|
For those born and brought up on the soil of Manipur, who can forget the Bangkok Declaration of June 14, 2001, the mass uprising against the NSCN (IM) cease fire extension on June 18, 2001, the numerous torch rallies and the incident of July 20, 2001 when students came out in full strength to surrender their text books to the Governor to protest the cease fire extension.
Indeed who can forget the prolonged curfew that was imposed in the valley area of Manipur as well as the clanging of the electric posts in the dead of the night, which served as the signal for all to come out and take out a protest rally defying curfew, two years back?
Who can also forget the glass littered Tiddim line and the huge boulder placed in the middle of the road? Imphal those days resembled a battle sieged zone and the tragedy is, the ghost of those nightmarish days refuse to be exorcised thanks to some truly insensitive words uttered at New Delhi after the top leadership of the NSCN (IM) held parleys with the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.
Today the United Committee Manipur has gone ahead and declared a state of emergency throughout the length and breadth of the State and at such a critical juncture in the history of the people and the place, what is needed is some sane approach to the whole issue.
Should the provocative statements of some individual at New Delhi be enough to send us into a tizzy? By all account the territorial integrity of Manipur will not be disturbed because of some provocative statements issued from New Delhi or anywhere else in the world. The most important matter at hand is to see that people's reaction to such provocative statements do not send out the wrong signal.
When we talk about the territorial integrity of Manipur we need to see beyond the boundary of Manipur and see whether the people of Nagaland are receptive to the idea of a Greater Lim. Is the concept of a Greater Nagaland the wish and aspirations of all the Naga people or is it just the brain child of an organization?
We may also question whether the NSCN (IM) has the mandate to represent the whole section of the Naga people. There are so many issues which are not at all clear at the moment and given the reality, the best thing now for the people of Manipur is to get down to the serious business of cementing ties between the different communities living here for ages.
Territorial integrity will take care of itself if we can assure emotional and social integrity amongst the different communities living here and one step towards this is to start paying attention to little details like the interaction between two individuals belonging to two different communities. And in doing that we have to go the extra mile to see that any cry for protecting the territorial integrity of Manipur is not reduced to community bashing of any sort.
We would like to take this opportunity to ask why the fear factor should rear its head amongst the Nagas living in the valley area whenever the issue of protecting the territory of Manipur gains currency, despite the fact that no particular community has been targeted at all. This is a question each and every individual from every community should ponder over. In the ultimate analysis we need to instill faith and trust in each other and the onus for this should fall on the majority community.
|
