Confirming the unconfirmed
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: September 23, 2024 -

COMING straight from the horse's mouth, as one might say, confirmation of the intelligence report regarding infiltration of more than 900 Kuki-Chin militants from Myanmar into the strife-torn Manipur by none other than security advisor to government of Manipur Kuldiep Singh himself is very significant.

Although the state government has been maintaining right from the beginning that the ongoing ethnic conflict between the Kuki-Chin and Meetei communities is a direct result of an abnormal spike in the population of illegal immigrants in Churachandpur district and other Kuki-Chin dominated areas among other factors, it is for the first time that the security advisor has publicly bet his life on the "100 percent" correctness of the intelligence report.

Even if one is inclined to disbelieve what the government of Manipur has been saying, as Kuki-Chin groups have been claiming it to be biased towards the Kuki-Chin people in the conflict that has been going on since May 3 last year; Lieutenant General (Retd) L Nishikanta Singh had already drawn attention of everyone including the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister towards "about 300 terrorists including lungi-clad ones from Myanmar" entering Manipur and creating mayhem through a tweet posted as early as May 30 last year.

But no one including the security advisor, had batted an eyelid although an army veteran had flagged concern that even 'security forces appear to be bewildered by the ferocity of attack by these Myanmar-based Kuki terrorists with support from their counterparts who were already in Manipur'.

The same was true when the state police commandos, who were deployed in the border town Moreh in the aftermath of killing the then SDPO Chingtham Anand Kumar in a sniper attack, came under a series of attacks in January this year.

At that time too, security advisor Kuldiep Singh had categorically denied involvement of Myanmar-based militants even though people said there were tale-tell signs everywhere.

That is the reason why we say confirmation of the recent intelligence report about the infiltration of more than 900 Kuki-Chin militants 'trained in jungle warfare and use of weaponised drones' into Manipur from Myanmar by security advisor Kuldiep is very significant.

We don't think confirmation of the same intelligence report by any other police officers would have carried much weight to anyone who have been claiming that the government of Manipur has been biased towards the Kuki-Chin people.

This is also the precise reason why Kuki-Chin groups including Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU) and Kuki Students' Organisation (KSO) have reacted so strongly and accused Kuldiep Singh of spreading false information.

While calling it "preposterous", CoTU has asserted that the claims made by the security advisor was part of "an ethno-centric narrative fuelled by the Meitei-majority government, led by chief minister N Biren Singh" and KSO has demanded immediate resignation of Kuldiep Singh, saying "We no longer feel secure under his leadership".

Interestingly, unbeknownst to themselves, Kuki-Chin g'roups seem to have given away what they are trying hard to hide by reacting in such a manner to what they themselves claimed to be a "baseless propaganda".

If they actually believe that it was a false propaganda spread through a fake letter generated from the office of chief minister and security advisor Kuldiep Singh was under duress to make the statement "confirming" intelligence report about the infiltration of more than 900 Kuki-Chin militants from Myanmar into Manipur and currently scattered in the periphery areas in groups of 30 members each waiting to launch multiple coordinated attacks on Meetei villages possibly around September 28, then why make such a fuss over it.

By doing so, Kuki-Chin groups have given more credence to any confirmation about not just the recent infiltration but also the involvement of Kuki-Chin militants from Myanmar in the conflict right from the very beginning.