Looking for the way forward Preparing the right script
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Fall in line or else...or read this with the words ‘This is Assam, not Manipur’ a line addressed with good effect to the folks from Manipur who have taken shelter at Cachar district of the neighbouring State and in just five words, the IGP (Law and Order) of Assam Police demonstrated what the rule of law is all about. A no-nonsense stand and approach to the issue at hand and this is again something far removed from how law enforcing agencies, including Central security personnel, have been dealing with the situation after Manipur went up in flames in the evening of May 3, 2023. And the senior police officer of Assam Police has every reason to strike a tough pose for just 24 hours after the tough talk was delivered across the border of Manipur, came the news that two houses, both belonging to the Meitei community were burnt, first at Harinagar in Borobekra sub-division and another house at Mukangthol and a farmhouse, this too belonging to a Meitei at Goakhal. This is the script that has run the length and breadth of Manipur since May 3, 2023 and there is nothing to indicate that the place would see a change anywhere in the near future. All indications that miscreants have been given the long rope to do as they please, something very different from the tough posture adopted by the senior police officer in Assam. If it is Jiribam now, it was at other places in the last more than 400 days, all indicating that the State is there only in name. If the focus of the people and the Government is on Jiribam now, there is nothing to indicate that things have taken a turn for the better at the other epicentres of the conflict. Meiteis going back to their homesteads at Churachandpur is still a distant dream and there is nothing to suggest that the Government would be in a position to let the displaced folks return to their homesteads. Same is the case with the many others who too have been displaced from Imphal in the earlier part of the conflict. To think that this is the state under which Manipur has been surviving for over 400 days and one is left searching for words to aptly describe the situation. Forget about going back to their homesteads, it is not without reason why police nakas have been set up along the Imphal-Kangpokpi route and the Officer-in-Charge of Sekmai police felt constrained to come out and say on camera for the Meiteis not to cross the police nakas. The primary job of the police at the police nakas can then be understood as being on the alert to prevent anyone from crossing a certain point on the highway and the same is true in the case of the others coming from Kangpokpi side.
All indications that the rule of law has been clobbered for a big six and no one seems to know when things would normalise. The Government too is lost, stumbling from one episode to the other, not really knowing how to take things to its logical conclusion and in the process multiplying the woes of the people. What is the way forward and The Sangai Express has lost count of the number of times this question has been raised, but this is a point which everyone concerned, particularly the Government must focus on. Manipur cannot carry on like this forever and certainly the longer the clash continues, the longer Manipur stands to lose. A point which no one can deny. Yet at the same time it also stands that Manipur needs to put up a strong case on her behalf and that should come from the political class. Tell the story of Manipur forcefully and correctly to the outside world. And to tell the story of Manipur effectively it becomes extremely important that the right script is churned out here. And preparing the right script needs the concerted efforts of everyone. Manipur has already sent two MPs to the Lok Sabha and while one can expect the newly elected men to tell the story of the place and her people on the floor of Parliament effectively, it stands that the right ingredients should be supplied from here. Look back at the last 400 days or so and study if the ground has been prepared to tell the right story or not.
All indications that the rule of law has been clobbered for a big six and no one seems to know when things would normalise. The Government too is lost, stumbling from one episode to the other, not really knowing how to take things to its logical conclusion and in the process multiplying the woes of the people. What is the way forward and The Sangai Express has lost count of the number of times this question has been raised, but this is a point which everyone concerned, particularly the Government must focus on. Manipur cannot carry on like this forever and certainly the longer the clash continues, the longer Manipur stands to lose. A point which no one can deny. Yet at the same time it also stands that Manipur needs to put up a strong case on her behalf and that should come from the political class. Tell the story of Manipur forcefully and correctly to the outside world. And to tell the story of Manipur effectively it becomes extremely important that the right script is churned out here. And preparing the right script needs the concerted efforts of everyone. Manipur has already sent two MPs to the Lok Sabha and while one can expect the newly elected men to tell the story of the place and her people on the floor of Parliament effectively, it stands that the right ingredients should be supplied from here. Look back at the last 400 days or so and study if the ground has been prepared to tell the right story or not.