Oh Churachandpur! The Town Of Our Birth

By: ABEL HMAR A Ccpurian

The Little town of Churachandpur, tucked away in the State of Manipur in the North Eastern Part of India. Hardly known to the world outside is a beautiful picturesque town cradled by the Hills on all sides. The natural beauty of this town is comparable to a Painter painting his master-piece and taking every bit of care to ensure that his painting is indeed the best and that it stands out from the rest.

The Painter for the unsurpassed beauty of Churachandpur is the Creator Himself. The way he has molded and shaped, and colored the hills and the trees that surrounds this beautiful valley town is simply breath taking. I think the Lord (the Creator) must have complimented himself after He created the scenic town of Churachandpur. It may not be the ultimate in beauty for others, or for outsiders, but as a Ccpurians this is our town and it sure is beautiful in our sight.

This picturesque town (the second biggest town in Manipur after Imphal) is inhabited by the beautiful people of Paites, Hmars, Kukis, Lushais, Gangtes, Vaipheis, Zo, Chin, Simte etc. And also a handful of VAIS (outsiders), and few Sardarjis who have made Churachandpur (Lamka) their own hometown. Churachandpur is a hometown for all these beautiful people. And both time and destiny had woven all the above mentioned communities into one to form the unique multi lingual, multi culture and peculiar social fabric of Churachandpur town. All the communities inhabiting this town are like their other North-Eastern Brothers and sisters are of Mongoloid races.It is said that everyday in Ccpur is a 'Pentecost day', or that Pentecost day is celebrated everyday in this town. I think we all know what happened on the Pentecost day in the Bible, when the Holy Spirit fell upon the believers from different parts of the world. And the believers from different parts of Asia and the world were able to communicate to each other in their own languages.

The same holds true for the people of this town - for the Ccpurians. Very much unlike the other towns and the capitals of the North Eastern States - The Ccpurians communicate with each other in their own respective languages. Ccpur is quite a cosmopolitan town in its own way. The Lingua Franca for this town is ones own language.And the Communities here are predominantly Christian, which is quite evident from the fact that there are Churches of all shapes and sizes in every locality of Ccpur. Let us go back in time to the early 80' and also all the decades before that. Ccpur was the most beautiful and the most peaceful town. Fear was an unknown word back then. They say that A Lady could walk alone at night with nothing to fear. The only cause of concern for the kids and the Women Folks were Local Drunkards in their drunken stupor belting out the latest Hindi film songs as they walk down the streets of Ccpur in their inimitable 'drunken style'.Beautiful Young Girls and Boys, walking down the streets of Ccpur town, with Guitars in hand, singing a song of serenade in gay abandon under a star-lit night was a common and a beautiful sight.

But Alas! Things have changed drastically now, the tables have been completely turned. As fear envelops this beautiful town, the sweet strain of the acoustic guitar is rarely heard now. The sounds of Automatic guns have taken over, as fear and uncertainty lurks around in ever nook and corner of this once 'so peaceful town'.The beautiful people of this picturesque town live out their lives in constant fear now. After the unfortunate ethnic clash (Paite/Kuki), people now prefer to stay inside locked doors once the night falls. And Security forces the Guardians of Peace patrol every inch of the town. Young-Men suspected to be 'Extremists' are often rounded up, unnecessarily harassed and often subjected to the anger of the security forces. Body Bags and folded shawls have become the order of the day. Hatred pulls the trigger, another life is taken, another body lying in a pool of blood. With various Extremist outfits like K.N.F (and its various factions), ZRA, and HPC (D) having their own are of influence. Ccpur is now a far cry from what it used to be in the past' When fear was an unknown word'An Yale Graduate friend of mine wrote an article about Ccpur in a newsletter once. He actually compared it with Uganda. He wrote ' Two places, green with hills, red with blood and Alive with Hope'. The most striking sentence of the Article that has stayed with me all these years ' My brothers and sisters are carrying automatic guns killing each other and they call themselves Christians'This hit me on the head like a 1000-ton hammer. We all claim and profess ourselves to be Christians - Followers of Christ. And we all know that one of the Commandments given in the 10 commandments listed in the Bible is ' Thou shall not kill'. May be we have lost touch with Christianity? Or are we just Christians for convenience? All I know is Christianity is not a religion of convenience and that involves a lot of sacrifices and not compromising with the hypocrisy in the Church or with the World.Jesus gave us a commandment, a new commandment He gave unto us 'That we love one another as He has loved us and that by all this will men know that we are His disciples'. But I guess we Ccpurians (Lamkaites) miss this very important commandment or we have interpreted it wrongly.

