Matamgi Manipur

Manipur’s horror: When Operation Bluebird struck terror Rahul Karmakar, Hindustan Times  Senapati, November 05, 2014 Pius Varay ducks instinctively whenever a child pops an empty Tetra Pak carton or a motorcycle misfires. The sound is a traumatic reminder of soldiers firing in his village of Oinam in Manipur 27 years ago. The 36-year-old Varay may be the youngest survivor of Operation Bluebird, a brutal counter-insurgency operation launched by paramilitary soldiers in July 1987, but the scars still remain. According to an Amnesty International report, many men were maimed, tortured and women raped between July and October 1987 after the military launched the operation following an attack by National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) rebels on Assam Rifles’ Oinam outpost. The rebels killed nine soldiers and escaped with 150 guns and 125,000 rounds of ammunition.

This article was originally published on 8 Aug 2012 by the Hindustan Times at  http://www.hindustantimes.com/Specials/Sports/Olympics2012/Chunk-HT-UI-Olympics-OtherStories/Mary-Kom-and-Devendro-show-a-way/SP-Article10-910159.aspx It was the twilight of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government under Atal Behari Vajpayee in 2004 when it came to the notice of the then Union Home Secretary that the Indian Army has used the word "liberated zones" in the context of rampant militancy in Manipur state. At a social gathering, the plucky Home Secretary confronted the then Indian Army Chief and asked him what did his force mean by "liberated zones" to describe Chandel and Churachandpur districts of Manipur. While the Chief tried to make light of the description in official documents, the Home Ministry official told him that either the Army does something to "liberate" these zones or he will have to go to Cabinet Committee on Security as this could be constr...