Saturday, March 21, 2009

8 MARCH MOBS: Threatening Communal Tension at Lamka

- Dr. David Vumlallian Zou

While condemning the brutal murder of Pu T. Vungkhanthang, it is sad to take note of the mob frenzy that followed it. In a well-governed state, the criminals involved in the brutal murder should have been pursued and punished by the police. Indeed, we pay our taxes to the state whose duty is to protect the lives and property of its citizens.

The violent Sunday incident of 8 March 2009 poses many disturbing questions about the safety of the Zou community in Manipur. Given the official allegiance of UZO to the Zomi Council, this event is most unfortunate รข€“ and rather unexpected! But strange things did happen under the volatile local conditions of Lamka. On second thought, a mob violence of the kind we witnessed should appear less shocking.

To begin with, current events reveal the great danger to which the little ZDV faction can expose the whole Zou community. How should we deal with the deviant ZDV boys who indulge in extortions and criminal activities? Who patronises the existence of this faction? If we cannot beat them, is it possible to co-opt them into mainstream Zomi arena? Factional division is the besetting sin of the Zou people; this propensity to split up has been lamentably reflected in our unending religious schisms and recent organizational rivalries. To a large degree, these internal divisions drain away our energies, crippling our strength to meet unexpected emergencies.

The mob frenzy on Sunday also throws into relief the fragility of our Zomi brotherhood and solidarity. Our affiliation to Zomi Council still seems to be determined by political expediency rather than ideological commitment. In spite of the formal political unity at the top, there is so much distrust and social antipathy at the grass roots level. There is a big gulf between the rhetoric of political unity at high level and the ugly reality of communal tension boiling from below. As long as the life and property of a particular Zomi community gets threatened at the slightest excuse, as long as a whole community gets blackened en mass due to individual acts of crime, or as long as indignities are heaped on the head of a particular section of the Zomi family, then the basic human instinct for collective survival or the universal law of desperate self-defence will have to take over eventually. How I wish this cruel decision never offers itself in future!

Under existing circumstances, the present strategy of rehearsing a common Meitei threat to collective Zomi interest is no longer enough. To meet our internal crisis, it is imperative to initiate Confidence Building Measures between different Zomi communities. It is too risky to neglect this vital public sphere, healing process and reconciliation for the project of building our collective identity.

After all, a political movement cannot go very far without firm roots in a cohesive society. Here the distinction between political unity and social cohesion is most instructive. At present, there is too much emphasis on the nationalist Zomi to the neglect of the communitarian Zomi; too much stress on a political community at the cost of Zomi civic society. Nation building cannot come before community building; or at least, they should go hand in hand in a fine balance.

Note: This article is exclusively written for ZouWorkshop Discussion Forum and re-published with the permission of the author.

.::. All my articles can be view here: MELTED HEARTS .::.

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9 comments:

  1. Tam thu chiah ahileh lunggel thei teng in ngaisiem lou dingin ka ngaisun hi. Mi hing khat hinna lah leh veng sung kiluuh chipen akoi koi in dem ding a kana gintaat leh jukham hon gamtat na chi'a gen mai in ana um maima hi. Tualthattu te mawpaina sangpen a mawpai thei hanga, migiloute zieh a veng sung kiluuhna gendoh a um lou. Phaje sa a jukham hon chia media um sun ten gen nalai uh. ZDV te khutsuo hita ven, akoi akoi khutsuo ana hi ta ven, mipi tunga nawthaw leh thagum a ki chouna in hoina sang in sietlam manaw zaw in ka thei hi. I kam a Zomi Zomi chi chi ding hanga, i lungsim a i chi thei tuon lou a tha leh mat ding a iki et thei zing uleh bang Zomi e, bang Zo suon e i gen gen uh. Mi tunga devide and rule policy play na maimai dia Zomi i chi chi uh hun nawnlou ahi.

    Tualam thukhat hitaleh, Zou nampi khaikhawmtu UZO lamkaite ui meikhup banga a up uh hn nawnlou ahi. Koima'n nou hing that pai sih ven, hangsan in thu gen poupou leh uchin a lampi hing um na ven. Na bang uh bawla kam khat be keelou na hi uai? MLA chinna maimai dia UZO na dei uh maw? Hibang a vaihawm di'a mipin ang tel uh na sa uh maw? Kho hausa mi ngolhon, kipil unlen lamkai ding kiteelna a um chiengin sum cheng 1/2 in ki khawng paipai sih unlen, si-le-man, gentheina na tuo chieng ua MLA maimai lunggul hilou, noute din taang a ding thei diing te ki tel zawbou un.

