While militancy and violence threaten to tear apart Manipur taking a toll of 310 persons so far this year alone, senior citizens have blamed lack of trust among ethnic communities for the sorry state-of-affairs.
In an interaction with newsmen, the 70-plus citizens, including some former government officials, all agreed that one of the main reasons for the militancy in the state was the lack of trust and fraternal bond among different communities.
They all lamented that the level of social interaction among different ethnic groups had come down drastically.
"We grew up in an environment of peace and security till we reached our middle age, but the irony is that in our sunset years we are having to contend with this problem," they said.
Almost the who's who of Manipur society, who meet everyday at Bir Tikendrajit Park where the interaction took place recently, said one way to restore normalcy in the state was to build up trust among different ethnic communities.