You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours : Warped sense of priority
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 16 2011 -

The room at the PWD office complex which bore the impact of the blast :: Pix - The Sangai Express

Not surprisingly and rightfully, if we may add, the security personnel, especially the CRPF and the State agencies concerned have come in for a lot of flak over the bomb blast inside the premises of the highly fortified Public Works Department.

The criticisms may not have taken on the overt form of dharnas or street protests, but there have been overwhelming comments on the social media like Facebook and Twitter and one need not elaborate on how powerful a tool this medium has become.

The bomb blast did not kill anyone but this does not lessen the gravity of the situation. Manipur or rather Imphal has today been turned into a happy hunting ground for elements desperate to make a statement or two with an agenda which can be anything but noble. The situation is just right.

To say that the State police are stretched to the limit and hence unable to focus on their duty would amount to giving a long rope to the law enforcers.

Remember the Home Department has been going overboard with their recruitment drive in the last many years and lack of manpower is something which no intelligent being will be able to digest.

Or if at all the argument of heavy workload is to carry any meaning then it should be understood in the context of the security escorts provided to anyone who is seen or deemed to have arrived. It is this warped sense of feeling important that may have stretched the manpower of the State Police Department.

To correct the flaw, one important point is to change the mindset of the personnel at the ground. Ensuring security or being on duty out there on the road does not mean throwing one's weight around.

This is lesson number one that needs to be spelt out in no uncertain terms. The priorities are all wrong.

Scaring the people off the road is not going to ensure that the man with the plan to plant a bomb in public places is going to be scared off.

Monitoring the entry of people into a public place does not mean harassing them and checking their personal belongings and psychologically stripping them naked. It is about checking if anyone is trying to smuggle in explosives.

No 'ordinary' visitor is allowed to carry even a mobile phone into the PWD office complex. This is the level of security.

However a powerful bomb did explode inside a room of the highly fortified office complex and perhaps the security personnel manning the gate ought to have been instructed that other than mobile phones they should not allow anyone to carry in explosives ! It is this lop sided priority that should be addressed.

This is not an exercise in cop bashing but we are concerned and worried. And having said this let's try to understand the mindset of these people who have nearly perfected the art of placing bombs in public places.

The calculation is simple, if one cares to closely study the methodology of these pretenders to the sons of the soil title.

Place a bomb, explode a bomb or two, open fire at the residence of an official or a trader, issue a threat in the name of the land and people, refer to some bombastic quotes and then announce their arrival with a statement in the State dailies by claiming their hands in the act and then of course go about with their business of raking in the moolah.

Owning up serves two specific purposes. For one it gives them the platform to churn out what they want to say and spell out their agenda. This also fulfils the demand of the people who would have raised the demand that the perpetrators identify themselves.

Secondly this would also have rung out the message that they mean business and anyone in receipt of their 'donation request' had better fall in line. This is how such elements function and the presence of a State law enforcing agency which cannot distinguish or have been programmed not to distinguish between doing their duty and throwing their weight around offers them the perfect opportunity to carry on with their activities.

Something has to give. Mobile phones are not allowed. This is perfectly fine and may be in accordance with the needed security measures for the officials.

However the fact that while mobile phones had to be deposited at the gate a powerful bomb managed to make its way into the office complex raises too many uncomfortable questions.

Can we expect some answers in the coming days ? Not likely if the past is any indication.

If this is what can happen to a highly fortified place like the PWD office complex then what about the public, who too have been at the receiving end of numerous threats and intimidations ?

An inefficient system blending perfectly well with some demented minds to script a story called Manipur.