‘Shooting the Sun’: Will the sun come out and shine again in Manipur?

Of the two suns that were there, one was killed and the other hid itself in a cave, plunging the entire land into darkness. Then the people pleaded fervently to the sun, to come out of its hiding, and it did, shining over the land again. So goes one of the oldest Meitei epics, Numit Kappa. But, as in the epic, will the sun come out and shine again in Manipur? Upon all its people equally?

It is with these questions that Nandita Haksar, the indefatigable human rights lawyer, campaigner and writer, begins her new book, Shooting the Sun: Why Manipur was Englufed in Violence and the Government Remained Silent. Drawing on details made available by journalists who have reported on the recent events as well as the author’s personal experiences as a human rights lawyer who has campaigned and fought cases in Manipur, the book is indeed a finely crafted testament of our times. It not only lays bare the nuances of the political crisis in Manipur but also what becomes of us when our political imagination is reduced to an identity.

Since May 2023, Manipur has been ablaze. Horrific acts have been committed, vilest things have been said, and the basest instincts of humankind have been on...

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