By Babet Sten
Superintendent of Police (EKH) Mawthoh is wrong to be so dismissive about the shooting at Lumdiengjri police station on 2nd of July 2012. Of course it is similar to the denial that seems current at the moment. I find it troubling to be shot at as I’m allergic to male projectiles (Am I wrong to assume it was an all male cast that did it?) Many men in uniform seem to think that wearing one makes them invincible to bullets. I assure you that in many parts of the world and in many parts of this lovely country, it attracts them, not repels. Maybe it is just me but I seem to detect a note of uber-masculine esteem, at the base of it. “Bunch of criminals” sound comedic, like there’s a clown car with a ‘bunch of boys fro da ‘ood” stuffed in like canned sardines and all at once jumping out and pumping bullets into something or another, going “hell yeah” all the while.
I’m picturing he said “bunch of criminals” with a wave of his right hand. What does this mean for us? We can all turn our noses upwards and dismiss it likewise but I think that we have to examine what is happening in our state with very careful senses. Something is rotten in the state of Meghalaya.
Let us assume that the shooters are young (or feisty) men. Men, meaning more than one man, meaning someone had to drive while another one shot at the police station. Let us also add another friend in the back who could, possibly, provide the moral support for the shooter and perhaps an alcoholic beverage as well. I also assume they are young (or/and fit) because old men might suffer a heart attack from the gunfire and might not have sufficient upper body strength. Also many young men seem more prone to rash acts of violence (stand around Polo Bazaar after 5 pm to verify this for yourself) whilst old men usually sit about waiting for pension and death. Ok so they are young men (ok maybe relatively young) who shot at a police station. The key word to keep in mind, as I continue this tedious essay, is young.
Now the next question that comes to mind is – Why? “Bunch of criminals” I don’t think would simply shoot at random police stations (perhaps they had too many alcoholic beverages and mistook it for the Secretariat?) for no reason. One now has to look at two further scenarios. Scenario one assumes that “bunch of criminals” are doing pretty well in their respectful professions and hence can afford to spend money on expensive AK 47 bullets firing randomly at police stations. Scenario two assumes that they actually had a real reason to fire at the police station. This scenario also assumes that they are now terribly cross with themselves and poorer.
Why would they fire at a police station? Anger perhaps? Frustration? General lashing out at a symbol of state power? Why would you, reader, act violently against someone? Going back to Mawthoh, he said that the attacks were to create fear and panic. There is already fear, if not panic. Ask the people who are unemployed within the state about fear and they will tell you. Ask them what fears they have about their futures. Look for the flint to spark a fire and you will find it in the young and unemployed. I get angry too. Not because I don’t have a job or because I have no savings but because I know how unjust the government is. These Vogons have ensured that their power remains even if they lose power. Look at who controls the privatized MeECL; look at how they sidelined MCCL so that Star Cement and other private cement factories could flourish. They should have been handling waste management themselves but now will wait for “experts” from outside in the guise of Mott Macdonald to sort it out for ‘our’ benefit. They have also sneakily tried to change clauses within the Land Transfer Act to suit their interests and that of their business friends (This particular topic deserves its own essay and it is very interesting stuff!).
There are many more who are angry. It is very little that separates them from the extremists. The old maxim is “you can only push us so far before we fight back”. We now have the GNLA and the HPLF in our state and the government continually fails to understand why militant groups emerge. The more widely discussed one is of course that this is the last recourse of the poor and stupid lower classes. They fail to understand that militant mentalities are inside and are not easily destroyed by buying off leaders. That has backfired too many times as the recent arrests of ex-HNLC boss Dorphang for extortion, have shown. Lessons must be learned. Learn, o Government, learn. It has nothing to do with ignorance and even lesser to do with people having nothing better to do. It is a hard task to psych oneself up to become violent. To pick up a gun and live in the jungles is not an easy thing. It takes years of suffering and hardship and indifference. People still expect so much from the government and daily are disappointed. It has everything to do with a small thing called Social Justice. You can think it is over the issue of development that people fight the government but the issue of corruption is another area. It isn’t even that corruption is hard to detect. Exposing scams is as easy at sitting on the morning throne. RTIs expose scam after scam and the recorded response is “don’t touch that person, please leave that BDO alone or this MLA is friends with this minister” I would laugh if it wasn’t so damn pathetic. But as they say one has to march on even in the face of Oblivion. So we march on.
By the way, this government recently released a ‘report card’ and I tell you they need extra classes. They are good singers but have topped the class in Manipulation and Corruption. Extra-curricular alone is not sufficient for a good grade – F for failed.