We look back on 17 most painful stories that we have covered in the last 17 years of Eastern Panorama. As a journalist there are times when we are perplexed as to how to find words to describe the deeds of man. Publishing the photos of some of the gruesome acts and writing about them becomes necessary in order to bring about the necessary public attention all across the region and the country. We hope the new generation will learn from the mistakes of the past and the previous generations’ memoirs will be revived once again in order to guide the coming generations towards a more fruitful and peaceful way of life for a better future and mutual co-existence between men.

Harsh Jhunjhunwala

1. System? What System? 

The bloody carnage that took place in the peaceful city of Shillong from August to October surely made the Hills-of-Joy look down in shame. The rapes, killings (even infants were not spared), discrimination, seeking of political mileage by fueling sentiments of angry mobs, ineffectiveness of the law were responsible for the fragmentation of the society and loss of faith in the system of Judiciary and its Leaders. - (November 92) 

2. Kill or Be Killed

The ethnic cleansing between the Kuki and Naga tribes saw one of the worst acts of violence in the year. The irony was that the Kuki victims had Naga MLAs as their representatives and the Naga victims had Kuki MLAs. Not even 10 percent of the relief reached the actual victims. A sure divide in the name of ethnicity.  - (November 93) 

3. What Man has made of Man?

Travelling was made a necessity, not in search of jobs or in pursuit of fun in as a last ditch effort to stay alive. As many as 48 villages were all burnt down and nearly 55000 people left their villages seeking the safety of the relief camps in Barpeta district of Assam during this unprecedented act of violence. The violence reached new heights when the evacuee camp at Manas M. E. School at Bansbari where 5000 people had taken shelter was attacked during the night killing 46 evacuees and wounding hundreds while they were sleeping. - (September 94) 

 

4. Protectors turning Tormentors 

On the 1st of April 1995, a party of 3 police personnel and 10 CRPF men went to an isolated tribal village in Tripura and gang raped a helpless pregnant Reang girl whose husband, along with the rest of the men folk of the village was busy in far off paddy fields. They did not stop there and went on to rape a twenty year old girl and a minor 11 year old girl. What is pathetic is that the ruling CPI (M) (then) which was in the opposition had made a national issue of a similar case which finally went to the Supreme Court. However this time around, they refused to take any action, stating that an enquiry would first take place and only then would any action follow. Sad is the case as no one decided to find the root cause of such a shameful act being repeated in the state time after time. - (May 95) 

 

5. Plight of the Voiceless: No Power! No Justice! 

The very fact that a juvenile working as a maid servant in a government officer’s house, triggers alarm bells in one’s mind as to the implementation of the rules by the government. Nine years old Shirpa, her sister and mother faced the wrath of their BOSS, the O.C of Lakhipur, his wife and five other police personnel for allegedly stealing one bangle (not a pair) belonging to the O.C’s wife. The bangle could have cost a fortune but not more then the chastity of the two young sisters. - (July 96) 

6. How greedy can man be? 

When a man and a woman tie a matrimonial knot, they are supposed to be two bodies and one soul. But the greed for dowry saw police arrest 49 persons for murdering their brides, 29 for forcing brides to commit suicide and 90 for deserting wives for failure to fulfill dowry demands. - (October 96) 

7. In the name of Community and Politics 

Kalyanpu which is 50 kms from Agartala, the state capital of Tripura, saw seventy houses torched, twenty four people gunned down and twenty others suffering injuries when a gang of armed tribal youth attacked them in their sleep. The victims all belonged to the Bengali community. What was shameful was that the ruling CPI (M) blamed the opposition for conspiring against the government and inciting the massacre. Killers are criminals, be it from any party, community and they ought to be punished. - (January 97) 

8. Mockery of Intelligence => Loss of Innocent Lives. 

A CRPF inspector informed the DC, Kokrajhar who in-turn informed Dispur four days ahead about the plans of ultras to blow up railway tracks and bridges but nothing was done to stop the ultras who managed to take 34 precious lives of passengers on board the Brahmaputra mail on Dec 30 1996. Notably it was the 19th attempt of sabotage on the railways since May 24, 1988. - (Feburary 97) 

 

 

9. Modernisation at the loss of cultural values

The advent of television followed by cable networks and the world wide web narrowed the divide between east and west. However instead of learning from the west and adding to our own values we started the process of abandoning our own values and copying the west. On February 23rd a dozen girls and the same number of boys were picked up from Uzanbazaar under Immoral Traffic Prevention Act by the state CID. Interestingly all the youth were well educated and belonged to middle class families. - (April 98) 

