Chp 807. Lockdown and Mizoram Police

Today is Day 24 of the Total Lockdown in India, and Day 27 of a Lockdown in Mizoram.

Here's a question for you.

Are you bored staying at home now? Do you have that itch inside to... just go out of your house and roam around your city, town or village like a free bird?

Well, if so, I have a game for you to play. Hear me out.

Imagine you're inside a boxing ring.

Right?

Do you picture yourself inside that boxing ring?

Good.

You're inside the boxing ring, wearing boxing gloves and a pair of shiny & slippery shorts.

You're all pumped up, and the crowd outside the ring is calling out your name! The spotlights are on you. You flex your muscles and 6-pack abs. Yes of course, it's your imagination. Feel free to visualize yourself in any way you want.

As the crowd continues to roar and chant out your name, your opponent enters the ring. Everybody boos him.

The fight starts. ding ding!

You are onto your opponent like an animal! You are thrashing him left and right. Bam, boom, dissshhh... Haih jisshhh. An upper-cut to the jaw, a knee to the groin, a kiss to the cheek, you are doing whatever you want to your opponent, clearly winning the fight.

And then suddenly... A fist appears out of nowhere and knocks you right on the face, sending you sprawling to the ground!

As you see stars circling all around you, you notice that your opponent is still down! Who the hell threw that punch at you!!??

You get up slowly, still a bit woozy, and then more punches suddenly appear out of nowhere from all directions! There's no way you can defend yourself because you cannot see who is punching you! You feel your ribs breaking from the punches, your jawline dislocating, your nose bridge shattering into a million pieces.

You cough out blood, you're in excruciating pain, you scream in agony!

And then... ding ding!

Saved by the bell.

Round over. Game over. You lose.

Did you enjoy playing that game? I don't think so. I don't think anybody would. Where were those invisible punches coming from, it was as if your opponent was using some sort of "cheat codes" against you, right? Such an unfair fight!

And that, my dear friends, is exactly what the police in Mizoram are going through every day during this lockdown period.

Apart from protecting us all from all the usual elements, there is a new enemy that none of them can see. A silent but deadly killer that can appear out of nowhere and take them by surprise, if they're unprotected or caught off-guard.

The difference is, while you and I have the luxury of not playing such an unfair game as above, our police officers have no other option but to step inside the ring again.

As of today, luckily there has been no case of any CoVid-19 infected personnel among the police fraternity, but considering some of the conditions they have to live under, it's hard to say how long it will be like that.

 So here is a post dedicated to the Police of Mizoram.


[Pic above posted with permission of photographer Armand Malsawm Dawngzela]

Special thanks to fellow blogger and SDPO of Lunglei, F Vanlalrochana, for clearing many of my questions and giving me valuable information for this update. 

Recently when I wrote about the Local Level Task Force (LLTF) on my blog [Chp 802. Mizoram: Setting an example for India], it was met with widespread appreciation across the country. People, especially those from outside Mizoram, were impressed that the LLTF was not just managing the entire locality but there was a total absence of the police in all the pictures that I posted.

Even the Commissioner of Police of Pune, where I had lived and worked for the past 5 years, tweeted out my blog post link!

Mizos are socially and voluntarily enforcing Lockdown with every citizen enforcing it and exhibiting great Social Responsibility.

Notice the total absence of Police. https://t.co/Iw3wHb9Jo8

— CP Pune City (@CPPuneCity) April 1, 2020

Though a lot of people were impressed with the fact that the presence of police was not required to maintain the curfew in Mizoram, I received this question, "So, what are the police in Mizoram doing then? Are they on vacation?" 

The answer is, "Most definitely not!"

Because the LLTF is doing the bulk work of maintaining the lockdown within Mizoram, our police forces are now able focus on more important work, actual police work, like providing security to quarantine and isolation centres, screening points, storage godowns, banks, VIPs including all ministerial staff, magistrates, and so on. They are also on patrol-duty during the entire night, and most important of all, they are posted at the state borders.

Mizoram shares a porous border with three Indian states and two countries:
            Tripura = 109 km
            Assam = 123 km
            Manipur = 95 km
            Bangladesh = 431 km
            Myanmar = 510 km

While the BSF (Border Security Force) that comes under the Central Govt (CAPF) are guarding all the main check-gates, during these times of complete lockdown, it is not possible to guard all 1200+ km by themselves, and so the state police are responsible for "border sealing" and are camped all across the borders of Mizoram, staying vigil throughout the day and night to make sure nobody is entering the state through the many open ravines and forest lands.

In fact, all leaves and holidays of every police personnel had been cancelled and the state police force is currently functioning at a 100% capacity.

And when I say they are camped at the border areas, don't picture in your head a typical police barrack or police station, you know, a structurally strong building with a roof above, well maintained rows of cots with mattresses etc. Nopes. That's not it.

Here's where our police personnel are currently camping at the border areas. For security reasons, the exact location couldn't be disclosed by my source, but it's somewhere along the Mizoram-Myanmar border.





At another location along the Mizoram-Myanmar border, one of the farmers had allowed the police posted there to use his farmhouse, known as thlâm in Mizo, as their outpost.



Conditions are equally bad on the other side of the state, like this picture below is one of the many police outposts at the Mizoram-Bangladesh border.



And all this is really not the current government's fault, or the previous governments for that matter. There had never been any real requirement and valid reason before to guard the entire state border with this much vigil and manpower.

