What story should Manipur present ? Roadmap to normalcy
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The roadmap to peace and normalcy. This is what is required and one wonders whether such a roadmap has been drafted or not, but if one goes by what Chief Minister N Biren has stated then Manipur may well have started taking the first step towards peace and normalcy. Six months is the time frame the Chief Minister has set for normalcy to return while speaking to a news agency recently and topped it up with the claim that the intermediary to get in touch with either side of the two ethnic groups ‘at war’ has been identified. This is perhaps one of the better news that Manipur has heard in a long, long time and any effort to bring the two sides to the negotiating table should be acknowledged for what Manipur needs today is for all to smoke the peace pipe and war mongers should be told to take a step back. It is probably in line with this that the Chief Minister announced for one and all to hear that Ministers have been asked to attend office regularly and monitor the activities of their respective departments. It could either be an attempt to show that Manipur has now started walking the path of normalcy or it could be a routine sort of advisory given to all Ministers to dispense with their works diligently. The answer may fall somewhere in between but it is true that the guns seem to have fallen silent for some time, but no one knows if absence of violence can be equated with normalcy or not. Only time can tell, but this is perhaps the first time that the Chief Minister has set a time frame for normalcy to return to the State and one hopes this turns out to be true. As folks who have been closely following the turn of events, ever since Manipur went up in flames in the evening of May 3, 2023, one is constrained to ask how the path to normalcy will be worked out or whether the first step towards working this out has been identified or not. And in what capacity is Delhi expected to step in, that is if one goes by what the Chief Minister has had to say ? What could be the formula to break the deadlock and end the violence, which has claimed over 220 human lives and where nearly 60,000 folks are still living in relief centres across the length and breadth of Manipur. This is perhaps where Imphal would need to be questioned on what its idea or understanding of normalcy is. The answer can best come from the State Government, for it is the Chief Minister himself who has set the time frame of six months for normalcy to return. Or will it be a case of doing whatever Delhi may ask of the State Government ?
If the answer to the poser raised just here is in the affirmative then one may be constrained to ask why Delhi had not stepped in earlier with a model to put the State on the path of normalcy ? Or is it a case of the Centre taking its time to understand the issues besieging the State ? Whatever the case, the natural question that may be raised here is, whether Imphal has worked out the model that can be presented to Delhi to set the peace process rolling. There is no confusion on the demand raised by the Kuki-ZO MLAs and backed by the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), the Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU) and the Kuki Inpi, Manipur and the important question is what is it that the State Government would want to place before New Delhi, if and when the time comes ? The State Government may have worked out what points can be presented before the Centre when the time comes to talk, and it would be interesting to see the points that may be presented before the Centre, points that ought to be presented from a position of strength. What are the points that the civil society groups of Manipur may want the State Government to take up with Delhi, when the time of reckoning comes ? Have the CSOs of Manipur worked out what is it that the place and her people need to protect her interests ? All questions, but important and urgent too in the face of the fact that this is the first time that the Chief Minister has set a time frame of ushering in peace in Manipur, which has been on the boil for the last 15 months. Manipur is watching and this is a point that Imphal cannot afford to ignore. Nothing can be more clear than this.
If the answer to the poser raised just here is in the affirmative then one may be constrained to ask why Delhi had not stepped in earlier with a model to put the State on the path of normalcy ? Or is it a case of the Centre taking its time to understand the issues besieging the State ? Whatever the case, the natural question that may be raised here is, whether Imphal has worked out the model that can be presented to Delhi to set the peace process rolling. There is no confusion on the demand raised by the Kuki-ZO MLAs and backed by the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), the Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU) and the Kuki Inpi, Manipur and the important question is what is it that the State Government would want to place before New Delhi, if and when the time comes ? The State Government may have worked out what points can be presented before the Centre when the time comes to talk, and it would be interesting to see the points that may be presented before the Centre, points that ought to be presented from a position of strength. What are the points that the civil society groups of Manipur may want the State Government to take up with Delhi, when the time of reckoning comes ? Have the CSOs of Manipur worked out what is it that the place and her people need to protect her interests ? All questions, but important and urgent too in the face of the fact that this is the first time that the Chief Minister has set a time frame of ushering in peace in Manipur, which has been on the boil for the last 15 months. Manipur is watching and this is a point that Imphal cannot afford to ignore. Nothing can be more clear than this.