Ukhrul : Second bomb capital of the State : Uneasy air of peace
- Sangai Express Editorial :: November 18 , 2013 -

The agenda is not yet clear. No one, as yet, seems to know who was behind the act.

But increasingly, Ukhrul district headquarters seems to have become the second bomb capital of Manipur, after Imphal.

The powerful bomb blast at the office of the Tangkhul Naga Long on November 15 was not the first and there is nothing to suggest that it would be the last one either.

Powerful blast, it certainly was, if one takes into account the extensive damages caused to the main door of the office, the office door of the president of TNL as well as three other doors and on the wall.

No human casualty, but nonetheless a powerful statement has been delivered.

Officially, the peace talk between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India does not cover Ukhrul district or for that matter any part of Manipur, but the reality at the ground situation tells a different story.

And so it is that under an atmosphere of 'peace', Ukhrul has witnessed a number of bomb blasts in the recent past.

Each blast is also an indication of the growing number of armed outfits, either break away groups from the NSCN (IM), or the emergence of different armed outfits, each with its own agenda.

Not a healthy development.

It is that much easier and less complex for the Government and the public to deal and live under the shadow of one major outfit, which is the NSCN (IM) in this case, but now things have obviously taken a new turn at Ukhrul.

The Sangai Express does not have the figure but already there are more than enough indications that other armed outfits, locally grown ones at that, too have entered the turf to stake their claims and it is the battle of the turf, which may be read into the number of bomb attacks that have taken place in Ukhrul in the recent past.

The price that people have to pay for the presence of numerous armed groups, some with clearly laid down ideologies and aspirations and enjoying a certain degree of public legitimacy and some, more correctly, majority of them, with dubious antecedents, with no clearly laid down agenda is there for all to see and experience.

Manipur has been at the receiving end of such a trend for years.

The media too has had to bear the brunt of the presence of numerous armed groups, each with their own agenda and each claiming their hands on the name of an outfit.

Claiming hands or 'legitimacy' over a particular name of an outfit has not exactly happened in Ukhrul district, but the recent past is more than enough to conclude that today there are more than two or three armed groups, each exacting their pound of flesh from the public.

The long drawn out peace parleys, with no immediate solution in sight, between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India could be one reason, though this may not be the only reason.

Disgruntled cadres deserting their parent body, which is the IM group in this case and floating their own outfit is a distinct possibility.

Another possibility that cannot be wished away with the wave of the hand could be the gathering of some rag tag group of desperadoes who are out to make easy money.

And it goes without saying that planting bombs and letting them go off is a reminder to all of their presence and what they can do.