[Assam] A write-up by Udayan Mishra

[Chan Mahanta]

>  >It is about the death of a young civil servant in Manipur. I 
>thought assam netters would be interested. How efforts at good deeds 
>are silenced by guns: state as well as militants. So, you may try 
>the link below......


**** I was hoping to see some solutions to the problem, at least a 
discussion of.

A lot of ink has been used to displaying one's own righteousness. But 
who challenged it?

Cheap thrills is how I see the essay.

Was  anyone debating, doubting, gloating over, or otherwise condoning 
a most senseless crime? Even NSCN( IM) has condemned the act, as the 
article says.


The author leaves no doubt about his own balanced sense of justice by 
painstakingly pointing out the perpetrators -- the insurgents and the 
state. How more balanced can one get? He pays flowing tributes to the 
Manipuri women , their  outrage and their fearless, ceaseless 
protests.

Somewhere here must be lurking what their efforts have brought them.

But why can't I find it?  Could it just be, therefore, that these are 
just as meaningless rites too? And why should it be meaningless, 
fruitless?  Who should they be looking at for results? The good folks 
or the folks?  Misra, incisively points out who the bad guys are. But 
where are the good guys? How does he see their role in these 
tragedies? Do they have any responsibility too? Could it be that he 
would not get into that, lest it dilutes his message?

Standing out, by its absence, is any effort by the author to look at, 
if not suggest solutions,  into what leads to these acts of violence 
and death and how to put an end to it. In that it is, at best, yet 
another lot of idle blather.

cm


PS: If I am not mistaken, this writer authored an article a few years 
ago, in which he exhorted the people of Assam to forsake the fantasy 
of the Seven Sisters, that the Assamese had nothing in common with 
the Nagas, the Mizos, the Khasis and so forth and argued the point 
that the notion of the Seven Sisters is a myth.  Has he found 
religion, or am I the one who is confused?










The tragedy of Manipur
- Udayon Misra
Dr Thingnam Kishan Singh, the young SDO of Kashom Khullen subdivision 
of Ukhrul district of Manipur, demonstrated a rare sense of integrity 
and courage as a civil service official. He decided to swim against 
the tide. Unlike most other government officials who have been 
unquestioningly obeying the diktats of the different militant groups, 
Kishan Singh stubbornly opposed the siphoning off of government funds 
into the coffers of the militants. Kishan believed passionately that 
development funds must go to the people. And, he paid with his life 
for his uprightness and idealism. On February 13, Dr Kishan Singh 
along with his driver, Aribam Rajen and a mandal, Yumnam Token Singh 
were abducted from front of the Deputy Commissioner's office at 
Ukhrul as they came out of a meeting. Four days later their bodies 
were discovered at Taphou Kuki village in Senapati district. They had 
been bludgeoned to death in a most brutal manner. The NSCN (I-M) was 
suspected of carrying out the abduction and murders and after initial 
denials the NSCN (I-M) admitted that three of its cadres were 
involved in the incident. Obviously, the militant outfit was unhappy 
at Kishan Singh's resolve not to allow development funds from being 
squandered by the militants and hence it decided to teach the young 
idealist officer a lesson. One was immediately reminded of the manner 
in which Sanjoy Ghose was abducted and killed by the ULFA because he 
demanded transparency in the release of funds meant for rural 
development programmes at Majuli.

Had it not been the immediate public outcry following the discovery 
of the dead bodies of Kishan Singh and his colleagues, the incident 
would have perhaps been written off as yet another instance of 
militant killing in the state of Manipur. Manipur has been in the 
throes of violence for several decades now. But unlike many other 
states of the country where violence, both by the State and by 
insurgent outfits have come to be accepted with a stoic sense of 
resignation, in Manipur the people, especially its womenfolk, know 
how to protest every such killing. Women's organisations like the 
Meira Paibi have been in the forefront of such protests and women 
dressed in white and silently protesting violence and the deaths of 
innocents is a common sight in Imphal and other towns of Manipur. Not 
that these protests have resulted in immediate results. Entire 
Manipur was galvanized over the rape and murder of Thanjam Manorama 
by security personnel some years ago. Manipur's protest against that 
heinous deed was flashed throughout the country and abroad. But the 
culprits are yet to be punished. But the people of Manipur have not 
allowed the callousness and collaboration of the authorities in these 
inhuman acts of violence to dampen their spirits. They know in their 
heart of hearts that they must keep on protesting against all such 
acts, whether committed by the State or by the militant groups. So, 
the Joint Action Committee set up to protest the deaths of Kishan 
Singh and his colleagues has worked out an elaborate plan of action 
which is bound to keep people's opinion focused on the need to secure 
justice and get the perpetrators of this terrible crime duly 
punished. Who was Kishan Singh over whose murder entire Manipur has 
been galvanized into protest? So much so, that all organisations 
irrespective of clan and tribe loyalties have come out in one voice 
in demanding that the criminals masquerading as militants be 
punished. The NSCN(I-M) which initially tried to disclaim 
responsibility, has now said that it has identified the killers who 
happen to be its cadres and that they are in its custody. With 
thousands of people demonstrating against the murder in the Tangkhul 
Naga dominated Ulkhrul district, the NSCN(I-M) leadership has now 
been forced to distance itself from this heinous deed by at least 
publicly disapproving the crime.

