Yearning for home, scrambling for food

 

 

Manipur has been in the throes of misery ever since the All Naga Students Association Manipur (ANSAM) imposed economic blockade on NH-39 and NH-53 in April this year in protest against the holding of Autonomous District Council (ADC) elections in the five hill districts of Manipur. The ADC elections have not been conducted for more than 20 years.

The blockade, which has the support of the United Naga Council, was intensified after two students died and many were injured in the police crackdown on Thuigaleng Muivah’s supporters at Mao Gate on May 6—the day the NSCN (I-M) leader had planned to enter Manipur. The Ibobi Singh government does not want Muivah to enter Manipur because the Naga rebel leader wants parts of the state to be included in greater Nagaland.

Although Muivah says he just wants to visit his birthplace, Somdal, the Manipur government is not buying his argument fearing disturbing consequences the rebel leader’s visit may have. In a development, the Imphal bench of the Gauhati High Court has instructed the state police to arrest the leaders of the troubling student organisations. But the government does not look in a mood to use force.“We are trying to reopen the Imphal-Jiribam highway. Talks are on with people residing along the route. We don’t want to use force. There are things we do not want to disclose at this moment but we are confident that the highway will reopen and the crisis will be resolved very soon,” Manipur government spokesperson Biren Singh told reporters.

The month-long economic blockade has thrown life out of gear in Manipur. While essential food commodities are becoming scarce by the day, hospitals are running out of oxygen, fuel and life saving drugs. Fuel scarcity brought the functioning of Imphal bench of Gauhati High Court to a complete halt on Monday. According to people’s accounts, they have been getting petrol and kerosene for Rs 150-200 and Rs 60-70 per litre respectively. Cooking gas is selling for Rs 1000 per cylinder in the black market. Even the black markets have run out of supplies. Furious over the home department’s failure to provide mobile security escort for transportation of goods, state consumer affairs, food and public distribution minister Y.Erabot said that the matter would be taken up with the union home minister and relevant authorities at the centre. Even as the state cabinet took a decision to send trucks along NH-53 with security escort for ferrying essential commodities including petroleum product on May 10, 12 and 14, the plans were aborted without giving any reasons after all arrangements were made. Seven loaded truck have been burnt down by unknown armed persons in the wake of the unrest arising out of Muivah’s visit near Kohima in the Nagaland capital and many other important offices of government have been set ablaze in Manipur.

The minister said it would not be possible to ferry goods like oxygen canisters and petroleum products on cargo planes. But the government airlifted 3.5 metric tonnes of medicine and 3.5 metric tonnes of rice from Guwahati on Monday. The Food Corporation of India airlifted 35 quintals of rice to Imphal on Monday on an SOS from the Manipur government. “Another 35 quintals will be lifted tomorrow from Guwahati along with life-saving medicines in a 50-quintal-capacity IAF aircraft because of the ongoing crisis in that state. Every family will get 5 kg rice at Rs 15 a kg on producing ration cards,” M.K. Gogoi, general manager, Northeast, FCI, told TSI. Trucks were on their way to Imphal from Guwahati through NH-150, which links Imphal and Guwahati via Mizoram. As Muivah is seen as a divider of communities, a threat to the unity of Manipur and responsible for several criminal acts and human rights violations by the people and the state government, people are angry. Muivah should not be shocked if he can recall what NSCN (I-M) under his leadership has done to Manipur and her people. “Kukis can not forget their ethnic cleansing and suffering at the hands of NSCN (I-M) in the 1990s,” says Dhanabir Laishram, a lecturer. Unlike Nagaland or any other region of the world, Manipur is like a mini-India with various communities living together with no restriction of people coming to or going out of the state. It’s been home to Meiteis, Muslims, Nagas and Kuki-chin people with close socio-cultural, economic, political and emotional ties.

The Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) says impending visit of Muivah to Manipur has created a state of confusion among the people. The special treatment fitting for a head of the state accorded to him by GOI is all the more unsettling for the people of the North East. “His supporters call him the champion of peace but he is responsible for killing over 900 Kukis, destroying 350 Kuki villages and rendering over 1,00,000 Kukis refugees in their own land during the 1990s.”

Kuki National Organisation (KNO) secretary Lenin H. Kuki in a statement asserted that it is due to Muivah’s Machiavellian and nihilistic designs that Manipur valley witnessed a bloodbath in June 2001 in which 20 lives were lost. The KNO is of the opinion that until justice is meted out to the victimised Kukis in the form of political dialogue to solve their issues, any sort of peace and security initiatives taken by the government in the northeast would be futile.

The United Committee Manipur and various organisations of the valley oppose Muivah’s homecoming. UCM president Yumnamcha Dilipkumar describes Muivah’s proposed visit to Manipur as “provocative”. The UCM has requested the Centre to exercise political wisdom in cancelling the controversial visit of Muivah to Manipur latest by May 20. It also warned that the government does not heed its advice, the people of Manipur would be left with no other choice but to resist the alleged evil designs of the centre, by launching people’s democratic movement with the declaration of public emergency throughout the state from May 21. It also blamed the central leaders of igniting the political time bomb by unnecessary prolonging the issue.

K.Dutta, a social worker, says it is ironical that the Centre is extending a warm welcome to a person who has fought violently against it for decades. But the same powerful rebel leader is not able to visit his birthplace in Ukhrul, Manipur. Former Manipur chief minister W. Nipamacha says Muivah’s attempt to visit his birthplace is not a simple homecoming. It is a calculated political move.