Earlier, yeah, you might be able to waltz across the border into Mizoram undetected, as those police outposts weren't there yet. But then, what will you do after that? All non-domicile people of Mizoram require an ILP (Inner Line Permit) to enter Mizoram, and without that, you can't find a job or rent a house etc. You're just stuck in no-man's land, and if you are caught, you will be jailed. Like for example, this happened yesterday:

Champhai Police chuan Indo-Myanmar Border khar hnua dan loa ramri kana lo lut mi pahnih, DPRC Quarantine Centre-a dahte chu an awm hun chhung ni 14 a zawh hnuah natna kai rinhlelhawma an awm lo tih finfiah a nih hnuah District Jail-ah an dahlut nghal https://t.co/KC6ikSZTrD

— DIPRMizoram (@dipr_mizoram) April 16, 2020

Translation: "Champhai Police caught two people entering Mizoram illegally through the Indo-Myanmar border, and they were placed in a quarantine centre for 14 days. After the quarantine period was over, they showed no symptoms of CoVid-19, and so they were then transported to the district jail."

Lolz, yeah, that's really kinda unfortunate, being forced to serve a 14 days quarantine and then being jailed immediately after that.

And so yes, earlier there was no real reason to be this much vigilant at the border outposts, but now the borders need to be guarded with utmost attention because of the spread of CoVid-19. Our brave police personnel have no other option but to live in those make-shift outposts you see above.

This morning, I'm sure most of you experienced the terrifying thunderstorm that ravaged across the state? It was around 4:30 AM. Heavy rains and winds rocked my house, and it was quite a scary ordeal. The first thing on my mind was those makeshift police outposts!

And just as I feared, the thunderstorm didn't spare them! This is what was left of a police outpost at Mizoram-Assam border after this morning's rain.



I haven't heard a follow-up on the above outpost yet, but I'm sure they must have rebuilt the outpost like nothing had happened and are now back to guarding our borders again.

By the way, my intention is not to get political or blame somebody for this. Like I said, I don't find any fault in this current government or the previous government because none of us foresaw this pandemic. Instead, I'm highlighting their plight because we need to be aware of the amount of hardships our police forces are currently facing throughout the state. 

In fact according to F Vanlalrochana, at least 90 of these new border outposts do not have any source of electricity! A large number of Solar light cum charger units had been purchased by the Police Headquarters today and they will soon be deployed at these outposts.

These are the things that you and I never hear amidst the lockdown in Mizoram. We are all so busy discussing about the pandemic, talking about when we will get our next supply of vegetables and other essential goods, without even thinking of the police at our border outposts who do not even have a roof over their heads.

Not to mention, we keep forgetting them in our prayers as well.

Just today, the Synod Executive Committee released a circular, asking all of us to pray for the following:
1) Those infected with CoVid-19
2) Families of those who lost someone because of CoVid-19
3) All our medical staff
4) All our Task Force duty members
5) All the leaders of our government



It is a very important list and I too will definitely pray for all of them. But I just wish our police personnel were included in the list too. Maybe in the next circular, Synod? Like I said, we don't talk much about the ordeal they are going through, so we just take it for granted that all must be well with them. It is not.

In fact, do you know that TWO police officers had already lost their lives since the beginning of this lockdown while on border duty? You probably won't, because nobody talks about them.

Havaldar F Lalthansanga from Lunglei Lunglawn suffered from severe fever while on Mizoram-Myanmar border duty this morning, and he was taken to Lungpher Hospital, where he succumbed to his sickness at 8:20 AM today. C/323 Lalduhthlana from Pangzawl, Hnahthial Dist. posted with 2nd MAP on Mizoram-Bangladesh border duty, suffered acute abdomen pain, and he was taken to Lunglei Civil Hospital, where he succumbed to pulmonary failure at 1:47 AM on 7th April. He left behind his wife and four children.

Two souls gone while on CoVid-19 border duty. That is two times more than the total number of CoVid-19 fatality in Mizoram so far. May their souls rest in peace.

And speaking of leaving behind loved ones, many of these police officers posted in the border outposts come from lower and middle income families, and some of them are the sole bread earners while others have a wife and young kids, who are now on their own and cannot get much help from outside because of the lockdown.

I do hope this post of mine can shed some light into the hardships they face, and that we remember them all in our prayers too. Many of these police personnel, both in the populated areas and border outposts have not been taking any rest for days at a stretch now. And yet, they still try to do additional work for our community, like on 14th April, Mizoram Police donated their one day salary to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund. The amount came to Rs. 1,41,64,972/- in total!

 

The cheque was presented to the CM Pu Zoramthanga by a delegation of police personnel consisting of one police officer of each rank.



That amount will also definitely help improve the conditions of many of these police officers too, so let us continue praying for their well being.

The Mizoram Police Service Association along with the Dy SP rank and above officers had also contributed a good part of their salary in purchasing masks and hand sanitizers. Pu David Sapzova had also bought hand sanitizers for different police units across Mizoram like the district police, CID etc.

That's why in the midst of all this, it is so reassuring and heart-warming to see the PPE Volunteer's group donating PPE kits to these police officers. Here are some of the police manning the Vairengte check-gate while wearing the PPE donated to them by the Kolasib Volunteer's Group.



And here are the PPE Volunteer's Group members across Mizoram giving batches of masks and PPE's to different police officers on duty.

And finally, to end this post, here is the man himself, F Vanlalrochana, SDPO of Lunglei, thanking members of the Lunglei PPE Volunteer's Group for donating masks to the police department.



A big thanks to him for helping me write this post. 

Until my next post then, cheers everyone. A big salute to our Mizoram Police!