However, the HAC still gives the impression of a mediator between Tribals and the government, while the reality is that they are to represent tribal interests before the government and are supposed to be at the forefront of projecting and protecting tribal interest. It should be a matter of utter shame for them that a Committee like COPTAM should emerge and deprive them of their essence by grabbing from them an agenda which should be theirs to move. Yet again, better late than never, as the saying goes.
On the larger canvass, the prodding question however is, why is it that the government of the state allows such encroachments into tribal territory by the dominant community and the valley district authorities despite the constitutional provisions for protection of tribal land and tribal way of life? Is the state government a party to the conspiracy to alienate tribals from their land? In such a scenario, isn't the government of Manipur functioning against the constitutional framework? If the complicity of the state is proved beyond doubt, doesn’t the Governor have the responsibility to report the matter to the Centre and recommend the dismissal of such a government which help spread divisions and hatred between communities living in the state?
The Ibobi government needs to come clean on this, and the only way it can do so is to issue a white paper on the entire controversy, spelling out the original boundary limits, naming those who are responsible for meddling with the territorial jurisdiction of the tribal district authorities, explaining as to why the public authorities in the tribal district didn't lodge complains about such encroachments into their area of jurisdiction, explain as to why the government was silent till the tribals erupt in protest, and explain why some tribal pockets are kept under the revenue administration of valley district authorities, et al. Unless the government is able to emerge clean on all such issues, the Governor must wield his constitutional power and exercise his constitutional responsibility to protect the tribal interest and recommend the dismissal of the O. Ibobi Sarkar.
The central government also has a constitutional obligation to ensure that tribal land and way of life are fully protected by the state governments. The power of the Parliament to create a new state, or amend the boundaries of existing states, have been inserted in the constitution to give the Union government the option of granting communities of people who have been treated unfairly under a state, an alternative prospect by way of self-governed territories like Union Territories and States. It is the responsibility of the Ibobi government, and in the interest of the state of Manipur, that the wave of tribal discontent blowing in the Hills of Manipur is not allowed to escalate into a movement for a separate state for the Kukis in Kuki areas and the integration with Nagaland of Naga areas, which are ill now espoused only by the Kuki and Naga militant organizations like the KNO and NSCN(IM). Winning the tribal civilian population away from such demands is the ultimate challenge before the SPF government, and resorting to forcible imposition of elections under a sham of an Act of autonomy, turning a Nelson's eye to violation of tribal lands and tribal rights, white-washing the under implementation of tribal reservations in jobs, etc. are the least of measures that will help the government to gain the trust of the tribal Kuki and Naga civilian masses.