Dr Thingnam Kishan Singh was no ordinary government official. In many 
senses, he was a symbol of the young and resurgent Manipur that is 
trying to come out of the clutches of almost endless violence. He had 
founded the "Centre for Alternative Discourse" and was the editor 
Alternative Perspectives, a scholarly journal which has created for 
itself a place among the intellectual world of the country. Each 
issue of this highly perceptive journal would carry an incisive essay 
by Kishen Singh and the topics ranged from critiquing India's Look 
East policy to the economics of underdevelopment. Sad to say, in 
Assam today we have few social science journals which would be able 
to compete with the one edited by Kishen Singh, either in the range 
of its topics or in the depth of its analysis. A topper in English 
Literature both at the undergraduate and the post-graduate level from 
the Jamia Milli Islamia University, Kishan started his teaching 
career at Delhi's Shyamlal College. But his urge to serve his own 
state of Manipur made him give up that job and come and join the 
prestigious DM College at Imphal. From there he moved to the Manipur 
University as a Lecturer. Then he took the Manipur Civil Service 
examination and joined the administration. As the SDO of a backward 
district, Kishen was bent on making development funds reach the 
people instead of the militants. His devotion to duty and unswerving 
loyalty to his ideals created problems for those who worked with him. 
The Joint Action Committee has accused the Deputy Commissioner and 
the Superintendent of Police of Ukhrul of having complicity in the 
crime. The Chief Minister Ibobi Singh has already suspended both of 
them for their failure to ensure protection to Kishen and his 
colleagues. Only a thorough and impartial enquiry will reveal the 
truth of the matter.

It is rather strange that initially the murder of this leading 
intellectual and Manipur Civil Service official went virtually 
unreported in the regional press and media of our state. That much 
for our sentiments on the seven sisters being bonded with a common 
thread! It was only after life in Imphal and other towns came to a 
virtual halt because of massive people's protests against the murders 
and curfew had to be imposed, that the regional media gave some space 
to the incident. Quite often the regional media in Assam rightly 
accuses the national media of blacking out this region during moments 
of crisis. But, unfortunately, when it came to reporting this 
particular incident involving the abduction and murder of a leading 
intellectual of neighbouring Manipur, the regional press in Assam 
failed to give the incident due weightage. Those who knew Dr Kishen 
Singh would vouchsafe for not only his unflinching loyalty to the 
common people but also his urge to build a new Northeast where there 
would be more meaningful interaction and exchange between the 
different states and their people. The research foundation which he 
had started, the journal he edited and the discussions he initiated 
bear testimony to all this. He was one of those few who could 
successfully get out of the groove of localised thinking and relate 
his vision to happenings not only in this region or country but also 
in the wider world. This is exactly what he stated in his editorial 
in one of the volumes of his journal. His death in the hands of some 
criminals who try to pass off as "freedom fighters" but who are the 
real enemies of the people, has created a void which will be 
difficult to fill. I take this opportunity to pay my tribute to a 
young man who, unlike most of us, dared to do what he considered to 
be right.


























At 9:11 AM +0530 3/1/09, uttam borthakur wrote:
>It is about the death of a young civil servant in Manipur. I thought 
>assam netters would be interested. How efforts at good deeds are 
>silenced by guns: state as well as militants. So, you may try the 
>link below......
>
>http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=mar0109/edit2
>
>Uttam Kumar Borthakur
>
>
>       Unlimited freedom, unlimited storage. Get it now, on 
>http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html/
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