It has to be said that New Delhi is slowly running out of options in Manipur. At least, the ones that are reportedly being adopted have not borne fruit.
The very fact that the malaise is slowly taking a larger-than-demonic form with the passage of every single day is fraught with grave danger.
My last column “Will North East experience internecine war” sought [https://nenews.in/opinion/will-north-east-experience-internecine-war/12163/] to outline and underscore that almost everything that a democratic country stands for has been compromised in the state. Indeed, the fact that its nauseating aspects are beginning to spillover to other states in the region are even more frightening.
Manipur’s sensitive geo-strategic positioning has made the problem even more troublesome. The Assam Rifles’ sturdy border management stance notwithstanding, Valley Based Insurgent Groups based in Myanmar’s Sagaing Division are entering the state and aiding the pogrom against a particular community.
The state already has a tailor-made, radical, state-sponsored militia, Arombai Tengol that has all but usurped the mantle from the traditional minders of national security in the state. The state police has abdicated it’s responsibilities and helplessness is writ large everywhere. And, if and when, forces such as the Assam Rifles step in-which it is doing without fear or favour-it is not allowed to operate freely. Indeed, it is being unjustly pilloried of being biased.
On two successive visits to the land of the Sangai after the unrest broke out, I witnessed only drooping eyes, fear, and a sense of resignation in the eyes of the common people I met. Such a sight, incidentally, was across ethnicity. The wail of a Kuki was exactly the same as that of a Meitei.
I met them when they called on me or when I visited the relief camps. As I wrote in an earlier column, the pitiable sight of a malnourished mother in a relief camp unable to lactate and feed her three-month-old child brought forth tears, frustration, and anger. The odour that was enveloping the canopies was one of despair and death.
But New Delhi was not moved. It is not as if the IB or other agencies are not aware of the misery of the uprooted people. It is their duty to be aware of what is happening. I was in Manipur for only so many days. Naturally, the people who are stationed there have a better view of aspects. But are the agencies informing Delhi about the realities on the ground? If it is being communicated to Delhi, then it seems Delhi is not listening, or perhaps doesn’t quite care.
But it has occurred to me that the people who are charged with national security have either no conscience (especially as some of the top functionaries are from the region!) or are busy hankering after and accumulation of more power which their abnormal appendages can muster. It is a sad day for Bharat that is India.
I am a self-confessed student of national security who live on the largesse of some well-meaning people. I am not ashamed to admit that I have neither money nor influence.
I have tried to seek office (as indeed I did for a very brief period) which would have permitted me an opportunity to uphold the imperatives of national security and at the same time be independent. But I was born under an unlucky star, and people, powerful people (who I will soon name and shame!) went out of their way to keep me out of the system. The reasons are unknown to most. Indeed, I, too, am at sea. But there are people in the corridors of power who are aware of the conspiracy but have chosen to be silent. It may be worth the while of the present dispensation to inquire exactly what happened. As far as I am concerned I only did my duty with all the patriotism and nationalism I could muster.
But despite the many setbacks, I continue to keep intact that precious innard of “My India” and the imperative that it is my solemn duty to serve the nation in whatever capacity I am capable of, even if means just writing columns on my mobile which is also slowly showing signs of dying.
I am not a leader by any stretch of imagination, and, therefore, I have always sought to inform the leadership that it is their duty to wipe every tear from every eye. It is their solemn duty to do so. But such pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
I have written time and again that the security grid in Manipur (now spilling over to other states) has to be provided a fresh attire. The existing system has just not worked, and if it is functioning it seems to be working at cross-purposes.
In Manipur, a Unified Command Structure has to immediately be put in place. The Indian army, the Assam Rifles, the central paramilitary forces and the Manipur Police have to be placed under one person.
I have searched deep and wide and have found that a Governor who has the acumen, the vision and the experience of dealing with insurgencies, border and man management coupled with an acute sense of what is happening across in Myanmar should head the Unified Command Structure that I am proposing. He may choose to have a few advisers, but it would be his writ that would run. Indeed, the Director General (DG) of the Assam Rifles and the GOC, 3 Corps along with a civilian domain expert of his choice should be his chief advisers. It is a happy coincidence that an able and experienced North East hand in Lt Gen Vikas Lakhera has just been appointed as the DG of Assam Rifles. Lt Gen Abhijeet Pendharkar, yet another intrepid officer from the Assam Regiment is taking over as the GOC, 3 Corps.
The entire security apparatus including the intelligence agencies would be under the Governor. Indeed, he could even appoint a security committee that regularly convenes, examines and advises him about courses of action. It would also be his lookout to chaperone the peace process with the NSCN (IM). It is my fond wish that the longest-running insurgency in the world would be resolved during Modi’s third and most crucial tenure.
But is there such a person in today’s India who can step in as the aforesaid Governor? If the political leadership and the mandarins who advice them put their heads together, they will find the man in the redoubtable Lt Gen Arun Kumar Sahni, former GOC-in-C, South Western Indian army command.
Endowed with every possible attribute that a scholar-warrior can be fortified with, Gen Sahni was earlier the GOC of the Rangapahar-based 3 Corps and still earlier in command of an artillery brigade in Assam.
Erudite, articulate, and dashing, Gen Sahni’s approach to a nagging problem is incredibly ingenious. His exposure to the international fora adds to his robust fibre.
Moreover, he continues to enjoy the respect of the men he once ably commanded. I have personally witnessed the reverence that he commands long after he hung up his sturdy boots.
Lt Gen Arun Kumar Sahni, PVSM, UYSM, SM, VSM should immediately be appointed the Governor of both Manipur and Nagaland and made operational commander of the Unified Command Structure that would oversee the two states including parts of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Mizoram.
As I wrote in my last column, security representations from all the concerned states would be part of the structure where strategies would be formulated.
The recommendation naturally comes from a person who is both short in stature and position. Indeed, he has no position.
But it is the considered view of a patriotic Indian who despite having undergone, perhaps unjustly, the whips and scorns of time feel that such a step by Modi 3.0 would witness the end of the travails of the crucial east.
(The author is an internationally renowned Conflict Theorist and Bestselling Author)
