Image Source: AGENCIES

There's important to celebrate about the northeastern state. It's a beautiful part of India, with its population spread across hills and denes. It has a rich culture. And it has given the country some of the stylish sportspersons who have won transnational laurels.
Ever so frequently, violence returns to Manipur – primarily due to internal disturbance set off by long undetermined inter-community conflict, aggravated by the lack of political will to iron out the crimps, both at the state and central situations.

The result of this is the widening of the ocean between communities and the loss of life and property. At times an unattractive clash will break out between Kuki- Zo groups and the Nagas in their neighborhood, and at other times, it'll be the Kuki- Zo group and the Nagas who'll be in conflict with the state’s maturity community, the Meiteis.
In all cases, peace becomes the first casualty.

Let’s also not forget then the effect of the Armed Forces( Special Powers) Act which has been assessed on that state for a veritably long time, driving Irom Sharmila’s one-of-a-kind presto, leading to Manorama’s woeful death and the stirring kick of women who undressed against rape by security forces. Manipur had hit public captions for all of these reasons too.

We're now at the end of June and as this goes to press, further than 100 people have been killed, several hundreds injured, and hundreds of families have been displaced from their homes. We're given to understand that further than 10,000 troops and civil armed forces have been flown in. This is in addition to the troops preliminarily posted there and the State police.
Some 4,000 arms are reportedly missing from police armories. Nobody seems to know whether they were pillaged by vigilante groups if they were handed out to them, or if they were simply left conveniently unguarded.

Manipur, with a border running alongside Myanmar, has always been a heavily militarised State. It would seem virtually insolvable for a fortified conflagration to break out and escalate to a situation nearly amounting to civil war within weeks - without the knowledge of either the State or the Centre.

Yet, it has. And the State continues to burn. Is this wilful ignorance? Is it the iniquity spawn of the deep state? What are the politics that have allowed it? Or, like all similar stories, should we assiduously trace the money? Let us also ask who gets to control the inestimable timber and minerals in its forests and hills. And who gets a cut of the billion-dollar underground trade that thrives along the border - gun handling, drug smuggling, mortal trafficking? Let’s also trace the shadowy specks that lead to Myanmar, where the junta is reportedly cracking down on the Chin and might have a use for willing militias.

Over the last few years, most development work has taken place only in the valley areas, thus leaving the hill tribes with a lot of resentment towards the majority community, as if a planned ‘conspiracy’ has been afoot to keep their areas backward.
Both the Union and the state governments must rectify this at once to help develop better relations between the hill and valley. This is essential for peaceful co-existence.