Peace Committee- hopes, concerns and cautions

The Peace Committee constituted on June 10 by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)to facilitate the peace making process among various ethnic groups with Governor Anusuiya Uikey chairing the 51-member committee that included Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh. Among its representatives are former civil servants, educationists, litterateurs, artists, social workers, and representatives from different ethnic groups. The initiative from the centre should be regarded as perhaps the most significant and positive step taken up by the central government to diffuse the current violence rocking the state for more than a month now, more so after the high expectations and assurances declared by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah on his Three day visit to the state earlier turned out to be nothing much more than mere lip service. The people in the state can now hope for a dialogue to began in earnest to spell out the grievances and find a lasting solution to the burning issue and diametrically different views being pursued by the opposing parties to the conflict instead of fuelling the already burning tension by spreading false and unfounded propaganda and doctored posts through social media platforms.
This is also a very crucial juncture and one which will very well determine the future of the state as the apprehensions and aspirations of almost every ethnic group and communities residing in the state have been expressed and their representatives included in the peace committee, a silver lining amidst the cloud of fear and uncertainty prevailing in the state at present and an opportunity to achieve exactly what the order of the Ministry of Home Affairs, North East Division set out to achieve through the Peace Committee: to establish peace, social and communal harmony among various ethnic groups and promote a sense of security in the general public. The order further lay down the objective of facilitating peacemaking process among various ethnic groups of the state including peaceful dialogue and negotiations between conflicting parties as well as to strengthen social cohesiveness, mutual understanding and facilitate cordial communication between various ethnic groups. But amidst the ray of hope the people of the state cannot help being sceptical of the process as well as the outcome of the initiative given the track record of successive governments in finding a lasting and practical solution to such conflicts and confrontations so far.
The people in the state is unlikely to settle for anything short of a permanent and lasting solution to the present crisis as any sort of negotiations or understanding without the expressed and written consent of all the ethnic groups in the state will create more problems that what the initiative of the centre is attempting to resolve and this is by any yardstick a difficult if not impossible task and certain ammendmends and changes in the provisions of the very constitution of the country might even be required in the process. The centre should show willingness and earnest intent in resolving the present conflict as there are far more complex and simmering issues and layers than the state government alone could handle or is empowered to do so. But a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and we should hope this is the first and the right step towards the long and arduous journey to peace and harmony.