[Assam] A write-up by Udayan Mishra

[uttam borthakur]

As Ms Patricia Mukhim had pointed out, 'insouciance' may be the problem. Such desensitisation pervades every sphere. But it never stopped anyone from discussing "slumdog' and the squalor. Also, there are certain things that are really puzzling in human behaviour ( remember Yudhisthir approaching the water hole in Mahabharata), such as, the 'impatience' that all expected changes would come about in one's own life-time. There may be a lull before the storm, who knows? 

Why of the 'heedlessness' was not in the pale and ambit of Mr. Udayan Mishra's write-up, or was it? Also, it should be understood that The Assam Tribune restricts the length of an article to a given number of lines, words and columns. Just as we are discussing Mr. Mishra's article, views may crystalise and this may impel someone to act in a given direction. 

So, i should think that patience and perseverence would augur well for everyone of us, especially the adults.
 
Uttam Kumar Borthakur




________________________________
From: Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net>
To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world <assam at assamnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, 1 March, 2009 9:59:52 PM
Subject: Re: [Assam] A write-up by Udayan Mishra

>  >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/
> _______________________________________________
> assam mailing list
> assam at assamnet.org
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