AA Edit | Rein In Tribal Security Groups First To Bring Manipur Peace
Fresh clashes among Kuki and Naga groups expose limits of state control
Manipur is back in the news for the same reason it has been there in the last three years: violence. The latest series started on April 7 when two children were killed in a bomb blast, and has claimed more than a dozen lives ever since. While the majority community of Meities and the tribal Kukis were the main players in the earlier episodes, the tribal Kukis and Nagas are involved in the latest.
The latest round has started at a time when the border state had barely started its journey on the path of peace after the unrest and mayhem it had witnessed since May 3.
It is also when new Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh, who comes from the Meitei community, is making all attempts and has walked the extra mile to build bridges between the two communities that the latest series erupts.
It is true that the reasons the groups on either side cite have their roots in the history and geography of the region, and hence are unlikely to go away very soon. But that cannot be a reason for the governments at the Centre and in the state not to try and bring peace. A careful look at the pattern of violence reveals a common thread behind the violence that no society that respects rule of law can accept or accommodate. It is the presence of armed groups for the protection of communities and villages.
They roam around freely offering a sense of security to the inhabitants who mostly belong to a community. Allegations of encroachment on each other’s property or border skirmishes can set fire to the charged emotions, resulting in massive disruption of tranquillity, and even loss of lives.
Chief Minister Singh’s government has been making efforts to restore the primacy of the rule of law but has hardly succeeded in its efforts. The unrest has assumed the pattern of a multi-ethnic conflict that will require intervention from various stakeholders, not just the state government.
The first step will be to communicate firmly to all militant groups that law and order is the responsibility of the government and it will shoulder it.
The Union government has a major role to play in this scenario. More so because it had watched in silence, and even encouraged Biren Singh, when he was running a partisan administration as chief minister when the state was going through the most turbulent phase in its history. It must now aid the state government in such a way to ensure that the government writ, not community militias’, runs in every village, whether it is Meitei, Kuki or Naga. It must persuade the majority community to trust the state administration instead of taking up cudgels against it as it makes every effort to bring peace to the state. It can also get the services of Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla, who took very firm steps in restoring the people’s faith in the state apparatus during the President’s rule in the state, in augmenting the process.
Restoring the people’s faith in the democratic process is the first step towards establishing peace among the various communities. The governments must put to use every available tool to ensure this.