Message from Harsh Mander shared by AK on whatsapp
We returned last night after four harrowing days of bearing witness in Manipur. Nothing had prepared me for what we saw. Manipur is fully a war zone, with sophisticated rifles, mortars, bombs, and massive mobilisation of ordinary civilians, in which the state does nothing to restore peace, ensure justice, protect civilians, or assist people in camps in which children already are displaying signs of malnourishment; but instead is often perceived to be taking sides in what threatens to grow into a civil war.
On both sides entire villages have been razed to ashes.
We spent many hours in seven relief camps on both sides of the “border”, met scores of community leaders from both communities (and even were caught once within a few hundred metres of raging cross-fire). The grief, the rage and above all the hate are boundless.
I searched desperately for signs of hope, of peace and healing in the immediate future. I could find this only in stories we heard in the camps of people of the “other” community who helped save lives.
I grieve for our people. I grieve for our beleaguered, broken land. I rage for the malign governments that we have installed.