July 11, 2004 to July 11, 2011 : Cannot fool all, all the time
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 12 2011 -

Thangjam Manorama death anniversary : A lady gives vent to her emotions

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act is not only a remnant of the British Raj that is hotly contested as draconian and outdated but has also increasingly come under the glare as being discriminatory.

And there are valid reasons to hold these view points and whatever the military establishment might say about its indispensability, they will be the first ones to admit that their men could indeed have behaved more humanely while dispensing with their duties.

The Supreme Court of India may have upheld the validity of its enforcement, but the very fact that it was constrained to come out with a series of dos and don'ts tells many a story that comes somewhere in between the advocates of this Act and those who are vociferously against it.

Different strategies have been adopted by the security personnel ever since the guns started booming in the hills of Nagaland and after it was enforced in the whole of Manipur in 1980.

The insurgents too have adopted different means to carry on the bush war against the security personnel and while the changing tactics adopted by Delhi, Imphal and the militants may be understood in the context of the changing political dynamics, brought about by the influence of economy and social mores, AFSPA has remained resolutely static all these years and this is what we find surprising.

A number of Acts have been amended by Parliament after 1950 and all the changes have been effected in line with the demand of the changing time and it is significant to note that not a single amendment to the clauses of AFSPA has been effected since it was promulgated in 1958.

There must be a reason for this and one point that glaringly stands out and gives weightage to the argument that the Act is not only draconian but also discriminatory lies in its unchanging profile all these years.

The North East, as is understood in the wider context of the country, is a region which has never enjoyed political clout say like the cow belt or the region that comes south of the Vindhyas.

This is one highly probable reason why Delhi has not budged its position on the controversial Act and this could be another important factor why AFSPA is not enforced in other parts of the country though the situation may be bloodier than the one found in the North East region.

The sense of discrimination has only gone to add the proverbial salt to the wounds of the people and when we talk about this Act, then two dates come to mind vividly. One is the date that gave birth to the crusader in Irom Sharmila Chanu and the other is the date that jolted alive not only the people of Manipur but also the conscientious people of the world over the bullet riddled, brutalised and lifeless body of Thangjam Manorama.

On July 10, 2004 Thangjam Manorama was picked up from her house by a group of Assam Rifles personnel and her bullet riddled body, with numerous tell tale signs of the obvious, was found abandoned the next morning. It did not come as a surprise when the Assam Rifles came out with the claim that she was killed while trying to escape but this was not going to fool anyone any longer and the days that followed July 11, 2004 testify this.

Who was the muse cum singer who belted out the unforgettable line, “You may fool some people for some time but not all the people all the time..” ?

The nude protest in front of the western gate of Kangla, the days of ceaseless protest, the curfew, the torch rallies held in defiance of the curfew after sunset, the brutality of the police force exposed in full public view at the gate of Raj Bhavan when some students from Manipur University aired their protest, the unflinching demand of the people to revoke AFSPA, the coming of the Prime Minister to Imphal, the handing over of Kangla to the people, the lifting of AFSPA from the seven Assembly Constituencies falling within the Imphal Municipal Council etc are all historical events.

The street protests, the torch rallies despite the enforcement of curfew etc are all stuff that revolutions are made of. However as in every tale, the people of Manipur today stand precariously close to being rightfully convicted of forgetting the woman whose death served as the rallying point for all.

Thangjam Manorama is dead..she died a painful death, no doubt about it. Her antecedents do not matter to us, for no one, least of all a woman, deserved to be treated like she was in this civilised period.

Today if half the world knows something about AFSPA, the credit should go to the soul of Manorama. If the common man of Manipur can today go inside Kangla and enjoy an evening walk, they need to doff their evening cap to her memory.

In essence Manorama achieved in her death what many others could not in their lifetime and herein lies the irony of her life and death as well. The irony becomes all that more palpable when viewed against the backdrop of the fact that it was AFSPA which killed her.

It may also be surmised that the hands of the divine intervened into lulling the Assam Rifles personnel in giving the arrest warrant, which nailed them or else Manorama may have been another name added to the long list of the Involuntarily Disappeared.