Clickty Click: July 2023

Thursday, July 27, 2023

Manipur horror…..how much does Peace & Honor cost

The perpetration of violence, particularly on women, in Manipur is numbing, its beyond comprehension. The stories of rapes, in hundreds, killings, burning of property and all possible manifestations of violence has shaken the conscience of the nation once again. A saga of bloodshed and weaponization of womens' bodies, comparable to any gory times in history leaves any Indian citizen ashamed of the times we live in. We should be sorry. Very sorry. Sorry for letting down our own people, our women of Manipur.

A video grab of 2 Kuki-Zo tribe women being paraded stripped by a mob of 800 men and then gang raped are enough to send shivers down the spine. The very thought makes me shudder forget the viewing of it. It needed a graphic to send alarm bells ringing from Manipur to Delhi, the national capital of India, to sit up and take serious notice of whats happening in this beautiful state of our northeast. It took 2 months, 3 weeks, 10 hrs & 39 minutes for a statement from Prime Minister Modi on the boiling Manipur situation. He who keeps shouting from the roof tops Beti Bachao Beta Padao, doesn’t miss any address to the nation (whenever he talks actually) calling for respecting women, and all this very emotively, doesn’t spare a thought for 60 days, or more, to utter a word on their condition in Manipur. During these 2 months he has had two high profile trips outside the country, to US and France, Egypt and UAE too but doesn’t find time to speak a word on the state of affairs in Manipur, on its women being reduced to mere objects of lust as a part of a larger ethnic conspiracy. It’s a huge humanitarian crisis gone out of hand. I am full of angst.

Meitei and Kuki tribes have been at loggerheads since long in the state. The ethic communal clashed that broke out on May 3 have killed more than 160 people and destroyed villages and churches having left 75,000 displaced. The Meiteis who are in majority both in the state & assembly have been pushing for their dominance in the region. The complacency of the state govt headed by Chief Minister Biren Singh, a Meitei himself, in the civil strife is to be blamed for sitting on the strife all along to the extent that he normalizes the brutal rapes that have been taking place for months. As per witnesses the state police too is divided on ethnic lines. The raped women, 21 yrs & 40 yrs confirmed that they were handed over to the mob by the police themselves. FIR’s that were lodged after 16 days went ignored. Arms were looted from the police stations by miscreants. A journalist John Verghese covering the clashes says bodies of women were lying openly with dogs eating on them. ‘The soil smells of blood’, he said.

Women have been running to hide anywhere with their children, to save themselves from the men. Who else than the state machinery and the Chief Minister is responsible for the deteriorating law & order in his state! It is he who is answerable for the state police’s active role in the heinous crimes of rape and efforts towards cleansing of Kuki tribe from Imphal valley which has many graphic proofs. The PM too has lot to answer as to why is the CM of the state still where he is, who couldn’t restore peace in 3 months. The partisanship is as stubborn as his central shield is strong. Its as much about the political dimension as it is about the human rights of the people of Manipur. With the Supreme Court’s observation that the Centre take note of it before they intervene may be of some consequence but what about the Human Rights bodies! The crisis has received world attention with ramifications from our eastern neighbors which have ethnic linkages from ages.

Benalakshmi Nepram, an well known activitist says there are more than 60 armed insurgent groups in Manipur, active, equipped with all kinds of sophisticated arms. Women have been targets of every ethnic or political spark that ignites in the region, she says.

And when the Prime Minister compares the lawlessness & rapes of women of Manipur with that of Rajasthan & Chattisgarh he just betrays his party's one-upmanship, its indifference. Our women Parliamentarians, who are at the least expected to stand by their sisters and are generally at their vitriolic best when it comes to attacking Opposition, have not spoken a word of condemnation for the shameful incident on Kuki women in Manipur.

Is it time for the country to rise once again after the horrific Nirbhaya case in Delhi, if our sisters of the northeast are to be given justice!.

Surely the country has many questions to ask. Can Manipur be let to burn and go the path of destruction this way! How can law and order be restored in Manipur. How does this bloodbath end! How do the devastated women of Manipur get justice! Can the honor of those raped Kuki women be returned! How much more suffering is yet to be seen! Is Nirbhaya to revisit again and again and again…!

It only reminds me of Draupadi of Mahabharat…. Where is KRISHNA! Will he not come this time!!!