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  2. Zomi chipen political expediency dihtah ahi chi sawt a pat a kathei zing sa ahi. Political intergrity khu emotional integrity tel lou in bangma tan atung zou ngai sih ding hi. Nam kipichingsah a mikai khom ding te tabanga agam tat jing ua ahileh, koitaah um khawm htei ding ulah??? Paite te kingai tuo hun ahi. External threat a umchienga "ki-unaona" aw ging jel a, asung alah bangma ki-jana, ki-itna kitheisiemna um thei lou.

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  3. Code: Nation building cannot come before community building; or at least, they should go hand in hand in a fine balance.

    Dik mahmah e.

    Mob psychology is a totally different thing and I personally believe that the the motive of the murder has nothing to do against a particular community. The criminal act however should be condemned. Justice is not done by handing over two suspects to the authority.

    Did the two suspects confessed to the murder? What was their motive?

    Turning anger against a particular community for a criminal act committed by certain individual will do no good especially in a Tribal society like ours.

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  4. Dr. David hit the nail on the head about the insecurities that had manifested in the acts and omissions in our daily lives in the Zomi community. Nation building has been a slow process for the Zomis. We need to reach out on a people to people level and the expectations has always been that of the largest Zomi citizen group to be the first at that.

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  5. " As long as the life and property of a particular Zomi community gets threatened at the slightest excuse, as long as a whole community gets blackened en mass due to individual acts of crime, or as long as indignities are heaped on the head of a particular section of the Zomi family, then the basic human instinct for collective survival or the universal law of desperate self-defence will have to take over eventually. How I wish this cruel decision never offers itself in future! "

    Well written Pu Zo

    Let everyone understand this and not underestimate:

    " There can never be unity among the Zomi community until equality and justice take it rightful place. There can never be unity among the Zomi community until we are brave enough to compromise the tribe-minded idealogies.There can never be unity among the Zomi community until violence is our ambulance in emergency."

    Let us love and respect one another.

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  6. "Factional division is the besetting sin of the Zou people; this propensity to split up has been lamentably reflected in our unending religious schisms and recent organizational rivalries. To a large degree, these internal divisions drain away our energies, crippling our strength to meet unexpected emergencies."
    Very true for the Zo nation !

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  7. Tam thu toh kisai in ahileh vang, Zou Tribe a kimin vaw a si a seen houpi lechin, a lungkim koima umlou ding in ka gingta hi. Mi gilou khat leh ni gamtatna zieh a Mipi ngamthaw tah leh musit deumai a ki bulu chi him him akoi koi in ngaisiem huoilou i sa chiet uhi. Tualthat tute zong koiman ngaisiem lou, khosung bulu te zong koiman ngaisiem lou, ahi'n Lamka a Media i nei sun ten Jukham hon chia a gen veng hithet uh pen Ama uh zong mawpai thei khop in ka ngai hi. Jukham hon khat ana thuh uh henlen ana that ta uleh Jukham hi, jukham hon gamtatna hi chin a awi-aam na di uai le? VERY BIG QUESTION? This is not fair. It is equally worth to condem the TUALTHATS, the KHOSUNG BULUs and The GENMAIPAWLs.

    I kam a EI, i action a NOU.
    LONG LIVE ZOMI, ZOGAM, ZOLAND, ZO BROTHERHOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  8. Kithahna dang - PC Parte, Pu Tualkhanpau, Pu Thangthuam - tampi aom ua, huai hunte a jaw imuan mawhsimte leng kawk ngamlou hihang ua maw... tua Zomi leh Zomi sunga ihi chi ngongtat khum theih mawk uh lamdang chih louh vual ahi keia, hiai thu jiaka khasia bang iom leng thil lamdang lua ahi khol kei. Zomi leh Zogam i-itdante uh a chingzoulou bang hiam om ahi ding, kivel thak hoih inte....

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  9. I am glad we have almost come the best part of the minerals in the mine and I am glad you have given me the best opportunity to inject the Zous ordeal through the ages which is exactly relevant to my topic. Forget about the past and some minor incidents; our president's (the then president) residence was burned down in 1995, we have lost 40+ Zous unnecessarily during the Paite-Thadou conflict of 1997-1998, Our president's residence was once again attacked by hurling a hand grenade on September 14, 2008 which could have killed him if he was in the premises of the explosion, the mobs frenzy of March 08, 2009. And, what next??? Mang, if I were to put in your way, how much longer do the culprits need to feel or think they are wrong? A century???? A millennium?? ?

    Where is the UZO in times of such grave crisis? Are we so full of tolerance? Or, are we just foolish? Or, are we …………? It is never, never, 1000x1000 times never forgiveness, but 1000x1000 times only and only madness. We could have taken action at the first time so we don't have to undergo the second, third, fourth, etc. ordeals. Action does not necessarily mean sword and blood, but it could be legal action and diplomacy. Or, to simplify it, we could have asked (or aligned with) the law or stronger and bigger tribes to help us. I don't find security in the UZO anymore. I believe (but not sure) 99.99% of our people will feel insecure like me with the status quo of the UZO.

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