Where have the guns and ammos come from ? Look beyond snatched arms
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 04, 2023 -

No one seems to know what exactly is happening. Is Article 355 in force in Manipur ?

Who is the man in charge of law and order, the Chief Minister or the Security Advisor ?

Why is the Centre only talking about the guns being looted from the police armouries and not questioning from where the guns that are used to fire at the villages located at the foothills have come ?

How is it that either side never seem to run out of ammunition, even though reports continue to come in of gun battle being fought at the periphery of the valley districts ?

What type of gun was used to fire the explosive that fell blasted a roof top and killed a young boy sleeping on his bed at Phougakchao Ikhai ?

Surely the gun used could not have been the double barrel or single barrel gun that are shown so non-chalantly on some TV news reporting ?

What type is the ammunition that have killed quite a large number of people in gun battles ?

What is the status of the different camps that have come under the SoO agreement ?

Are all the cadres still staying in the designated camps or have they vamoosed ?

How about the arms and ammunition being kept at the different SoO camps ?

Can any untrained person use a gun that is used to fire lethod bombs or explosives ?

The very reason why these questions are being raised should tell its own significant story but who cares ?

The Prime Minister has spoken out on the horrendous nude parade of two Kuki girls on May 4, but what about the unrelenting firing at the villages located at the foothills ?

Why has Delhi not uttered a single word on the large scale poppy plantations in the hills of Manipur and the destruction drive taken up by the State Government under the War on Drugs mission ?

Things cannot be allowed to go on like this and obvious that not satisfied with torching houses at Torbung on May 3, after the Tribal Solidarity March, the unilateral decision to lay to rest the mortal remains of Kuki militants at Torbung Bangla was nothing but to set up a landmark to the keep the embers burning and then claim the land as their ancestral land after a period of time. The agenda is clear.

Every now and then, the Security Advisor to the State Government issues a statement saying that so and so many bunkers have been destroyed, but one just wishes that break up details on the number of bunkers done away with are spelt out for public consumption.

Such a move can go a long way in convincing the people that the drive is on either side and is not meant to leave any one of the side in conflict exposed to the other.

Keeping mum on this point can only lead to more finger pointing and lack of confidence in the measures taken up.

Instilling confidence should be the key to the exercise of dismantling the bunkers and vital details need not be kept away from the eyes and ears of the public.

Letting the guns go silent should be the first priority and to come anywhere near this objective, it is important that trust and confidence of the people at war should be won.

This is where the Government should be seen to be tackling the matter in an unbiased manner.

For this its attention should not only be focused on the arms looted from the police armouries but also question from where the guns that are used to fire at the villages located at the foothills have come.

Make public the findings of the ballistic experts that can spell out the type of guns that are being used to fire at the farmers tilling the soil at the foothills.

Only talking about the weapons taken away from the police armouries at the valley area and maintaining a deafening silence on the guns used at the other side is not dealing with the matter fairly and this will not help Manipur return to normalcy.