We love one another aren't we? We are loving our neighbors and our brothers, we are loving them with AK-47 and 9 mm pistols.The Church as an institution in our society has failed completely. If we cannot be united because we speak different languages or belong to different communities, then why cannnot we be united as Christians - we should be united at least as followers of the Cross. We proclaimed ourselves to be believers in Christ when the life that we lead is a far cry from what Christians should be. What we are trying to say is that we may not be united under the banner or Mizo, Zomis, Kukis, Chins, or any other names that you can come up with. But we should be united as fellow Christians as a member of the Family of Christ.We need to get back to basics, we need to remind ourselves how fragile we humans are. And that we all need each other support to survive in this uncertain and unfriendly world because ' No man is an Island'. No race or Community can live alone, No countries can stand on its own. We are all inter-dependent on each other and need each other to exist in this world.We need to redefine our relationships with each other. How can we go on with suspicious minds? Let us re-affirm our faith in the Lord Jesus and in each other. Let us try and work together in building a better Ccpur, a better Lamka. Let us try and heal the old wounds, though the scars may remain, let us forgive even though we may not forget. The Change can come from you and me. At the same time let us not be under the illusion that ' the change' will come over night. But in our own little way we can rebuild "CCPUR' and restore it to its rightful place. After all ' A Drop of water' can make an ocean.So my friends I appeal to you all to be Ccpurians, Lamkaites first and foremost above everything. We the students of today are the future leaders of tomorrow, the future torchbearers of our society. How long shall we allow ourselves to be divided and fragmented by narrow domestic walls? Because I can say without any shadow of a doubt that there will be 'No Paites, No Hmars, No Kukis, No Gangtes, No Lushais and No whatever in our eternal Home - Heaven. Let us make Churachandpur a Paradise that it once was. Let us not be Narrow Minded but Nehru Minded and try earnestly to regain this Paradise that we have lost.Every Ccpurians has to really think about this never-ending cycle of Violence, that has our town firmly in its grip? This never ending cycle of Violence have left many our of our brothers homeless, fatherless, widowed, motherless and their lives shattered beyond redemption. How long can we spend our time buying Guns than educating our sons on the need of a peaceful co-existence, mutual non-aggression and brotherhood? How long can we sway to this 'Symphony of destruction" as our live and town disintegrate around us? How long can we allow 'Our Lives 'Our town' and 'Our Society' to disintegrate before our very eyes? How long can we allow Our Christianity to be in Question?' And when we have became ' A Shame' to Christianity and the faith that we profess. After all we are humans, having the same dream, cherishing the same goals and aspirations for ourselves and for our children. Do you really think we would like to pass this 'fragmented, fractured and divided Society' to our Children who will carry on the torch from us someday? What right do we have to take a life that we cannot Create? What right do we have to take a life that we cannot make? What a World have we inherited? What example have we set for the little Children of today who will carry on the flame from us one fine day?

