Manipur Minefield: Self Goal; Cairo Comfort

Opinion Watch          

Manipur Minefield

No incident of murder since June 13 is giving false sense of normalcy in Manipur to the Centre, warned The Asian Age, which in its Editorial said that a group of 1500 women freed 12 cadres of the banned Kanglei Yawol Kunna Lup, which included one accused of 2015 Chandel ambush that had killed 18 soldiers of the 6, Dogra Regiment.

The daily hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his silence, saying that Union Minister for Home Affairs visited “Manipur four weeks after the outbreak of the violence as he had been busy electioneering”. The newspaper also opined that the Centre is seeking to duck the Manipur problem, which is political in nature, and cited that former CM Okram Ibobi in the all-party meeting was barely allowed to speak.

Historical anecdotes state that normalcy returns when army is called in, but Manipur defies all attempts amid toxic ethnic divide. The prime minister must now have visited Manipur to show political leadership to the people facing the brunt of ethnic violence.   

Self Goal

Modi’s visit to the US has by all accounts been eclipsed by the outrage channeled by the television and fed by the BJP against former US President Barack Obama for his reflections on Indian democracy and treatment to the Muslims, and The Indian Express in its Editorial has called the whole saga uncalled for.

The Noida-based daily said that the wolf diplomacy to pounce on Obama is ill-fitting, while noting the launch of personal attack on former US President by Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sharma, who called him “Hussain Obama”, and got side support from the BJP leader B J Panda’s “Barry” barb, as well as Nirmala Sitharaman hitting out that he had bombed Muslim nations most.

Americans often lecture the world, and this habit of lecturing the developing countries comes from the status of being the largest economy of the world. The BJP is too often seen to have camphor-like tolerance for criticism. But the saffron outfit would gain by picking the skill of argumentation from Foreign Minister S Jaishankar while maintaining decency of the discourse.

Cairo Comfort

India’s ties with Egypt have been anchored in history, and political leadership of the two countries have bonded brotherly for several decades. Modi visit to Cairo, a first since 1997, came at a critical geopolitical juncture, opined The Economic Times in its Editorial, adding that India can provide necessary partnership to Egypt battling high debt, $163 billion, constituting 43 per cent of the GDP.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the business daily said, was the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations, while Egypt, largest Arab country in Africa, has a robust bilateral trade relations with India. Plans are afoot for technology transfer and co-production of Tejas jet fighter in Egypt, added the daily. Defence cooperation is the thrust in India-Africa relations, with Egypt being the launch pad. DefExpo last year in Gandhinagar had specially focused on defence ties with Africa.       

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