IMPHAL: If a look al the pages of leading Manipuri newspapers are an indication, the writ of militant’s runs stronger in Manipur than that of the government.
Day after day the pages are splashed with display advertisements issued by various people confessing 16 past crimes in the hope of being produced by militant outfits which they fear far more than the official machinery. Several of these insertion record many an individual’s resolve, “upon instructions” from specified outfits, {o give up selling or consuming drugs and other intoxicants.
While the state administration remains in a state of perpetual paralysis, the militants virtually run a “parallel government,” dispensing justice, enforcing prohibition and a strict moral code,
Outlawed outfits like the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) or the ‘United National Liberation Front (NLF) in the Imphal valley have devised a straicgy that combines ‘stinking terror through extortion und the use of the gun and a populist reform movement. Either way, they score over the government.
By the time the government imposed night curfew to contain violence after the eruption of unprecedented communal riots in the State last week, the PLA had already enforced its own curfew. The impact of the PLA curfew ‘was SO strong that people had to seek curfew passes from the outfit before venturing out.
“We do not subscribe to the theory of violence but in a crime ridden state, the unorthodox methods used by militant groups to book criminals and antisocial elements can often win public support,” says the editor of a local daily, Besides, he adds, there arc limes when the grievances of people can be redressed quicker by these groups than by a lethargic administration.
The militants seem to function freely under the very nose of the Slate government.
According to the chief minister, R.K.Dorendra Singh, the government is now determined to flush out militants from the state; He blames the insurgent groups for the current unrest in the state. “There is no doubt that some militant outfits were behind the recent communal clashes,” he says. Joint operations have already been launched by the Army, police and paramilitary forces against extremists, he declares.
The chief minister’s view is, however, not shared by a senior officer of the paramilitary forces now deployed in the state, “There have been no raids to speak of so far, all we have seen is the positioning of forces in communally sensitive areas to restore normalcy in the not affected state,” he points out.
“Our primary task is to book those responsible for the recent riots so that communal harmony can be restored,” Dorendra Singh says. But, he adds, the current Operations will track down activists of various militant outfits as well. “Now that troops are here, our task will be easier than before,” he says.
The grim situation is compounded by ethnic and communal tensions, soaring unemployment and a total lack of development activity, Though the communal clashes between the Meitei’s and Manipuri Muslims, known as Pangals, have been contained at a superficial level, there is an element of fear and mistrust in the minds of the people.
In the hill districts, the KukiNaga tension continues to simmer, despite the efforts of the security forces, traffic on the arterial highway connecting Imphal with the bustling border town of Noreh is far from normal. Two powerful militant organizations, the NSCN and the Kuki National Army (KNA), have been at each other’s throats in the hills, complicating the situation in the state.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 28, 1993
