bitter experiences the security forces continue to commit the crime without abatement and the governments at the Centre and the state refused to withdraw the AFSPA because without it the security forces will be toothless and only time will tell when this draconian law will cease as the terminator of innocent lives.

The various insurgent organizations dictate terms in their own way. Any person opposing their way is eliminated in the name of the organization. Infighting and fratricidal killing goes on unabated. Targets are seldom defined as terrorism takes heavy tool of human lives. They just have to press the trigger or remove the hand grenade pin and precious lives are erased in matter of seconds.

While the main insurgent groups have their projected road map and goal, there are some fake organizations whose motive is purely for extortion. Moneyed people or their siblings are kidnapped for ransom and colossal sum are paid for their release but in some instances the drama ends in tragedy as the kidnapped victims return lifeless.

Sometimes personals of the security forces have been involved and their connivance has been established shattering the image of the uniform organization. Sometimes innocent victims fall to stray bullets in the cross fire between insurgents and security force. In all cases the blame goes to the government for failure to maintain law and order. Heavy compensations are demanded and in order to pacify the victim's relatives the government is compelled to concede with the demand.

The 17 year old Indo-Naga Political Dialogue has turn out to be a "snake and ladder game". The Centre showed some seriousness just before the last Assembly Election in Nagaland. But after the return of Nefi Rio and NPF to power, the Centre has shown little interest in continuing with the dialogue. Hence the talk has not only lost its momentum but also sense of direction. The 7 year old Tripartite Talk between the Govt. of India, Govt. of Manipur and the Kuki Insurgent groups on the other hand has turn out to be a big farce.

The two Kuki umbrella outfits i.e. the KNO and the UPF have been treated like Sunday School kids imparting moral lessons of Dos and Don'ts. At the moment the Centre has declared a long vacation by suspension of the talk indefinitely. Eventually, political dialogue with the Naga and the Kuki Insurgents have proved to be illusive and the Centre is certainly in no mood to continue the talk because there is no answer and nothing to offer. The only benefit the Insurgents derived from the talk is free ration, peanut salary and license for extortion directly or indirectly.

New organizations are mushrooming up some created and sheltered by the principal outfits who are engaged in dialogue with the Centre/State. In the process more and more organizations are entering in dialogue with the government which dilute the significance of the demand and the goal of the insurgents. The Centre is making a mockery of the dialogue process by creating a false image of importance of the outfit organizations and its leaders whereas underneath the government is preparing the coffins and digging the graves. Hence the present political dialogue and the cease-fire agreement with the Naga/Kuki outfits and its successive extensions is merely a ploy to soften the tough and hardy freedom fighters and reduce them from heroes fighting for a noble cause into mere extortionist to erode their legitimacy and status.

Door is also open to the valley insurgent groups and identical process of political dialogue have already commenced. Once admitted in this school of political dialogue the valley insurgents will also lose their sting and become mere drones in the system merely complying with the time schedule and routine set by the government. One can never predict when the demands of these insurgent groups would be met but we can certainly say with boldness that the road maps these insurgents so far followed has disappeared and they have no longer any sense of direction nor is there any defined goal any longer.

Now, a quick retrospective view of the past years of insurgency in Manipur will tell us the story of lost opportunities, lost of precious human lives, barbaric executions in the form of fake encounters, rape and murder of innocent women for no cause, lost of security personals killed in counter insurgency actions, incidences of innocent lives lost in cross firing between militants and security force, human rights violations in all forms, use of AFSPA as a convenient tool for termination of human lives, public protest, strikes, bandhs, economic blockades leading to loss of precious mandays which further leads to immense economic hardship and social disorder. There are many more unrecorded scenes and events of trauma and sufferings which are forgotten and will be forgotten for all times. At the end of the day the big question is - what have we achieved ?

The answer is we have developed a perfect system of corruption. There is corruption in the political system, corruption in the matter of governance, corruption in the economic and social system and lastly corruption in the moral system. Manipur has acquired immunity against any political, social, economic or moral threat. Now that the power at the Centre is UPA, so the Congress party is making hay while the sun shine. If the NDA comes to power at the Centre, the state government will either dissolve or evolve to effect changes favourable to the Centre.

But no matter which party comes to power the underlying strata of different layer of corruption will remain intact. The Centre will continue pouring fund in order to keep the state government alive and kicking. There will be no difference, because those in power will continue to reap the fruit. The SoO talks with the different insurgent outfits will continue, parallel government by the insurgent organizations will carry on, the AFSPA will remain, strikes, bandhs, economic blockade will continue as routine exercise by the public just like the waves of the sea striking against the rocky shore and the process is repeated till the end of time. The rich and mighty will continue to sport in luxury and comfort lifestyle.

While each day, for the common men will be a traumatic struggle for livelihood from dawn to dusk. As he crawls back into his dingy lair to rest his tired limps, the morbid fear of living another day creeps into his mind and the nightmare is repeated each night and will continue for nights without end.

Concluded...