Our streets are filled with blood, as hatred rules our mind, our lust for blood. Our hands are red-stained with blood of innocent lives we have taken. We put a mortal man in control, and we watched him become a god, heads rolled. We turned a Killer into a Hero. Let Christ be our Hero, our anchor. Let Him the foundation on which we base our lives. And not some leaders or politicians who keeps talking about changing the world when they do not even think of changing themselves first. Let us not put our faith on world heroes who will hijack our good intentions for their own cause. We need to remember that even Mohammad Ali has only 'feet of clay'Let us rise up and build like Nehemiah said in the Bible. So that others do not mock and laugh at our differences. We do not need another civil war or another bloody ethnic clash - it feeds only the rich while it buries the poor. Let us heal this bleeding land of our birth ' this bruised and wounded Churachandpur'. ' There are no more new frontiers- no more Shangri- Las left. We all have got to make it here, to satisfy our endless needs to justify our bloodied deeds, In the name of destiny in the name of God.So my dear friends, Let us not subject our town to war and attrition again. After all this is the land of our birth where our love ones live, where our dear ones are buried. The town and the society where we will carry out our brief existence, and where they will bury us six feet deep when our faithful work here on earth is done. If we sincerely believe that we can regain the 'paradise' that we have lost, then my brethren we surely can - with a little bit of love, care and affection, and a helping hand we can usher in a whole new world, a whole new paradise. Some may say I am ' A Dreamer' but I am sure I am not the only one. And I know someday there will be many to join us.

In the end I would like to share with you this beautiful poem by the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore(With due apologies to Sir Rabindranath Tagore)' Where the mind is without fear / And the Head is held highWhere the world is not broken up into fragments by narrow domestic world Where words come out from depths of truthWhere tireless streaming strength strives towards perfectionWhere the clear streams of reason Has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habitsWhere the mind is lead forward by thee into ever widening thoughts and actionsInto that Heaven of Freedom My Father, Let me and my fellow Ccpurians' awakeLet us dare to dream of a better Ccpur - A better tomorrow my friends. In the end to quote our President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam 'Dream will turn into thoughts, thoughts into actions and actions into reality'. Let us heal our bleeding town, and try to regain our Lost Paradise. Remember my friends! The Change can only come from You and Me, and only if we dare to 'Believe'.