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

We will not tie ourselves into any alliances or agendas, India’s security our concern, says Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Ali Sabry

Colombo/New Delhi: Ahead of Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe's visit to India on July 21, 2023, an interaction with the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka M.U.M Ali Sabry in Colombo with IWPC delegation traveling to Sri Lanka, gave an insight of the government’s point of view on a host of issues. Excerpts:

Q 1. Sri Lanka has been through tough times lately. The economic meltdown almost reduced the nation to bankruptcy. What measures have you taken for such a situation not to rise again!

FM… We are keen not to repeat the mistake we did in the past on economic front and are learning lessons from other countries including India. One area is how to improve revenue in terms of taxation to be able to run the place. We are seeing how to reduce expenses by putting money in performance based places. Second is to decouple business from government. Government can just be a regulator & a platform provider for regular trading without abuse. Third, reform of State owned Enterprises. Old ones have been making big losses. We need to privatize some of them & others to come in with private equity. This is for transparency, accountability & professionalism. Eg Sri Lankan airlines had earlier been in partnership with Emirates airline with a 10 yr MoU from 1998-2008. During that period we made profits but unfortunately it wasn’t renewed as a result of which the accumulated losses are now more than $1.5 US dollars. We don’t want to repeat that.

We will not give subsidies on popular policies. They will only be to the vulnerable people. We have a Social Protection Net and World Bank is supporting us. We are working on a platform for digitization & direct money transfer like the Indian government has done.

For the first time we have introduced Cost Reflecting Pricing for electricity, water, fuel, gas, & food so that the state does not make losses which in turn forces Central Banks to print more money that in turn adds to inflation as the value of money comes down. So we have adopted a 3 pronged strategy to get out of the crisis. Stabilization, Recovery & Growth.

Q 2. What are the footprints of China in terms of CPEC, debt restructuring, infra projects and India’s security concerns.

FM…China has 99 yrs lease on Hambantota port, a commercial agreement. For anything other than commercial they need to get our permission. China has funded most of our Highways, we had to pay them back. They have invested in one terminal. Japanese & India too have invested in other places.

In fact since last 20 yrs investment has come only from China, about a trillion dollar. After we came out of war in 2009, we wanted investment to come from somewhere, it was basically the Chinese who took the lead but it is purely a commercial relationship, not military or defense. We are clear on it. We don’t want any tension in our area neither will we contribute to it. We also take precaution that under the pretext of commercial investment, military encroachment into SL is not allowed by anyone. But for security cooperation in order to prevent smuggling, drug trafficking, piracy we will be first to cooperate but not to get into alliance & tied down to somebody’s agenda.

Q 3. What are your asks from the Government of India if anything more and how do you think neighboring countries can help Sri Lanka.

FM... We are thankful to India and do not want to ask for any giveaways or loans but we want their support for the restructuring of the loans & its payment in a manner possible which will not derail SLs recovery so that we can recover & pay them. India has been very flexible in repayment also. I had asked Dr Jaishankar when he came, to look at SL as an investment destination, more P2P contact & more tourism.

FDI is very imp as we need capital to start new projects which will bring growth. Then P2P contact has to be strengthened, connectivity through air, sea, ferry, cruise, we are looking at expanding every area of that.

We are looking at privatizing Sri Lankan airlines. So it’s a huge opportunity for Indian investors. Like TATA’s have done with Air India. 17 cities of SL are covered by Sri Lanka airlines. Some big Indian companies have come in particularly on Colombo port. Big project are going to come on wind power.

India to South East Asia to Japan, China in their own way did a lot together. But I have to put this on record that the biggest contribution came from India.

Q 5. Your views on Global South that PM Modi is talking about.

FM... Global North has been dominating the world unilaterally for a long time. We are now going towards a multi polar world with many players. In the foreseeable future there will be 4-5 big player & India is one of them. That will create balance between the global south & north.

The whole world is in consensus that 70% growth in the next 2-5 decades will come from Asia Pacific lead by China & India. A balance between Global North & South can only be brought by India China working together.

We see India rising & India rising means the neighbors will rise. In the next 20-30 yrs I think economic growth will come from our region led by India.

Q 6. How do you plan to boost connectivity & people to people ties.

FM...SL is welcoming tourists. Indian airlines which were flying just thrice a week, will fly everyday to Jaffna from July 7, 2023. Some Indian flights will also fly to Colombo.

Ferry service will soon begin. A superluxury cruise (Candola) came to Hambantota, went to Trinco & to Jaffna. I feel P2P contact through connectivity & cruise will make a big difference particularly with the southern part of India. We invite people from India particularly South to come & invest in the north & East & uplift the standard of our brothers which has suffered due to 20-30 yrs of conflict. It has been 200 yrs of the existence of Indian community who work in the Tea sector driving SL’s economy majorly.