Manipur in flames since one month : No end in sight for now
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 02, 2023 -

Nearly one month down the line and there is nothing much to suggest that Manipur is on the road to recovery.

Shootings continue unabated especially at the foothills where there are Meitei settlements and reports of whole or part of villages being reduced to cinders continue to pour into the office of the different Imphal based newspapers.

Gunmen continue to rule the Imphal-Dimapur highway with gunmen checking private vehicles taking this route to see if they are transporting any ‘enemy’ and goods laden trucks now have to make do with the Imphal-Jiribam highway.

No Meitei would feel safe and secure to proceed even to Ukhrul district headquarters as reports continue to come in of vehicles being checked enroute, as one just crosses Yaingangpokpi and proceed towards Litan, a place generally seen as the halfway mark between Imphal and Ukhrul.

Identities of all occupants of vehicles are verified via Aadhaar card and this in brief is the Manipur since the evening of May 3.

On the other hand, reports have come in of over 8000 Kukis having fled to neighbouring Mizoram as Imphal is no longer safe for them and many more have shifted base, at least for the time being to places such as Guwahati, Delhi and Bangalore.

Imphal and the other valley based district headquarters are today practically free of the Kukis and despite this tragic reality, either side does not seem to have softened their stance.

Everyone seems blind to the fact that there can be no winner in any ethnic clash and it appears that this blindness will continue to plague everyone on either side of the clash divide.

Even as the blindness continues to engulf everyone, the body count or statistics going on the upward tick and reports of houses and villages being reduced to ashes continue to pour in.

It will take time for situation to normalise, is the line that is being maintained by no one less than the Union Home Minister and Amit Shah could not have been more right.

The inputs given to him is bang on target.

Many orphaned, many widowed, many have lost their near and dear ones, many houses reduced to rubbles and ashes and yet no sign that Manipur will wake up to a better tomorrow.

Not the first time that Manipur has seen ethnic clash or communal riots.

The Naga-Kuki clash that started some time in 1992 stretched on till 1997, meaning it went on for about 5 years.

The Meitei-Pangal clash claimed numerous lives but it did not last long.

The Kuki-Paite clash too claimed several lives and while it was largely confined to the then undivided Churachandpur district before the birth of Pherzawl district it stretched on for about a year.

Fast forward to 2023 and Manipur today is caught in yet another ethnic clash between the Meiteis and the Kukis and while the wounds will take time to heal, it is important for all concerned not to fall for the false narratives that have been spelt out by some mischievously dangerous elements.

In between Manipur has seen many flare ups, where the two contending sides did not see eye to eye, but in all these cases, the target had always been the programmes and policies of the Government.

Not once in all these other cases, did members of either community come to the stage of targeting each other.

This is where questions ought to be raised on what went wrong this time ?

How did the trouble start at Torbung ?

How and why did the Meiteis respond so violently in Imphal valley ?

These are questions which the inquiry commission, which Union Home Minister Amit Shah had assured, should look into meticulously.