Manipur is experiencing the worst form of human tragedy.
To get the answer, let's understand first, what is this war all about:
It's a war between the Indigenous people and the Non Indigenous. It's a fight between a community who want to preserve the territorial integrity of the state of Manipur and another who want to break it for their nefarious activities. It's a clash between a group of people (Meiteis+Nagas)who are proud of the rich cultural heritage, strong sporting achievements and two thousand years plus of history up against a group of people who immigrated or were given shelter only hundred odd years back.
Why the State Govt. crackdown:
The illegal use of reserved forest land for poppy plantation, the destruction of environment through the use of urea in the hills. The huge impact of this drug trade originating from the hills of Manipur presents a big challenge for protecting the youth of India in general and the youth of Manipur in particular, from drug addiction. In addition to this, the emergence of Narco Terrorism angle fuelled by Foreign Warlords or Druglords with the involvement of foreign militants presents a huge challenge against the preservation of the sovereignty of India, the World's largest democracy.
Why Manipur is Economically and Strategically Important to India:
With the Northern, Southern & Western land connections not usable to India for reaching the outside world, Eastern India in general and Manipur in particular is the only economically viable gateway to the rest of the world. Hence Manipur is the fulcrum of India's Act East policy. Drastic Demographic shifts, Political instability & militancy in Manipur will have huge implications on India's Act east policy.
Peace in Manipur :A Mirage or is it Achieveable.
While artificial short term peace can be managed through strong military posturing, a stable long lasting peace would require a longer time frame and sincere efforts. This is the need of the hour and should begin in right earnest with the participation of the Central Govt.,State Govt and CSO's from both sides. Some of the actions that can be taken are as follows:
1.Speed up the double layered Border fencing along the porous 700Km odd Indo Myanmar border.This will ensure that illegal immigration and their nefarious activities inside India's territory is curtailed.
2.Immediately start NRC process and deport illegal immigrants. This also will reduce the unwanted elements from India's territory. 3. Announce ceasefire with all militants group and instead of SOO, absorb them in State forces in some
or the other capacity. This will defang the militancy to some extent.
4.Provide Equal rights & opportunities to all indigenous communities in Manipur and some autonomy to the peripheral districts of Manipur for faster actions.
5.All draconian laws which divide the state based on altitude like Valley and hills should be amended.