Allegations Against Truth

By: Elf Hmar

The comical allegation of the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) that was published in The Sangai Express on the 3rd of May where it states–“The recent rape allegations of 21 Hmar women at Lungthulien by 18 cadres of the MPA and KCP is one such atrocious allegations raised in cahoots with the Indian Government” is another blatant uttering where it fails to realize that such accusation holds no ground when truth firmly surfaces and face them resolutely. How much one tries to subdue truth, it always resurfaces again and again to strongly fight back falsity, grasping it by its neck and wrestling it down until it can no longer move and lays rotted where it falls. It’s amusing though–how the game has been planned and played once one perceives thoroughly–the misty yet un-foolproof plans. The UNLF, rather than continuing on its denial propaganda to hypnotize the already hooded valley civil society groups, should try different strategy to dilute and pacify its heinous ‘mistakes’ by accepting the crime of what it’s Meiranba, Machaton, Ali Khan, Nuhrul, Nanaocha, Dablo, Irabot, etc had done to the Hmar populace in Parbung sub-division. Will such denial heal? No. Will such allegation truly serve the purpose of the UNLF? No. Such steadfast denials and allegations of the UNLF can only turn into a doom for its own. What alternative does that proposes? Definitely a rethinking and reformation of itself and its failed policy. It should not blame its failure to the Indian Army intelligence for it only demonstrate with shame their inefficiency and ineffectiveness in fighting its ‘enemy’. Such rhetoric statements can only flatten it’s own self-esteem. And then again for those who have by now accepted the fact that the mass rape had indeed taken place but who still doubt the involvement of the UNLF in the act–the following will be a food for their hungry thoughts. The UNLF in its first press statement on the issue of mass rape (The Sangai Express, March 7, 2006) acknowledged the presence of a platoon of its MPA cadres along with 12 cadres of the KCP in their ‘battefield’ Parbung and that on January 16, 2006 (late) 2nd Lt Meiranba along with 6 other MPA cadres and 12 KCP cadres went to Lungthulien village and had beaten up the villagers. The UNLF denied that its cadres tortured the villagers and raped the Hmar women in the same statement, which is of course what is expected from them to hide their disgraced image. There would definitely be suspicion within them right from the start that the ‘allegation’ can be genuine. And then again on January 23, 2006 (The Sangai Express), the UNLF through its press statement salutes its three cadres 2nd Lt L Meiranba alias Dinesh, private K Machaton alias Roshan and private Md Ali Khan alias Lashkar who died fighting the Indian security personnel at Parbung village on January 20, 2006. Is not this self-evident that the UNLF and KCP cadres were indeed involved in human rights violations against the Hmar people during their annexation period of the remote villages? Is their desperate attempt to save their self ‘tarnished image’ more important than the 21 rape victims and many molested? Is their self-tarnished image more important than the 23 innocent lives killed by the landmines planted by them? Is the reclaiming of their self-tarnished image more important than the thousands of helpless villagers who were displaced to Mizoram to become refugees?The continuing exodus of Hmar villagers from the areas is also without doubt not an allegation. Neither are the refugee camps that exist today in Mizoram; nor the thousands of them who are taking and continue to take refuge inside these camps. The displaced Hmar villagers are bon-a-fide citizens of state. The law of the land prohibits them to be forcefully displaced. They have no right to flee to Mizoram. And they have no right to permanently settle there. The displaced Hmar people’s only right is to be repatriated and settled back on their rightful land–peacefully without anymore outsiders’ interference on their lands. They have their absolute rights over their lands. Their sacred lands should not be a regarded and be made ‘battlefields’ for revolutionary groups battling the Indian Army or rival revolutionary groups. This total lookdown and disregard of the hills, lands and soil of the Hmar is a direct insult to the Hmars in Manipur. The encroachers should either be driven off or if there are any right-thinkers amongst them, should pull off completely from the areas without further exploring to only exploit the lands and the people and which would only jeopardize the already fragile relationship more, as a result of the revolutionary groups’ acts of monstrous crime.Such lame excuses the ‘devta’ UNLF continues to construct around its already flimsy protective crust only unwrap more of its insidious policies, one of which unashamedly is to make use of the mass rape issue (as it has already been nationalized and internationalized) to pursue its now questionable struggle of ‘liberating Manipur’ from the clutches of the ‘Indian Mahajans’. Nevertheless, such policy already undermines its so-called struggles as it evidently illustrates how fictitious it is its claimed struggle for the hill peoples in Manipur is. Let the hill peoples be, for once, their own selves and choose their own course of action. A sub-insurgency struggle is not a thing recommended at all. Neither does the group tries to heal the pains that it’s lustful, inhumane and barbarian cadres continues to inflict against the hill peoples, nor does it tries to amend its ways. It instead draws a well-structured ‘Laksman Rekha’ on how to continue on befriending, after which explore and exploit the hill peoples in Manipur. This ‘X-rated File’ of the UNLF had been carefully tucked somewhere in some underground strongbox, safe and away from prying eyes. Fortunately, so as to mention, the red-file had been incidentally unearthed and uncovered and made public for the good of all. If the UNLF, along with KCP and other so-called revolutionary groups having their presence in the hills, is truly for integrating and liberating Manipur – they should accept their ongoing transgression against the Hmars. If a demilitarization of the Tipaimukh is being sought, they should without fail and any hesitation, call off its every single cadre before the Indian military completely