Ominous start to Twenty Thirteen : Call for sanity and reason
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 04, 2013 -

Ominous signs.

If Twenty Twelve ended on a spur note for the people as a whole, then Twenty Thirteen has started off on an even more ominous vein. All the more reason for the people to gear up, join hands cutting across community and ethnic divide and defeat the agenda being hatched by some vested interested people.

Time to exercise utmost caution and give no room to rabble rousers, whose only claim to fame is whipping up communal passion to further a political agenda or two.

And there are more than enough trouble makers on all sides, elements who will not hesitate to capitalise on a tragedy to further their own narrow, selfish gains.

Manipur has had enough of such demented minds playing havoc with the lives of the common people.

From giving a communal tinge to the. protests launched against the physical assault and molestation of an actress in the public domain, to the harassment given to people going home for Christmas, to the killing of two hunters and the subsequent uproar and now to the murder of a man who was waylaid somewhere in between Ukhrul district headquarters and Imphal on December 29, Manipur is literally sitting on a tinder box.

All these instances deserve the severest condemnations, but rooms should not be created for rabble rousers to raise their pitch. Doing so would be playing into the hands of such elements who want Manipur to burn and justify their political agenda.

Voice of reason and restraint is the call of the hour. The onus of placating hurt sentiments should rest on the shoulders of public leaders, not necessarily political leaders, but leaders of civil society organisations, the Church elders and other NGOs.

Missing since December 29 only to be found murdered and buried somewhere in between Finch Corner and Lambui village in Ukhrul district, the tragedy of the death of Laishram Ibohalbi does not end here.

From the reports that have emerged so far, the late man had gone to his wife's natal home to celebrate Christmas and the sense of tragedy that must be weighing down on the shoulder of the lady from Ukhrul district can Only be imagined.

It is more than a wife losing, her husband at the hands of some demented minds, but leaves open a question on her position and status at her late husband's home.

How about the children, that is assuming they have children ? Clearly the tragedy cannot get more acute than this.

This perspective should not be lost in the din that may follow in the days to come. Justice, this is what people will demand and rightly so, but in dispensing justice it should also be seen that justice has indeed been delivered or else the sense of being cheated will refuse to fade.

It would be fitting justice if the civil society organisations of Ukhrul district can round up the murderers and hand them over to the police for necessary action under the law of the land.

On the other hand, it is also imperative to keep in mind that the murder is not seen along communal line.

It was the handiwork of some criminals and giving a communal tinge to it would only amount to falling into the trap of the elements who are out there to pounce on any issue to serve a political agenda.

Sanity is what Manipur needs right now.