Getting dirtier by the day

When I went to Manipur University some months back, I noticed an unusual thing on the road. BSNL officials were supervising the laying of fiber optics along that strech of National Highway 39. Most of the times, when BSNL lays fiber optics they do it on the sides of the road. This time they were doing it by digging up right at the centre of the street, that too along the busy National Highway.

Another unusual thing ws that unproportionately alrge numbers of important looking officials were there at thework site.

Back then, I thought--'Looking East policy in action'?

How could a layman,like me,have the wherewithal to connect the scene of a team of officials overseeing the laying of fiber optics(though a little unusual, even then, by the intensity of the works) and Hamid Ansari,the Vice President of India?

It now looks possible that they were working at the pace to enable the Vice President to make the first call from Mandalay to Moreh. That was during his recent visit to Burma some weeks back.

My pooint--India is engaging Burma at the highest diplomatic levels as a part of counter-insurgency measures in Manipur. See the team of Tata Motors in the official delegation of the Vice Presidential visit. There are also other ligh level corporate leaders trying to initiate citizen to citizen relationship besides the intense governmental-level efforts to persuade Burma to distance itself from Manipur's rebels.

Other important facet of this ongoing counter-insurgency policy is the doctrine of military restraint. If they start to use even some heavy artillery or even some combat choppers, leave aside the fighter jets, it will attract the attentions of international community. So, the doctrine of military restraint.

So, what's the missing link in this ongoing counter-insurgency policy?

The dirty war.

As a consequence of the doctrine of military restraint the Indian military is left with little option but to wage a ferocious dirty war here, most probably, engaging some of the brightest brain in their disposal.

Let's name some of the most glaring consequence of this dirty war:

bomb blast in ISKCON temple.

Gunning downof migrant workers.

Shooting down of a reporter.

Now, the murder of an important State Govt official together with two of his subordinate.

If we jump out of the box called Manipur and try to see the proceedings as a dispassionate observer from a purely whudunnit angle, it becomes fascinating to visualize how the dirty war mongers manage to lure the NSCN(IM) cadres to do the dirty work.

As the curfew 5 in the evening, I sat there pondering the issue:

'How did they manage to do that?'

Then, suddenly, a name came into my mind--JOHN LE CARRE!

I murmer to myself:

'My, my, Imphal is now the perfect setting of a John Le Carre novel'.