By Thokchom Khelen

For decades, the State of Manipur has been witnessing two parallel movements. One is the armed struggle being pursued by various underground groups with an avowed goal of 'restoring the lost freedom' of Manipur. The other by public organisations and human rights bodies, which are fighting against physical and psychological abuse of the innocent by the government forces on the pretext of curbing militant activities. The second movement is more or less an upshot of the low intensity conflict between the opposition groups and government soldiers.

With no clear-cut policy to deal with the growing problem posed by the rebel groups, the government invoked a series of repressive laws. In the process, the whole of civilian population has been targeted, resulting in large-scale 'preventive' detention, random killings, fake encounters, torture in custody using third degree methods, rape, molestation and other deviant sexual behaviour, and of course, engineered 'disappearances'.

This indeed was made possible by the broadly defined powers of arrest and 'shoot-to-kill' invested to the security forces and also, the impunity from prosecution granted by the special laws.

What has come as matter of serious concern for all is the manner in which people's voice of protest against such violations of human rights are being suppressed.

The Yumlembam Sanamacha Missing case is a classic example of this. A student Sanamacha disappeared without any trace after he was picked up by security forces on the night of February 12 night from his Angtha residence.

The angry reaction from student community, women activists, human rights groups and public organisations was electrifying. The protest had an impact on the fortune of the State's anti-repression movement and indeed it is turning point in the fight against security excesses. The message was loud and clear : the people are not going to take such matters lying down.

It happened in the case of Bijoykumar missing case of June 1996. Bijoykumar was a former student activist. He was whisked away in the intervening night of 4 and 5 June 1996, by some armed personnel in civilian clothes who spoke Hindi, never to be seen again.

The case here, is not only of the disappearance of an individual, but also the mystery surrounding the identity of the abductors. From the paramilitary forces to the security forces and other security agencies, everyone has denied arresting Mr. Bijoykumar. The mystery of Bijoykumar took an interesting turn, as the inquiry report of the District & Sessions Judge was also found missing.

But, one thing is crystal clear. Such an incident have been made possible by the special powers granted to the security forces to operate at will among the civilian population without the proper safeguards and the 'unrestricted' freedom to resort to any tactics in the name of counter-insurgency operations, with impunity.

This basically was the issue when the general public rose in unison, against the 'disappearance' of Laishram Bijoykumar. The widespread protests lasted for about six months and totally paralysed the state in the later part of the year 1996.

However, despite all these spontaneous protests and cries for justice, the movement whimpered away. So, also the movement against the 'disappearance' of Sanamacha. This has more to do with repressive methods adopted by the Government machinery than battle fatigue.

The cases seem to get lost in the legal wrangling. The truth is that the Government could hardly lift a finger against the army. Whereas, the army simply stays away from the various inquiry commissions, instituted by the State government.

When things get a bit complicated, they will wave the 'impunity' clause and then it turns into an academic debate of sorts.

The Defence Minister, George Fernandes assured the people of Manipur that he would go to the bottom of the truth in the Sanamacha case, but as it turned out, the promise was hollow.

What is more worrying is that, the country's long arms of the law have failed, not only failed to protect innocent life but also are unable to punish the perpetrators of the crime. Such a treatment is aimed at furthering the sieged mentality in which the terrorized people are getting caught.

On the other hand, it has emboldened those behind the terror campaign. Therefore, it is important that masses should continue to resist and confront such arm twisting tactics. The movement should not end with the Sanamacha case, if we are to ensure that such cases do not occur in future. The voice of discontent should be made louder and more people's participation is called for. People should not rest till they are treated as human beings and not as sub-humans by the Government forces.