Sugnu villagers sweat cold after dark

SUGNU, April 30: Nothing can be more ironic. Nothing can also illustrate the dilemma of a people caught in the crossfire between insurgency and those countering it. For the obvious fear of being reduced to mere numbers in the ever-lengthening list of innocent victims in crossfire, the people of Sugnu, a nondescript township 40 km from Imphal, are literally digging trenches inside their homes. And the irony is all this began happening after a BSF contingent set up camp at the local Public Health Centre, PHC, precisely for the reason of giving them protection. Rather than a sense of security, petrifaction is the result, for the belief is, one day or the other there is going to be an attack on the camp, and the people are well aware of who are going to be at the receiving end of the resultant fury. Already the villagers report routinely hearing gunshot in the vicinity of the camp after nightfall, and the BSF sentries replying with more gunshots, making all sweat cold. Sleep has also long left everybody in Sugnu, they said. Residents close to the BSF camps have already begun fortifying their houses by building bunkers with baked mud preparing for the worst of eventualities. Many of them have also dug trenches under their beds and other strategic locations inside their homes for their families to last out gunfights, which they are certain is inevitable one day or the other. An elderly villager told this reporter waking up from sleep late in the night and diving into these trenches have become a routine exercise as gunshots after dark have become frequent these days. Weak and infirmed even sleep in these trenches as they are not able to take cover quickly enough during emergencies, he added. The secretary of the Ereima Youth Club, the local youth body, M Debajit Singh, told this reporter that the personnel of the 2nd Bn BSF now camping at the PHC, have been decent towards the villagers and there are no report of harassment. The villager have no complaint on this front, but they fear the eventuality and aftermath of an attack by insurgents on the camp, since it is located right in the middle of the village. For this reason, the villagers of Sugnu would much prefer that the BSF shifts to the hillside Assam Rifles once occupied, he said. They also want the government to revive the Sugnu police station and together with the other forces bring back the semblance of law and order in the area. Other villagers said everybody is so nervous these days that people get off their bicycles while crossing the BSF camp these days. The BSF personnel too seem nervous and would make passengers and pillions get off from vehicles and walk across, with their drivers driving slowly behind them. "Initially there use to be panic whenever such gunshots were heard, but today we are getting a little more accustomed," they said.