Three points proposal from MEA : Nothing short of selling out
- Sangai Express Editorial :: September 27, 2013 -

Inspection of border fencing between India and Myanmar at Moreh by Trinamool Congress team on 08 Sept 2013 :: Pix - Som Sorokhaibam

It is more like a sell out. Give an inch here and take half an inch there.

Not negotiations by any stretch of the imagination, but selling out the interest of Manipur as a geo-political entity, a State of the Union of India at the altar of what has been christened the Look East Policy.

As pointed out earlier, Chief Minister O Ibobi should stop acting like the Chief Minister of the Congress party, and don the mantle of the Chief Minister of Manipur.

The three proposals put up by the Ministry of External Affairs, ostensibly to settle the border row is interesting and offers an insight on how the minds of the Delhi mandarins are working over time.

For all that matter, it may not be altogether wrong in identifying the Look East Policy as a step to neutralise the influence of China over Myanmar and nothing much to do with Manipur serving as the gateway to South and South East Asian countries.

It may not be so much about the economy or economic developments but more about defence, with Manipur taken as an outpost to neutralise any military offensive or incursion from its immediate neighbours, especially China.

The China obsession has to go, if the LEP is to live up to its true billings. This is not to say that India should not be wary of the designs of the Chinese military, but this should not mean taking Manipur to the slaughter house.

A look at the proposals put forth by the Ministry of External Affairs may throw some insight to the observations that have just been made.

According to the External Affairs Ministry, border pillars 90 and 91, which fall within Ukhrul and covers Choro village be erected 792 metres inside the territory of India or more specifically Manipur and in the process cede 3.7 metres of territory to Myanmar.

Ostensibly to compensate for this, the MEA in all its wisdom has proposed or suggested border pillar 77 located at Moreh be shifted 250 yards into the territory of Myanmar.

An idea dictated by the need to develop Moreh as the gateway to South and South East Asia or an indication that a piece of land lying in Ukhrul district can be sacrificed for the benefits of Moreh.

A sure indication that Delhi has deliberately or otherwise turned a blind eye to the political dynamics at play here. If it is not aware of such finer nuances, then Delhi does not have any business to tinker with the boundary of Manipur. Period.

Interestingly, the missive from the MEA focuses on the second point of the three point proposal.

The second proposal moots the idea that if Myanmar is not agreeable to proposal number 1, then a border pillar be erected at Choro Khunou be shifted 775 metres well inside the territory of Manipur, ceding 1.4 square metre to Myanmar.

This is not negotiation but putting Manipur on a platter and asking Myanmar to take its pick, so that Delhi can reap the dividends of LEP.

The third proposal moots the idea that some areas be ceded to Myanmar at Tuivang with Myanmar reciprocating at Moreh. Outlandish is the term, that comes to mind when one seriously studies the three point proposals.

Territories or boundary lines cannot be bartered like the barter system that comes under the cross border trade.

This is the point that should register in the minds of the people who take decisions at Delhi, with or without consulting the State Government.

As things stand today, Delhi or the Ministry of Home Affairs has already made it clear that border fencing covering a distance of 10 kms between border pillars 79 and 81 at Moreh will continue.

So what should the State Government do ? Foreign affairs is not a State subject, that is for sure. But this should not be any reason for the State Government to keep quiet.

Imphal cannot raise the matter with Myanmar, but it can and should raise the issue with Delhi.

How far or how sincerely has the State Government taken up the matter with Delhi is not yet clear, but it should be clear that the first priority of the State Government should be her people, which in this case are the people of Manipur.