Tell tale skeletal remains at school campus : Need to pile on the pressure
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 31, 2014 -

Skeletal remains discovered at construction site at Tombisana High School on 26 Dec 2014 :: Pix - Deepak Oinam

Enough to kick up a public furore but sadly this has not been the case in Manipur.

If it had happened in any other parts of the country, there would have been a public outcry but strangely it seems the public is too pre-occupied to articulate their thoughts or take to the streets to air their grievances.

Not jumping to conclusions, but the co-incidences cannot be ignored that easily.

A few days back eight human skulls and other skeletal remains were discovered while digging the plot where Tombisana High School once stood in the heart of Imphal.

A little digging here and there has brought to light that after the school was abolished in 2004, it was occupied by Central Paramilitary Forces including the IRB.

In 2009 the school campus was occupied by police commandos.

Ten years is a long time by any calculation and from 2004 to 2014, the State witnessed a number of people disappearing after ostensibly ‘picked up by men in uniform’.

It is not for nothing that there is a body called the Families of Involuntarily Disappeared Association, Manipur or FIDAM in short.

And remember that fake encounter is galore with even the Supreme Court of India taking a serious note of the issue and rapping the Government on the knuckle.

Now comes the news of the discovery of human skulls and skeletal remains at a place which housed security personnel for years and it is only natural that this would trigger suspicion.

It is in line with this suspicion that some political parties, notably the MPP, the BJP, the AITC have jumped into the fray to demand that the matter be probed and the truth established.

It is also noteworthy that FIDAM and Human Rights Alert have approached the Manipur High Court in connection with the discovery of the human skulls and skeletal remains.

It is however disturbing to note that the public are yet to raise their voice.

Surprising in the face of the fact that Manipur has become accustomed to experiencing numerous bandhs and blockades over the most trivial reasons.

If at all there is the time to pile the pressure on the Government and take to the streets, then this is the right time.

What is stopping the public and the numerous pressure groups from coming together and applying the pressure to get to the bottom of the matter ?

No easy answers here, but in many ways it is symptomatic of a society which has become too self centred to be bothered by such a disturbing and scary discovery.

As mentioned in an earlier commentary, it is not likely that the eight persons were done to death or killed at one go but points to a sinister design to eliminate anyone at will in secret.

Giving a new dimension to the understanding of secret killing ?

In deciding to approach either the CBI or the NIA to probe the matter, the State Government seems to have come with the term that the matter cannot be treated lightly.

However it should be kept in mind that this is all the more reason for the public to keep on piling the pressure so that the Government does not sleep over the case.

Let the case be taken to its logical conclusion and the killers be identified and nailed, it there are any.