People who are not directly affected by the 14-month long violence in Manipur may not understand the mental stress and trauma faced by those who were uprooted from their homes and living in temporary shelters with no end in sight of the violence or of returning to their home and hearth. Leaders, politicians or otherwise, go on spewing venom and hate to further the ongoing crisis for a singular agenda of power and political aspirations besides control of territory while the hopes of a dignified life and simple aspirations are dashed to oblivion.
More than 60,000 internally displaced people are still languishing in several relief camps or temporary shelters in the form of prefabricated homes spread across Manipur as a result of the present communal conflict which still shows no signs of respite. The relief camps are opened in almost all the districts where district officials are working overtime to ensure food, drinking water and security. Clubs and organisations get together and come up with donations of clothes and food items to help those in the camps, while top-ranking officials or groups of political and CSO leaders visit the camps and try to make amends with help and deliver a semblance of care and hope.
However, life in the relief camps is difficult. The collective trauma and state of mental health among the refugees especially among the small children who have had to bear witness to parents and relatives beaten up or killed and being on the run from the marauding mobs assisted by armed militants have been ignored so far. Add to that, a daily routine of living on dole outs with no job or means to earn an income to provide for the family while avenues for returning to their original home and hearth is not on the radar.
The person who committed suicide in his prefabricated home in Kwakta, Bishnupur district was a bricklayer who had a home in Churachandpur town and a dignified life working with his hands to feed his family. What led to his ultimate decision to end life is a question which should haunt the leaders wherever they be.
Another traumatic event is of a 14-year-old student collapsing and dying in his boarding home overwhelmed at the sight of his parents after a long time is a case in point of the trauma that is being faced by today’s children. The deceased student was from Ikou Bazar under Saikul police station in Kangpokpi district, which happened to be a constant target for militant attacks. Their house was among the many burned by armed militants in the early days of the ethnic strife and the family including his parents and grandparents had to flee for their lives.
While his family members stayed at NB College in Khundrakpam, he and his little sister were forced to stay at Success School boarding in Chingarel Tezpur in Imphal East District. Imagine the plight of the children and trauma faced by them as they look at an uncertain future and their family trying to make both ends meet with no home and property and expenses to bear for their children and family. The parents had come to the boarding home to collect their children as they were selected for a slot in the prefabricated shelter home near Sajiwa Jail, in the hopes of building a new life till they get to return to their original home at Ikou Bazar.
And the tragedy struck as if a bolt from the blue. The trauma is not his alone, but hundreds of other children staying in the relief camps are facing the same. What has the government got to offer except two square meals, a place to sleep and other relief materials? There is no provision for providing mental solace and a hope for their children. How to deal with the collective trauma faced by this generation as still there is no solution in sight or a light at the end of the dark tunnel?
Relief and rehabilitation work is okay, but dealing with the trauma is more important, for which affirmative action on the ground and restoration of peace is required. People need to return home and carry on with their lives with dignity. They do not want to live like beggars, but are ready to work with hands and skills to provide for the family. It is the job of the government to provide the enabling environment for such a life.
