Where Neither Love Nor Fear Holds Ground

Though only 3 months old, president's rule in Manipur has not yet been able to re-establish the moral authority that 2 years of violence undermined. The state remains a tinderbox

- PRADIP PHANJOUBAM

It's amply evident in the manner Manipur remains unable to free itself from the conflict trap that a zero-sum game cannot resolve the crisis. Only a situation that leaves no stakeholder with a sense of defeat or humiliation can pave the way for lasting peace.

Unfortunately, what often ends up lacking in a conflict is a magnanimous gift that humans are supposed to be endowed with—"moral imagination," as explained by conflict scholar John Paul Lederach. It's the ability to empathize that makes a human capable of identifying with the pains and joys of other humans, thereby discovering the universality of the human predicament—foremost in tragedy, but also in triumph.

Two years since the violent feud between the Meiteis and Kuki-Zo groups of tribes broke out in Manipur, and three months after the state's BJP government was kept under animated suspension for president's rule to take over, the conflict remains unresolved. It must, however, be said that news of gun attacks, which once routinely rattled everybody's sense of calm and security, have now waned.

The guns may have fallen silent, but this is hardly all there is to peace—for the guns are still in the hands they shouldn't be in. When the president's rule was imposed in the state three months ago, the public expectation was that there would be a comprehensive crackdown on both sides of the divide. They had also expected all highways to be opened on both sides so that the buffer zones created at the time of the violent clashes would cease to be.