AA Edit | Stop Manipur Violence Quickly

Fears of Manipur returning to its cycle of violence were sparked on Wednesday when five persons were killed in the latest wave — two children were killed in a rocket attack, and three were killed when police opened fire on a mob that encircled a CRPF post alleging that people responsible for the attack had taken refuge there. Protests have taken place in several other villages. The authorities have clamped a curfew on Bishnupur district and suspended mobile Internet to spreading rumours about the developments. Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh has announced that the investigation into the trigger, the rocket blast, will be handed over to the National Investigation Agency.

The sudden escalation of violence is a pointer to the fragile nature of peace that prevails in the state after the series of violent incidents that started on May 3, 2024. It is also a demonstration of the underlying distrust between the majority Meitei community and the Kuki tribals.

The silver lining in the whole episode is the quick action by the state administration, unlike in the past when the chief minister N. Biren Singh presided over a system which refused to move. The CM has intervened and put the security apparatus into action, which would hopefully convince the tribal community that justice will prevail, and the perpetrators, even if they are from their side, alone will be nabbed. While it is a welcome move that the NIA will investigate the case, it will be in the interest of the people of Manipur and of the entire nation if the NIA does a professional job and brings the rioters to book after a fair and impartial probe.

Chief minister Singh has worked hard to earn the trust and goodwill of the two warring communities; he must now put them to good use to send across the message that Manipur is a land where people of different ethnicities can live in peace and that anyone who attempts to break the peace that now prevails in the border state will be dealt the iron hand of the law.