Points from Congress noted : Unanswered questions
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: February 25, 2023 -

The Congress has a solid point and the BJP led Government at Imphal should take the questions raised by the former as an extension of the War on Drugs campaign.

This is all that more so as the Congress has already announced that it supports the War on Drugs drive.

This is where The Sangai Express and the Congress appear to stand on the same ground in so far as the questions raised by the party is concerned.

A pertinent question is, has the State Government got in touch with the Governments of other States, where drugs, originating or passing through Manipur, have been seized?

Significant to note too that all the drugs seized outside Manipur, but having its roots here, either as a transit point from Myanmar or otherwise, run into crores of rupees.

And a drug consignment that runs into crores of rupees is not something which any Tom, Dick or Harry can afford to lay their hands on.

It also needs to be asked how the drug consignments managed to give the slip to the numerous check posts set up on the Manipur side of the National Highways.

Surely it would have needed financial clout and influence to have smuggled out the drugs without being detected through the long stretch of the National Highway, whether one takes the Imphal-Dimapur line or the Imphal-Jiribam line.

Only the Government can answer the points raised here as well as the points raised by the Congress on February 23.

Let it also be very clear to all concerned that this is not the time to score a political point or anything that comes close to it.

Manipur has suffered enough at the hands of drugs and each and every leikai in Imphal will have stories to tell of how many youngsters have lost their lives to drugs and how many have undergone a stint or two at the numerous rehabilitation centres that have sprung up all over the place.

It also stands that the presence of numerous rehabilitation centres is a reflection of how drugs have impacted on the lives of many youngsters and the not so young.

This is where the BJP led Government would need to take the suggestions and even critiques in the right spirit if its War on Drugs campaign is to come anywhere near being effective.

The guns should be trained on the big fishes, the people who have made a ‘fortune’ out of the drug trade.

The Sangai Express has been raising pertinent questions through this column occasionally but till date no answer has been forthcoming.

What is the progress of the case involving some police personnel from whose vehicle a huge quantity of drugs was seized at Kuraopokpi near Pallel on the Imphal-Moreh route some time back ?

Who are the people who funded the whole thing, that is from procuring the drugs and ‘escorting’ the drugs consignment upto Kuraopokpi? Where were the drugs headed to ?

And to whom were the drugs supposed to have been handed over to ?

Or if this is not the case, then can one be made to believe that the cops were more than mere couriers and were actually owners of the drugs consignment ?

If yes then from where did they get the money needed to procure the same from the source ?

Or is the investigation at such a critical point that no details can be shared with the media ?

Either way, it will go a long way in underlining the seriousness of the War on Drugs campaign if the answers are spelt out.

The Congress was on target in questioning the follow up actions that have been taken up so far.

To break or bust the drug cartel, the Government will need to go beyond the War on Drugs campaign and follow each case of drug seizure to its logical conclusion.

The Sangai Express has always maintained that the people caught with drugs from the streets of Imphal and other dingy parts of the State can at best be couriers and this is the time to get the lead from those arrested and then go after the big fishes.

What is the progress made after some village chiefs were hauled up in connection with poppy plantations ?

These are all questions at the moment, but the fact that these posers have been raised should be a pointer that much more needs to be done.