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The recent shadow-boxing and the outright
rejection of the New Delhi-brokered Joint
Ceasefire Agreement with some prominent
hill-based UG militant outfits openly
summarized the dirty double-games played by
both the State and the Central Governments
all these years. It would be an under
statement of the year to say that
Governments of Manipur, especially the
present O Ibobi Administration, have
unlawfully kept the citizens of Manipur in
the dark and repeatedly duped the local
media personnel for their own interests,
disregarding their honorable duties and
compromising the powers vested upon them by
the people. The State Government and its law
enforcement agencies have shoved, side lined
and willfully misled the general public on
vital or sensitive issues by means of
disinformation and spin-doctoring the
elements of key subject matters. It is most
unfortunate that the general media and
public regularly bought all the dirty crude
contents rationed generously by the State
Government lock, stock and barrel, no
question asked, no answer given and no
credible ones expected.
It is a big 'Koubru blunder' on the part of
the State Cabinet Council of Ministers to
give negative ethnic color to any burning
issue pertaining to the administrative
welfare of hill areas - in short, the plight
of the Chin-Kuki-Mizo (CHIKIMs) ethnic
group. The perfect example of this
socio-political injustice is the sabotaging
of the temporary Joint Ceasefire Agreement
incredibly worked out between the Government
of India (GOI) and KNA/KNF (MC)/ KNF (Z)/
KLA/ KRA/ ZRA plus KNF (P). The ground rules
are quite similar to that of the GOI-NSCN
(IM) ceasefire Agreement; though the
territorial limits of GOI-NSCN (IM) is
unclear in real geographical sense.
All those armed confrontation took place in
the State of Manipur about four and half
years after the deletion of 'without
territorial limits' aftermath of the June
18th Uprising, 2001. Then came the worse
economic blockade in the history of Manipur
when the decision made by the CM O Ibobi and
his coterie, to declare 18th June as a
State/general holiday was promptly ambushed
by the ANSAM. This is called law and order
in plain English. Instead of being charged
and arrested by the Ibobi Government for
tearing apart the law and order, it was the
ANSAM student leaders' who actually summoned
the CM for talks in Senapati district.
Outrageous as it might seemed, the State
Government officially sent some powerful
Ministers and bureaucrats for a parley! It
was unbelievable, absolutely ridiculous.
However, for a peaceful solution and
bloodless confrontation, the Council of
Ministers broke the law of the land in order
to establish a temporary law and order in
the Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur. Even
this unlawful approach by O Ibobi's
Government failed to make any impact on
encore agenda of the ANSAM.
According to the law of the land, the
standard procedure was to bring them
(economic blockade leaders) in after issuing
arrest warrants and listen to their point of
view in the court of law; after all there is
and was indeed an elected Government to
uphold the security and economy of the
State. Instead, State Government mediators
even went to New Delhi to negotiate a State
subject with the ANSAM leaders. Now, then,
what on earth is all about the cry of rape
over the Joint Ceasefire Agreement between
the CHIKIMS UG outfits and the GOI? This is
the same spineless Council of Ministers who
was summoned to New Delhi by an unarmed
student outfit who refused to enjoy a one
day State holiday - a State subject which
cannot be discussed at, with or by New
Delhi. These were the same Ministers who
released 13 NSCN (IM) leaders along with
their unlicensed firearms so apologetically
under the telephonic 'order' reportedly made
by the then Deputy PM LK Advani. It was not
unjustifiably alleged that the telephonic
call taken by the CM, O Ibobi, actually came
from the GOI's cease-firing monitoring
officials from Dimapur with the blessing of
New Delhi and not personally from LK Advani.
There is a matter of truth in this
particular 'Whodunit?' episode. Need we
hardly stress, it is so much easier to fool
the wise men of Manipur than the guardians
of Mahabali forest. How could the prize
catch the State's police commandos at
Turibari, IT road, in the form of 13 NSCN(IM)
armed activists be countermanded and their
fate decided by the Central Government over
a law and order matter exclusively put under
the State list? Here, we now crystal clearly
see the double standard played the O Ibobi
in compliment with the double-dealings of
the Central Govt. Who gets killed, sacked,
hacked or duped is not the duty of the
public or the media personnel to argue upon
in armed insurgency movements and CI Ops.
