As Manipur Chief Minister Mr O. Ibobi Singh made it clear that the Naga leader “shall never be permitted to enter the State”, the Naga students under the banner of Naga Students' Union and All Naga Students' Association of Manipur, went on a retaliatory economic blockade of Manipur, bringing to a standstill all vehicular traffic including trucks carrying food, medicine and other essential commodities on National Highway 39, the arterial route running through Nagaland capital Kohima and connecting Manipur with the rest of the country. Though a section of Naga students gave assurance to the Prime Minister on June 14 that they would partially lift the blockade, not much improvement has taken place till now.

Manipur has another route - National Highway 53 which connects Imphal with the south Assam town of Silchar via Jiribam, a stretch of 223 kms. But the condition of the road is very bad and now, having become the only alternative route to the State, it is fast becoming unusable due to the movement of heavy vehicles. The road has suffered heavy wear and tear and the weak bridges have become dangerously rickety. Some have already partially broken down.

When one country wants to impose an economic sanction on another country or enforce a blockade, it has to obtain the approval of the UN Security Council. In this case, a State of the Indian Union has been cut off from the rest of the country and is being literally starved by a handful of students for two months now with perfect impunity, as though they were a law unto themselves.

The result has been disastrous for all the 23 lakh people of Manipur, including the sizeable Naga population -and not just the “Manipuris” or Meiteis. Rice, which was selling at Rs. 20 to 24 a kilo, has shot up to Rs. 70 or above. A litre of petrol, if at all available, costs Rs. 200 and a cooking gas cylinder anything between Rs. 1000 and Rs. 2000. The worst suffer has been the health care service of the State.

Recently, a planeload of medicines had to be airlifted to Imphal to make the Government hospitals maintain a skeleton service. Then forty kilolitres of kerosene was transported the same way. An emergency import of a thousand tonnes of rice from Myanmar had to be made to tide over an acute food crisis. The widespread feeling is that Mr Muivah is holding the State to ransom and Delhi is doing nothing about it.

It is not that bandhs and blockades are new to Manipur. According to a State Government study quoted in the media, Manipur suffered an economic loss of Rs. 1320 crore due to bandhs and blockades between 2004-05 and 2006-07. Yearwise, there were 20 days of bandh and 60 days of blockade in 2004-05, rising respectively to 48 days and 97 days in 2005-06 and 42 days and 77 days in 2006-07. The net result has been a decline in per capita income by 6.1 per cent in 2004-05, 11.79 per cent in 2005-06 and 9.93 per cent in 2006-07. These facts have to be borne in mind to assess the full impact of this year's blockade on Manipur's economy.

The north-east of India is itself a landlocked region, being connected to the mainland by a thin strip in North Bengal known as the chicken's neck. Floods cut off the region every monsoon for days and weeks. Now, on top of it, when a north-eastern State is subjected to a politically motivated economic blockade for months by a small group of people, taking advantage of the geographical location of their State, its impact not only on economy and but also on the psychology of the people affected can be easily understood.

That this is a game that both sides can play has already been proved by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of twelve organizations formed under the aegis of All Assam Manipuri Students' Union going on a 36-hour road blockade that started from June 8, on National Highway 39 between Numaligarh (Assam) and Dimapur (Nagaland) and on NH 36 between Nagaon (Assam) and Dimapur. There are indications that the Centre is contemplating taking some harsh steps to end the Manipur blockade. If the Manipuri students in Assam resort to an indefinite blockade of arterial routes to Nagaland in retaliation, an ugly situation would arise. In the interest of all concerned the impasse has to be ended and the sooner the Centre acts the better. (IPA)