By H H Mohrmen
Conflict zones or war like situations are always rife with propaganda; in fact spreading propaganda is part of the tactics in every conflict and one can lose or win a battle depending on one’s ability to sell one’s ideas better than the other’s. In the process media is being (mis)used by both sides of the conflict for one’s own vested interest and every warring side tries to make the best use of available opportunity. And with the advent of social media network the battleground is now freer in every sense of the term and the print and visual media are no longer the only platform for sharing of opinions.
Propaganda was used by the western world to convince itself and the world that the Gulf War was inevitable if the world is to be free from the ‘Axis of evil’. Propaganda was spread that a certain country was in possession of chemical weapons and even suspected nuclear weapons and therefore ‘the evil empires’ needed to be dealt with firmly. The Gulf War happened and on the frontline the media which used to be independent became embedded with the soldiers of the Western allies. Media succumbed to the tactics and at the end of the day they reported one side of the story only and sacrificed independent reporting at the altar of propaganda.
The war of words on Garo hills is not limited to the hallowed halls of the Assembly or the corridors of the Meghalaya Secretariat. The militants have taken the fight to win over the minds of the people to the public domain by using every kind of medium that they can lay their hands on.
The two unfortunate incidents that brought to light this propaganda war between the police and the militant groups are the killing of the young mother (Josbina Sangma) and the alleged custodial death of two individuals. The police version was that the woman was molested and later killed because she resisted attempts to molest or rape her in front of her children. From the media point of view, this news report was run and rerun by many national news channels. Surely killing of a woman by militants happens every time in the North East so why would this case be any different? Obviously it was the molestation angle which has attracted media attention and the news spread like wildfire. The GNLA version was that the lady was eliminated because she was a police informer. The outfit also categorically stated that there was no attempt to molest the lady. For the GNLA taking away the life of a young mother from her family sounds so easy, but for the family it was the worst ever tragedy that could befall them. The children had witnessed the traumatic murder of their mother and what has the government done to provide them emotional and psychological support? Or maybe they are now left to fend for themselves and by the way if the GNLA’s allegation is true that she was killed because she is police informer, then it is also the duty of the police to protect their informer/s. The murder of the young mother also implied that the police have failed in their duty and they are also in some way responsible for the kids losing their mother.
The other side of the divide which includes the GNLA and some NGOs suspect that the gruesome murder was basically a police tactic to divert peoples’ interest or memory from the two recent custodial deaths in the area. The GNLA and the NGO also claimed that the kidnapping of the bank manager was all stage managed and planned by the police. It was alleged that this is a ploy by the police to divert the attention of the public from the pressing issues of human rights abuse in the Garo hills. Now this is a serious allegation and our only hope is to get to the bottom of it and see the light at the end of the tunnel. At least with regards to the suspected custodial death in Garo hills, the police should come clean on the issue and absolve the force from the allegations. Lay people in the state are at their wits end; we don’t know what to believe and what not to believe, but one thing we all have in common is that we hope peace will prevail and want violence in Garo hills to end.
I was watching the award winning Khasi film Ri Homeland of Uncertainty and agree with the protagonist in the story that the law and order situation in the Khasi Jaintia hills has improved because the police was able to cripple the HNLC by breaking the backbone of the group which is the finance wing of the organisation. I know nothing about warfare but I can sympathise with the police and the kind of ordeal that they have to face every day, and yet as a layman I wonder why the police cannot apply the same tactics in Garo hills as was done in Khasi-Jaintia Hills? Or why it didn’t work in Garo hills as it did in the Khasi- Jaintia hills?
The kind of warfare that the police have to encounter is dangerous to say the least. In this kind of battle one does not know who one’s friends are and who the enemy is. There are no battle lines drawn since it is a war without a battleground. And yet we hope police who are professionally trained to uphold law and order to exercise restraint and perform their duty professionally.
Any right minded citizen will agree that no one has the right to take away a life or kill anyone. Killing anybody for whatever reason is a crime against humanity and a sin against the Maker. No one can justify the killing of another person be it the militants or the police, and no argument however convincing can justify the killing of another person.
The story line in the film Ri is correct on another count which is that the foot soldiers are always at the receiving end. The bosses of the militant groups not only hobnob with political leaders, but at the end of the day they will always survive. One does not have to look too far to see this glaring truth. We have former militant leaders as our MLAs and MDCs and is anybody even questioning where the foot soldiers are?
The same thing will happen in Garo hills, when all the militant groups decide to call it a day and start negotiating for a ceasefire with the Government. Then everybody will naturally be happy and welcome the development with open hands and open hearts. And people will conclude that all’s well that ends well. The leaders will be accommodated but what happens to the victims of both police atrocities and militant’s criminal activities? Isn’t it true that at the end of the day they will simply be considered as collateral damage of the Garo hills conflict?
Yes, collateral damage they are. Somebody needs to die in the conflict zone but those who die are also mother, father, brother, sister and relative of some family, who want to know why their near and dear one died? They not only want answers but hope to see that justice is delivered; that the departed souls can ultimately rest in peace. The GNLA has not only killed the young mother but they have even robbed from the kids the happy memories of their loving mother. Unfortunately the memory that will repeatedly flash in their minds is not the face of a loving mother but a bloody and bullet ridden face of a hapless woman. This is what an act of madness can do to people! The police or the militant may be using the victims’ death as an opportunity to start a propaganda war and to score brownie points against each other, but for the relatives of the victims, it is a reality they have to face every day – the reality that the children have to live without their mother, because somebody has decided that she cannot live anymore. Hundred of mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers or relatives have to shed their tears every day because they have lost their loved ones to the conflict. So let’s not rub salt on their wounds anymore and let the two sides in conflict not use their tragedy as propaganda for their vested interest.