But, what the Government does for peaceful
purpose is; the media and the general public
must see to it that all decisions taken or
resolved by genuinely concerned authorities
must have to be consistent, justifiable and
equal in nature. There is no such thing as
sensitive or delicate issue in this bloody
insurgency and counter-insurgency campaigns.
The indifferent attitude of the majority
public in dealing with vital socio-political
problems has encouraged just about any
institutions or organization to initiate
violent anti-public activities on some
matter which is not the real issue itself.
And the unequal treatment of persons or
organization by the spineless O Ibobi
Administration on non-CI Ops criminal
subject matter is unconstitutional. For
example, Meelal activities, AMSU, AMUCO, UCM
leaders were smoked out by the State Police
for subversive or anti-Government activities
and duly slapped them with or under the
National Security Act (NSA), which, of
course, is in the Union list. However, none
of the ANSAM or KSO (GHQ) leaders has ever
been booked under the NSA, or even arrested
for taking up the same anti-Government
activities - sabotaging, burning of
Government offices, files, vehicles etc.
(This is not a demand for arresting the said
student leaders, it is just a matter of
reference on law and order procedure). This
is the perfect case presentation of the
double-standard politics played by the
present State Government and a classic
example of unequal justice at the highest
level.
Well, now what's the indignant hue and cry
over the Joint Ceasefire Agreement (JCA)
between the hill-based UG outfits and the
GOI? Is the State Government really
disinterested in putting on temporary halt
on the daily killings, extortions,
indiscriminate gun battles, costly CI Ops in
Manipur? If yes, why so? The State wise men,
without wisdom and proper education, ruling
Manipur ought to keep in their thick head
that the armed and sometimes bloody
activities of the CHIKIMs' UG outfits took
place even in the heart of Imphal areas, not
to mention the valley areas where real
encounters repeatedly occurred. Hill-based
need not necessarily signify violent armed
activities only in the hill areas. In a
multi-ethnic State like Manipur, people of
all ethnic groups are settled in the valley
areas. It is most unfortunate that the State
Council of Ministers prefers to bloody CI
Ops and internecine killings in hill areas
than responsible ceasefire observation just
for the sake of political game of by-passing
plays. These dishonorable law-makers of
Manipur ought to keep in their diseased mind
that they are literally playing the game of
death by proxy. And seriously speaking, they
themselves are liable to it, if not a party
to it. There is no time to indulge in
Centre-State political stand-off amidst the
ever increasing overflow of bloods and
spilling of guts. As responsible custodians
of the State's ever deteriorating law and
order system, surely and sincerely, they
must welcome every available solution or
initiative to bring forth peace, secure and
socio-political stability.
In actual sense, there cannot be such
divisive term called 'Hill-and valley-based
UG militant outfits' in an undivided State
of Manipur. This politically motivated
expression undoubtedly shows the existence
of two socio-geographically contrasting
entities, which geo-politically compromises
the existing territorial integrity of
Manipur. Need we say more?
Herein now there are two entities in our
mindset one of which refused to enjoy a full
cool general holiday and the other one which
refused to enjoy the cool wind of
non-violent and peaceful environment. One
thing is crystal clear over the hasty
outright rejection of multi-party ceasefire
initiation by the State Govt. Most of the
senior Cabinet Ministers have their own A/Cs
cleared off the AFSPA, the other half had
already signed a memorandum of territorial
integration outside their own patch against
the interest of Manipur; the leftovers have
no audible voices and the courage to mumble
a word or two for the interests of their
people. By failing to work for the overall
general interest of the multi-ethnic
citizens of Manipur, the O Ibobi's Council
of Ministers have shamefully failed
themselves miserably as the guardians of law
and order. Even if they do not know the
basic provisions of the Union, Concurrent
and State lists and the finer points of the
Constitution of India, they ought to keep
the good faith. More importantly, every
successful solution to a bloody problem has
always had a shaky beginning. Law and order
is not made in heaven in full form. It is
most advisable to reconsider the validity of
prospective solutions which is on a win-win
situation. Testing of a peaceful solution
never hurts but outright rejection does.
It's a golden opportunity. And if it's a
killing they want, the bloody show must go,
and on and more on. For God's sake, let
there be an avenue for peace and communal
harmony. |
