Caught Between Terror & Xenophobia
by Patricia Mukhim [Editor, The Shillong Times] The Imphal Free Press May 4 2010 This article, like many others, is not a meticulous documentation of the historical facts of Manipur and the bitter aftermath of the romantic history of a lost kingdom. Several fact-finding teams have visited Manipur for various reasons and given their considered opinion about what ails the state. The Justice Jeevan Reddy Commission toured the entire region after a protest by naked Manipuri women who called for a repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958. In November 2009, Dr KS Subramanian, IPS (retd), formerly of the Manipur-Tripura cadre and now a visiting professor at Jamia Milia University, also visited Manipur to assess the situation after a section of the media created a national uproar about the encounter killings where an alleged ex-militant was gunned down in broad daylight and a pregnant woman was killed in the crossfire. The problem with all such visits is that the report is han...