The news of an anti-social element getting killed by him self in a manner that his fate had shaped as not to be so kindly while trying to fit a powerful bomb to the underneath of a bridge on Imphal river that connects Kangpokpi and Senapati on National Highway 39 on the intervening night between May 17 and 18 has not shocked nor surprised any section of the people of Manipur. Rather it’s natural human instinct to feel that the fellow deserved his fate. No human being feels good when death occurs to anyone. Sorrow and sympathy are still more when the death occurs particularly to innocent human beings. But there is no reason at all for anyone to feel sorry when a person who commits evil acts and crimes against fellow human beings and the society meets his/her maker. That’s why the human society has always been clamoring for the blood of tyrants, terrorists, cold-blooded murderers, satans and all such beastly wrong-doers since the very beginning of the human civilization. Therefore, it’s very doubtful that the Manipur society, which is composed of over 30 ethnic groups, would ever remember that fellow as someone who did the slightest good for the people of Manipur or even for Nagaland for that matter. But his bosses who sent him on that dangerous mission that was to be his last ever might have felt sorry over the loss of one of their programmed cadres as just another addition to their statistics of death, or sacrifice, whatever. It’s their business whether his name would be added to the list of their “martyrs” or not.

Police, intelligence and several other known sources have supported the belief that the youth was a cadre of NSCN-IM, which is actively engrossed with actions to disintegrate Manipur’s society and boundary. He hailed from Liwa Sarei village in Chandel district, a place where NSCN-IM cadres reign supreme and call the shots. The village was in the news recently as a place where NSCN-Im cadres had hijacked 13 Tata Sumos and Vans which were returning from Moreh to Imphal, and looted nearly Rs 15 lakh worth merchandise including rice and other essential commodities and also money and mobile phones from the passengers. Though the NSCN-IM (Chandel region) had claimed that they were not involved in the incident, nobody believed them. Meanwhile, the State Home Department needs to investigate the incident of blast at Kangpokpi further and make a public statement so that not only the people of Manipur and India, but also of the whole world will come to know what kind of terrorism the group of rebels involved were carrying out in Manipur to achieve their narrow, selfish and communal ends at the cost of a plural society wherein over two and half million people belonging to more than 30 communities and tribes coexist with peace and harmony. The report of the incident should be sent to the PMO, the Union MHA and all the ministries at the Centre so that those mandarins sitting in Delhi would come to know the extent of violence and destruction the outfit concerned was unleashing in Manipur in the name of “peace” and “historical rights”.

In a similar sinister plot to destroy the iron bridge built over Irang river on NH 53–Imphal–Jiribam road during a protracted economic blockade called by ANSAM about five years back, the same NSCN-IM had tried to saw off the iron bridge to cut it. A blacksmith, a local from Tamenglong district, who was forced to do the job by the NSCN-IM cadres, fell into the river along with the bridge that had been sawed off and died. Two other cadres of the outfit also reportedly fell into the river and disappeared. Their bodies were never found. It was obvious that the NSCN-IM had wanted to cut off Manipur valley from the rest of India. Its frontal organizations like ANSAM, UNC, NSF, Naga Hoho, etc. were blocking the NH 39 (Imphal-Dimapur-Guwahati road) at that time, as they are doing at present too. The State Government and the transporters then turned to Imphal-Jiribam road to bring in the essential commodities as we are beginning to do now. So the NSCN-IM wanted to cut off the bridge. It would have been the same purpose why the dead fellow tried to fit a bomb to the Kangpokpi bridge. All these incidents clearly show that the rebel outfit concerned is always thinking and trying to find ways to carry out destructive activities with the sole objective of making the people of Manipur suffer and face hardships. But they seem to forget that it’s not only the people living in the valley but also the people of the hill districts who would also equally face the hardships. But even then, any Machiavellian and devilish plots of a rebel group can never subjugate and defeat the people of Manipur, not to speak of achieving their dream. The state authority needs to remain alert on all the highways and everywhere in the state.