No red carpet welcome for freed youths A case of stupidity ?

Freed after 6 days in captivity but no red carpet welcome. Far from it, it was derision and anger that greeted the two youths who  have been in the captivity of Kuki militants since the evening of September 27. All is well, one may say, but to many this line will come with the rider, ‘why did you walk into the den ?’ and not inappropriately. ‘Minaisha, Gadha’ were some of the words used by the people, particularly on the social media, to give vent to their anger at what they call the ‘stupidity and foolishness’ of the three youths who walked into a Kuki dominated place only to be held captive there since the evening of September 27. Questions, questions, this is what did the round in the minds of many in Manipur, when reports of the three youths being held hostage by the Kuki militants started doing the round. The conflict was nearing the 17th month time frame and why didn’t the three youths consult anyone on where New Keithelmanbi is located ? How did they manage to cross the checkposts manned by the police and Assam Rifles at Kanglatongbi, a place beyond which it is unsafe for Meiteis to venture ? How did they manage to give the slip to the policemen and Assam Rifles personnel manning the check post at Kanglatongbi ? Didn’t they have the sense to know that crossing Sekmai, forget Kanglatongbi, is extremely dicey ? These are some of the questions that haunted the minds of every thinking person in Manipur and while it is fortunate that all three, one  on September 28, have been freed without any harm, it needs to be drilled into the senses of everyone that many of the deceased Meiteis met totally unnecessary deaths. Look at the number of missing persons and this should have more than made it clear to anyone that venturing out beyond the unknown is committing hara kiri, except that this time there would be nothing valiant in the deaths. This is the fact and one is also left wondering why elders of the family did not take the trouble of actually knowing where the recruitment rally was to be held ? Or was it a case of just letting the youngsters do whatever they like, such as appearing in an examination as important as a recruitment rally ? Manipur or to be more precise the Meiteis need to come to terms with the reality and acknowledge the fact there are areas where it is not at all safe for them to venture out to. Most of the young Meitei youths who have been killed or disappeared met fates which they could have easily avoided if only they had not thrown caution to the wind. It is for this very reason why a senior member of the Arambai Tenggol felt constrained to put up on his Facebook status that now he would do the favour of disciplining any Meitei who is caught venturing into areas which are known to be extremely unsafe and not give the Kukis the ‘joy’ of killing them !
Manipur woke up to the news of the two hostages being freed early in the morning on October 3 and while the sense of gratitude and relief felt by the family members is expected, it is nonetheless important to take another look at the damages and extreme inconveniences caused to the people during the 48 hours bandh called by the JAC formed in connection with the abduction of the youths. One incident that has gone viral on the social media is the story of how family members of a woman being rushed to the hospital in a car were assaulted by the bandh enforcers at Thoubal. The car was also badly damaged. Here is a case of a woman being rushed to the hospital and in the name of enforcing the bandh  family members carrying the woman to the hospital end up getting assaulted and the car badly damaged. Another incident tells the story of how a doctor going for duty was barred from venturing forward as he had overlooked to stick the ‘Doctor on Duty‘ sticker on his car and it was only at the intervention of some volunteers that he managed to reach the hospital. This is where everyone need to come to the reali-sation that anyone venturing out during a bandh must have a reason to do so and it defeats the very purpose of calling the bandh when life savers such as doctors and health workers are barred from proceeding to their place of work. It is also the same when newsmen have to go out late in the night to collect news. Meiteis still have a lot to learn how to vent their anger or make a stand.