Minors Killed, Centre Buries Head In The Sand

For a long time, we have been told that the situation in Manipur is under control. The chants of peace, the defiance of the reality of segregated ethnic zones, still ring inside our ears. But the situation in Manipur at present says otherwise. I am writing as I hear the clashes on the streets in the backdrop. If we are talking about the reality of Manipur, it is the one the state has been living with since May of 2023.

A five-year-old boy and a five-month-old baby girl were killed inside their home in an attack, allegedly carried out by Kuki militants. Renewed rage and escalations from angry masses, clashes with security forces, and the Internet shutting down, curfew has once again returned after a short pause for breath. Ironic how the central government still plays hide when the people of Manipur seek justice. The callous naivety in tackling this situation is rather pathetic and shameful. It is outright incompetence and failure, proven again, as it has been multiple times before.

60000 displaced since May 2023, with more than 300 relief camps operational at present. Death tolls rising, attacks continuing, and out of more than 3000 registered cases, only 6% has been charged. This prolonged humanitarian crisis, which once started as a Kuki-Meitei conflict, is slowly turning into a complex structural violence churned by wilful neglect and an unjust political system. Peace needs protection, not chants. Normalisation requires long-term measures, not photo-ops. Two kids brutally killed at their home speaks very loudly that there are people with lethal kill-weapons who still want to keep the conflict alive. The centre can bury its head in the sand for the time being, but History will not remember this government kindly. Manipur needs a closure of this crisis. And it should begin with demilitarisation and disarmament of these armed groups. India can, but India still doesn’t.