 

 

10. Manipur burns

Poor political far - sightedness mingled with the apprehension of the people regarding the loss of their land to fulfill the aspirations of others saw the Assembly go up in flames. The cause was an expansion of the ceasefire without any territorial limits against the NSCN (IM) in which four districts of Manipur were also included. (July 2001) 

 

11. Hand-in-Hand; Insurgents and Politicians

The leaders of the state who are elected by the people to provide just and fair means of livelihood were found in close nexus with the insurgents. Be it the case in Manipur, where Power Minister Mr. P. Tonsing iterated in the Assembly that no one having nexus with militants will be spared. But the cookie crumbled when the Zomi Revolutionary Army questioned the very minister who they accused of giving Rs 2,60,000/- (two lakhs, sixty thousand) to one Lt. Clive of the same outfit. Similar nexus came to the limelight in Meghalaya and Assam - (August 2003)

 

12. An outsider in his Own Country

It could not have been more of a cause of angst to the freedom fighters had they known that the Free Indian unity could be broken up by cheap insanities of communalism. Biharis working in Assam were identified, abused, assaulted and asked to leave the state. The incident saw at least 19 lives lost and many others injured. However intelligence sources suggested that there might have been the possibility of Bangladeshi refugees masterminding propaganda of hate among peaceful communities for momentary gains of the former. - (December 2003) 

 

13. Manipur’s Wrath

It could not have been worse for the Assam Rifles when twelve elderly and middle aged women protested in the nude in front of its headquarters in Imphal on the 15th of July. The protest was against the killing of thirty year old Thangjam Manorama, who was allegedly tortured, gang raped and killed while in the custody of the Assam Rifles jawans. Every Indian felt the prick of shame when women who occupy the highest position in Indian culture had to take such a step. Be it Manipuri, Tamil, Kashmiri or Gujarati, an Indian woman’s sanctity is the responsibility of every Indian male citizen. But sadly that was not the case. What was even more painful was a comment made by an army officer who said that protests by naked women were normal. Well how could he? This was the first of its kind in the world and had put India and its sentinels (the Assam Rifles) to shame. Not much later, on the 15th of Aug was a self immolation act by Pehan Chittarajan. - (August 2004)

 

14. Ethnic Clash bringing out the worst from man

In over three weeks, the Karbi Anglong district of Assam saw over seventy nine deaths, more than a thousand injuries along with the total destruction of thirty villages and the burning of 1500 houses. Nearly twenty seven thousand people fled from their homes to take shelter in fifty different relief camps. The worst was the killing of thirty four people at Charchim where twenty nine Karbi bus passengers were tied up and hacked to death. Even an infant was not spared. The word ‘barbarians’ sounded very soft when we try  to describe theses agents of devils.  This act of these inhumane killers had sent shock waves all across the country. (November 2005)

15. Adivasi Rally

On the 24th of November, a public rally organised by the Adivasis of Assam turned violent. The end result was that many of the agitators were laying blood soaked on the road with broken bones and in tremendous agony. The most painful was the handling of the agitators by the onlookers in which one woman was stripped of her clothes and a few others were dragged along the roads. Shameful was the act that left another scar on the face of the people of Assam. (December 2007)

16. Evil Adaptation for Ones own Propaganda creating havoc in others lives

When serial blasts were creating havoc across the country, the ultras in the region detonated nine powerful bombs in separate parts of Assam. It was an evil adaptation of ways that had created terror in other parts of the country earlier. Well they may have been successful in creating panic among the citizens but unknowingly they also brought them closer to one another breaking the religious divide plaguing the country. - (November 08)

17. Mayhem In Mumbai

Mumbai was held in a grip of terror for 59 hours as terrorists unleashed a wave of unprecedented mayhem. On the 26th of November 2008, terrorists armed with assault rifles and grenades started firing at the elite restaurant Café Leopold at around 9.30 p.m, thus beginning the attacks in Mumbai. Next on the list of targets was the Taj, Mumbai, and then came Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus where the terrorists showed absolutely no remorse, gunning down people indiscriminately. Other hotels which were targetted were the Trident and Nariman House. Security personnel had a hard time in dealing with these simultaneous attacks owing to their well planned nature. Observers noted that the terrorists carried out the attacks using military tactics. What was really disturbing about this incident was the allegations through the media that India had advance knowledge of these impending attacks but did little to stop them from happening. (December 2008)