Witoubou Newmai
Since cases of pandemonium are not anomalies any more in the State of Manipur, and since they have come to define the State today, "surprises are no longer shockers".
However, the prevailing situation in the State of Manipur, as the valley based organizations are upping the ante with regard to their “alert campaign” on the Naga political talks, needs a cogent moderator to intervene. The grim situation in the State of Manipur has become a worrying factor. The atmosphere has become such that one finds it difficult to extricate oneself from the situation even as plumes of ruckuses are being kicked up every passing day.
A prudent intervention of wisdom and maturity is imperative in order to assure that principles of peace are recognized so as to bring a lasting peace in the State of Manipur.
As it appears at the moment, the grim situation is likely to prevail in the State of Manipur as long as the details of what some organizations called it as “agreed points” of the Indo-Naga peace talks are not revealed. Again, even in the event of the revelation of the “agreed points” in future, the subsequent configuration of the social atmosphere will depend on how the valley based organizations take the “agreed points” of the Indo-Naga peace talks.
It can be recalled here that, in the run up to the “October 31 deadline”, the Manipur State capital had witnessed a highly charged situation.
They called it as “alert campaign” in connection with the Naga peace talks, the valley based organizations under the banner of Co-Ordination Committee of Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) have been demanding and protesting in various forms that the “interests of Manipur” should not be hurt in the event of the inking of the Naga political issue. The Committee is also demanding a special assembly session of the Manipur Legislative Assembly in this regard.
COCOMI is a conglomerate of United Committee, Manipur (UCM), All Manipur United Clubs Organisation (AMUCO), Committee of Civil Societies of Kangleipak (CCSK) and various other organisations of the valley people.
One wonders by what specifically are those “interests of Manipur.” Sometimes the valley based organizations also assert something like---“any ethnic based administrative unit will not be allowed in Manipur.”
Are these valley based organizations saying that the status quo of the present State of Manipur be protected at any cost? Are they also saying that they do not recognize the nearly a century long Nagas’ campaign for justice?
Since this is the case, a sound moderator needs to urgently intervene into the situation.
Nevertheless, one must note that peace will prevail only when ‘that’ peace is guided by the principles of justice. One needs to further recognize that the smokescreen policies and adhoc measures will only result in disastrous ramifications. In short, as long as one ignores the chord that promotes peace the situation will continue to be mired down.
