Babu Verghese, an author, journalist and consultant for several Christian television channels, who was recently in Manipur, both in the valley and in the hills, and spoke widely to people of both the Meitei and Kuki communities, says that the horrifying videos and reports that surfaced in the last week of killings, burning and rapes are “just the tip of the iceberg”.
Babu Verghese says that the full truth, when its known, will be far worse than what we know today.
Every time I learn and encounter more of what’s happening, I feel sicker and angrier. Especially for the women. I just done even know what else to say.
No steps have been taken by any law enforcement to stop or detain the leaders or members of the extremist outfits viz. Meitei Leepun, Aramboi Tengol, or the Meira Paibis, that are leading the ethnic & communal cleansing. Today they attacked Torbung with guns and bombs. guns and bombs! How will Kukis defend themselves? This is a massacre, a slaughter.
Neither the army nor the state police treat Kashmiris, not even Kashmiri women, with a tenth of the gentleness they have showed the extremists in Manipur, and that is because they lack political direction.
The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum are trying to gather help from those keen on helping the victims.
I don’t know whether its open to Indians or Indian residents only, still at such a time every bit helps. Even a sympathetic message.
Here’s a link to the news report : https://www.telegraphindia.com/north-east/indigenous-tribal-leaders-forum-lists-13-crimes-in-manipur-appeals-for-help/cid/1954254
My post on it is @ https://kbin.social/m/india/t/247137/Indigenous-Tribal-Leaders-Forum-lists-13-crimes-in-Manipur-appeals#comments
The world is not well beyond the stage of plausible deniability where we can claim with any degree of credibility that we “didn’t know what was happening”. If we don’t know now it’s because we choose to ignore it, just like we’ve done for pretty much every genocide in the past.
I think your last sentence is key. We don’t know what to say. It’s easier to comment on Elon Musk renaming twitter and get on our way. But I also think it’s important we try to say something, even if it’s hard to know what or where or how the hell it’s going to help at all anyway.
We should be beating on pots and pans.
We should be. Indians are, even in pouring rain, even when the mainstream media ignores it. We should also be communicating the seriousness of the issue on global platforms & to global media, because the only pots & pans Modi listens to is the international one. He ignores any dissent/protest from within India. Right now, he’s busy equating the opposition to terrorists because they’ve united against him.
Its completely understandable if the global audience forgets/ ignores problems in India, because these issues don’t affect them &/ or are just too barbaric to process. At the same time, they’re the biggest supporters of democracy, are vocal against genocide, and have the freedom to question power.
When the 2002 Gujarat pogrom was a dusty memory in India, the democratic West brought attention to it(Thank you, BBC! and questioned Modi (Thank you, WSJ!).
The Manipur genocide needs to be front & center and made non-ignorable, so that international pressure is exerted on Modi to take action. It should also result in resistance should any world leader want to welcome & honour Modi again.