Sangakpham bomb blast: The missing links
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 24 2011 -

Either the Gods have not stopped smiling on Chief Minister O Ibobi or the curse of the dark continues to weave its spell on the people for how else does one explain the irony of one tragic development coming to the fore to save the impending blushes of the Chief Minister and his men for floating a story that has slowly but gradually come to fit the description of a half baked plot.

August 1, 2011 will go down in the history of 21st Century Manipur as one of the darker days for the manner in which a powerful bomb exploded bang in the middle of the busy Sangakpham bazar and in the process ripped apart the limbs and torsos of five people, including the very man who had brought the bomb. The reaction of the people was along predictable line.

A chorus of condemnations, sit-in-protests, raising a vociferous voice against the culture of planting bombs in public places followed by the mandatory bandh.

In a sweeping development, not ever seen or heard in the State, Chief Minister O Ibobi took to the centre stage just a day after the blast and announced for all to hear and see that it was the NSCN (IM) that was behind the bomb blast.

Mr Ibobi even went to the extent of stating that the bomb was meant for the elected members of the Autonomous District Councils, who were staying in a safe house near the site of the blast.

The intelligence agencies also demonstrated a rare trait of urgency and lived up to the task by systematically putting together the mangled remains of the bomb fitted scooter and traced its owner to a man in Nagaland as well as identified the man who had brought the bomb, with his address and other information to boot.

Delhi also responded to the situation in a manner never seen before and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram stole a march over the Chief Minister and announced in Delhi that the NSCN (IM) was behind the bomb blast. So far so good and it was not surprising to see everyone lapping up the story of the Chief Minister.

The Sangai Express had even acknowledged the good work done by the intelligence agencies in working out the identity of the deceased bomb planter as well as the group which was behind the attack. The NSCN (IM) however did not take things lying down and in stroke of the pen negated the story of the Chief Minister and trashed his claim.

Significantly the statement of debunking the claims of the Government was issued only to the press in Nagaland and some agencies and no copies of the same were forwarded to the media in Manipur.

This, however is besides the point and while the blunt rebuttal of the IM group came along expected lines, what has left a lot to be desired is the failure of the Government to come out with a meaningful story to back its claim.

This commentary is not to say whether the IM group was behind the attack or not, but is just a reminder of how the Sadar Hills district demand has over shadowed the Sangakpham bomb blast that today it no longer features in the collective consciousness of the people.

This development may have just about saved the Chief Minister from some likely embarrassing questions that could have been raised. As per the official line maintained by the Government, the Sangakpham bomb blast was an open and shut case but in hindsight, there are still a number of missing links which taken together says something about a half cooked story being fed to an unsuspecting people.

As a faculty member from JNU, New Delhi commented in a post on the social media on August 5, there are still a good number of questions which are yet to be answered.

Other than the statement that the suspected bomber, Anthony, who was among the five to be killed in the bomb blast, was an NSCN (IM) cadre and hailed from Sadu Khoiroi, a village in Henglep sub-division, Churachandpur district, there has been no details to link him to the outfit.

At the most was the statement issued by the police a couple of days later (after August 1) that an arrested NSCN (IM) man had confirmed that Anthony was a cadre of the outfit. The Government has also not elaborated on the evidences that led them to say that the owner of the bomb fitted scooter was a man from Dimapur, Nagaland.

The Government has also utterly failed to elaborate the plot behind the bomb blast such as where it was assembled and who directly supervised the operation.

To view these questions in the context of the denial issued by the NSCN (IM) would be to mistake the woods for the trees, for ultimately it is not so much about what the outfit said was true or not, but how incumbent it is on the part of the Government to let the people know the truth.

By a cruel stroke of co-incidence, the Sadar Hills district demand came up to push the Sangakpham bazar blast to the back burner and in the process saved the Chief Minister and his men from some uncomfortable moments, but this does not mean that such valid questions should not be raised.

Half baked stories and half baked ideas can only take one so far and for too long this menu has been fed to the people that today they have lost their capability to raise pertinent questions which should keep the Government on its toes.

The intelligence agencies seem to have done a good job, but there is yet a lot more to be done with respect to the August 1 bomb blast. It is only right that the people expect the real story.

It is also a damning testimony of how ethnicity has come to be the pivot on which everything revolves and this was clearly by the communal tone that could be heard and felt from the postures of the advocates of the Government story and those who opposed its announcement.

Why can't it be just a case of whether it was the NSCN (IM) or not. Why drag in the extra baggage of ethnicity into it ?