Much has already been said about Manipur over the last few months but to no avail. Our daughters are raped, Manipur burns, and women are molested. Manipur continues to burn, innocents are hacked to death. Manipur remains in flames, weapons are looted from police armories. Religious places are razed to the ground and Manipur continues to burn. Children are terrified but astonishingly the fire continues to burn our Manipur.

God only knows what more needs to be seen yet. The tale of horror continues; fear persists; dismay, disgust and revulsion in the populace are palpable. Human life seems to be so cheap and discounted that every day it has become a mere ‘number’ of ‘total lives lost’ on that day. And the count swells incessantly even when we take into account just the officially reported killings. The situation is certainly grim and grave, and necessitates immediate action by the government.

As we all know, the hilly north-eastern state of Manipur borders Myanmar and houses an approximate population of a 3.3 million. The Meitei ethnic group represents about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population while 24 per cent are Nagas and 16 per cent Kukis. In the ongoing violence more than 180 people have been killed, over 400 wounded and close to 60,000 have been displaced. Police, Manipur Rifles and IRB Battalion armouries have been looted and pillaged at will.

Their vehicles, equipment and infrastructure have been destroyed; and ironically, no attempt was made to prevent this loot, no firing by these forces even in self-defence. It was an abject surrender to the miscreants. And bizarrely, there is no action against those who surrendered meekly to the troublemakers and ‘misguided’ terrormongers.

One fails to comprehend how long we will ignore Manipur; for how long our Manipuri brothers and sisters will have to spend sleepless nights, for how long will Manipuri children fearfully listen to the wailing men and women who are living through the tales of death and terror every day. It is time that the people who matter, both in the State and the Centre, rise to the occasion and restore normalcy, lest the ‘fire’ engulfs the entire North-eastern region.

Unfortunately, even today some of the media channels continue to project Manipur through the lens of insurgency, conflict, and violence without recognising the fact that Manipur and the Northeaster region had shunned insurgency a couple of years back and had limped back to normalcy. Since 2010, barring a few sporadic and infrequent incidents of terror, nothing could mar the spirit of Manipuris who had shunned insurgency and comprehensively rebuffed militancy ~ till the current turmoil.

Regrettably, the violence has now taken such an ugly turn that it has spiralled out of the hands of the ruling government and has taken an ethnic tinge that the state and the Centre are finding hard to fathom. Rarely will you find an instance in the history where the state government was found absolutely helpless and myopic under similar circumstances. It is time that the government comes to terms with the fact that the solutions will have to be found out, and that too, sooner than later.

The government very well knows that both the Meitei as well as Kuki communities have legitimate historical grievances. Both communities ‘rightfully’ stake claims to land and resources in the state. The divide is evident, the misunderstanding runs deep and the stand-off is apparent. The conflict seemingly involves a multifaceted interplay of a number of issues rather than merely being an ethnic wrangle. Any one-sided narrative in favour of any single group would certainly hinder any serious efforts at mutually acceptable solution between the two communities.

Besides ensuring regional amity and harmony, the nation needs to understand that Manipur is critical from the strategic point of view. It is the fulcrum on which hinges the Act East policy. This state renders pivotal stability to our ASEAN forays and eastward projection of soft power. Thus, Manipur merits urgency and the government needs to accord priority in ensuring that it comes back to normalcy at the earliest.

The ‘way forward’ will have to be thought through, and expeditious actions will need to be taken to render stability to the state. A suggested approach towards the ‘way-forward’ for speedy return to normalcy can be termed as an “ABCDE Approach” as highlighted below: * Accountability: The situation warrants that accountability of Police, Intelligence Agencies and Civil Administration be fixed. Even the media, which has become habituated to promoting ‘what-aboutry’ from the airconditioned environments of their studios in metropolitan cities and the NCR needs to be made answerable to the nation.

The system of ‘selective and biased’ reporting ought to be nipped in the bud. * Book the Defaulters: Certain hard decisions need to be taken to book the defaulters, sans any community or socio-political allegiance. This should be done without any further delay and without any prejudice. * Collective Effort: The ruling outfit has to reach out to all political parties with a view to project a political ‘unity of purpose’ since the national security is at stake.

Civil Society Organisations, retired defence personnel, academicians and intelligentsia will all have to demonstrate a shared perspective and commitment to restore normalcy in Manipur. * Disarm the Society: A weaponised society is a sure recipe for disaster. Therefore disarming the armed cadres and those who have looted the weapons is the need of the hour.

Mere appeals to them to return the weapons has no meaning. Concerted and deliberate operations will have to be launched coupled with incentives for those who voluntarily surrender. * Enroll and Invite the Youth for Talks: Multi layered interaction with youth leaders and other selected youth will have to be undertaken since the youth will play a major role in ensuring that Manipur returns to normalcy at a faster pace.

Lastly it would not be incorrect to state that a vibrant, dynamic and effective Unified Command structure will have to be thought through to steer Manipur out of this mess. Any reference to religion in any manner will certainly be disastrous and hence needs to be kept away. The psycho-social damage that has cast its shadow on the minds of children will need to be wiped out through a well-planned strategy at the school and college levels.

As a nation we must understand that the geo-strategic dimensions of prolonging this stand-off will severely dent our national security and national interests. Let us all, as nation, take a resolve that we will neither succumb to the propagandist designs of any biased media reporting nor allow any inimical elements to push their divisive narratives down our throats, be it in Manipur or anywhere else in the country. Let us all hope that we see a peaceful and stable Manipur without any further delay

(The writer, a retired Lt General, PVSM, AVSM, SM, is a former DG Assam Rifles and superannuated from the Indian Army in May 2021, after having spent a major part of his career in the North-east)