militarize the hills to make their grounds and establishment for pending projects which may or may not be in the interest of the indigenous peoples living over the areas. The same suggestion goes for the other valley-based insurgent groups who had taken refuge in the hills of Manipur. It will serve the revolutionary groups from the valleys three ways – firstly, the hill-based revolutionary groups will have to handle their tidbits by their own self and in the process annihilate themselves fighting the ‘evil’ Indian Army and secondly, they can come back to the hills to continue on occupying and establishing their safe bases and re-terrorize the hills after the Indian Army demilitarize, and thirdly, they will be able to build the relationship with the hill peoples that is a must for liberating Manipur. One cannot think of the materialization of a liberated Manipur without the complete backing of the peoples in the hills. It is nonsense to even think about it. And under the present context, it is just impossible. Time to wake up.It is indeed interesting to make a note of the suggestion made by the banned militant outfit, the UNLF, of the International Committee on Red Cross (ICRC) to intervene and verify the involvement of the UNLF on the ‘alleged’ mass rape of Hmar women in Tipaimukh. This was first suggested by the UNLF on 9th April 2006 that appeared in several newspapers. Again on 3rd May 2006 (The Sangai Express), the UNLF contented that “an independent body like the International Red Cross Society be roped in to verify the charges has been turned down by those who have raised the allegations. This shows that there is a sinister design behind the whole game plan.” However, the Hmar Inpui – an apex body of all Hmar organisations, released a press statement as a rejoinder to the UNLF suggestion of the ICRC on 13th April, 2006 (The Sangai Express) stating that, “...it has no objection to the involvement of any international organisation of repute in the eventuality of Central/ State Government’s complete apathy and inability to handle the matter... while appreciating the ICRC’s role in rehabilitation and in providing assistance and succor in times of natural disasters, conflict situation etc., the Hmar Inpui holds that there are more appropriate UN investigative agencies than ICRC who can handle crimes of rape and torture as in the present case...”. The conscious misinterpretation of the Hmar Inpui statement makes it quite understandable how hollow the allegations of the UNLF turn out to be. Not only did the Hmar Inpui, from the quoted statement, welcome the UNLF suggestion for the intervention of the ICRC, but also even suggest that there are also appropriate United Nations investigative agencies that handle crimes that the UNLF and KCP committed against the Hmar people. And the question remains–why had not the UNLF suggested the appropriate UN agencies at the first place not only to probe into the rape of 21 Hmar women, but also equally serious cases of displacement and landmines which are its own creations? Were there some sinister designs to make-believe the civil societies that its suggestion is a good suggestion? A must point to ponder over.The UNLF ‘childish’ suggestion, if looked at from another angle, does raise an eyebrow on what the motives and interests of the UNLF may be. It may be that the UNLF can twist the hands of the Imphal chapter of the Red Cross, or that they have a mole inside who is none other than an empathizer of its movement? Another possibility may be that the suggestion itself is a planned move to cleverly try to exploit the Hmars sufferings and involve the United Nations to propagate their ‘struggles’. If that is that then, it means that the UNLF by now had privately established the fact that its cadres had indeed committed a serious crime against the Hmars. Knowing this and concluding that whoever (national or international enquiry commission or agencies) may be involved in the probe, they have everything to loose and nothing to gain. And so, the suggestion for involving the ICRC comes in. The UNLF has in mind that the ICRC, being an international agency, could in a way be able to internationalize their “struggle” while in the surface it tries to save a face against its human rights violations, but underneath lies the more carefully planned strategy mentioned. Moreover, the UNLF ought to know that even if it has empathizers within the ICRC, the ICRC is not that foolish to let (even if the ICRC give the green signal to verify the mass rape) anybody who already has contact in Manipur to investigate. It is understandable that the UNLF did not suggest human rights commissions in India, as it would mean discrediting its ‘liberation struggles’ against India’s ‘colonialism’. This is self-explanatory. Though a good one, it is undeniably a bad move, a child’s play. Such immaturity. Let this be an indicator to grow up.A per the notification by Joint Secretary (Home), Government of Manipur (29th April 2006), the time for submission of the Rajkhowa Commission of Inquiry report on the alleged mass rape at Parbung sub-division, has been extended for a month effective from May 17, 2006. That was all to it. No explanation on why the submission time has been extended as to the earlier notification that the report should be submitted within two months (i.e., May 17, 2006) after the institution of the said Judicial Enquiry (PTI, 20th March 2006). Another question is to whom should the Rajkhowa Commission Report be submitted. It will not do much good for any sides if the report is to be submitted to the State administrator alone. The same should be submitted to the Central Government as well as the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The irresponsible Manipur state government alone cannot be entrusted to handle such serious crime against humanity. And also, it is in everybody curiosity as to when the report is to be made public. Lets not play futile games that not lessen but increase the pains and sufferings of the common people who are always the end-looser. Lets instead champion their causes genuinely. Lets stop playing games with innocent lives, end the reign of terror, and bring an end to inhumane torture and senseless killings. Let us raise our voice against the discrimination of rights of our fellow humans and discrimination against women. Lets our humane conscience take over and be the sole winner.