Enemies at the gate
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: August 30, 2024 -

Even as many people feel that the ethnic conflict between the Meeteis/Meiteis and Kuki-Chin communities in the tiny northeastern Indian state of Manipur, which broke out on May 3 last year, has been allowed to go on far too long due to failure of the government to act decisively despite deployment of large number of central security forces, new threats to the internal security and stability of the country are emerging, which New Delhi needs to wake upto while there is still time.

Apart from chief minister N Biren Singh and leaders of civil societies in Manipur, many central leaders right from Union Home Minister Amit Shah to External Affairs Minister S Jaishan kar had time and again acknowledged at different platforms about the involvement of external forces in the conflict, which is said to have been triggered by a ruling given by the High Court of Manipur to the state government for sending the requisite recommendation to the centre for granting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Meeteis/Meiteis but now transformed into a movement for demanding a separate administration of the Kuki-Chin communities.

But the double-engine governments of the BjP, both in the state and at the centre, are floundering from finding a solution to the conflict, which has so far led to loss of hundreds of precious human lives and displacement of thousands of families on both sides of the clash divide, apart from causing untold suffering to people of other communities living in the multi-ethnic state but have been wise enough not to side with any of the warring communities and maintain neutrality throughout despite numerous provocations.

Inability of the government to find a solution to the conflict even after nearly 16 months or put an end to the bloody confrontations between the warring communities despite deployment of large number of central security forces has also created a situation where armed miscreants are openly dictating terms and silencing voice of sanity in the society.

Against this backdrop, it is disturbing to know that Khumi National Democratic Party (KNDP), a Bangladesh-based rebel group, had recently written to chief minister of Mizoram Lalduhoma seeking permission for setting up a training camp for its armed wing, Khu-mi National Army(KNA) in Lawngtlai district, which shares borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Even though media report had quoted Lalmuanpuia Punte, political advisor to the chief minister, as saying that the request had turned down since "such decisions are not within the purview of the state government," only after the letter became public; it is still unnerving.

To understand what we are talking about, one just has to remember the statement issued by Peace Accord MNF Returnees' Association (PAMRA) on January 24 this year, wherein they claimed that rebel groups from Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts were undergoing military training in two districts of Mizoram.

At that time, PAMRA, which is a former armed wing of Mizo National Front (MNF) that came overground and surrendered its weapons after signing of the Mizoram Peace Accord in 1986, had made it clear that the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sangati Samatee (PCJSS) led by Santu Larma was undergoing military training at six locations in Lunglei district and two locations in Mamit district.

More disturbing than the letter written by KNDP to the Mizoram chief minister are some developments that have taken place in Bangladesh, which New Delhi needs to be aware and be prepared of well in advance.

First is the interim government in Bangladesh led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus lifting the ban imposed on the Jamaat-e-lslami party under an anti-terrorism law by the previous Sheikh Hasina regime and the second is the parole given to Jashimuddin Rahmani, the chief of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), an al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist outfit that has been trying to establish a jihadi network with the help of sleeper cells in the subcontinent.

In the past, several terrorists linked to the ABT had been arrested in India including two from Guwahati railway station by Assam Police in May this year.

To cut a long story short, enemies are closing in on India's northeastern gate and it is time for New Delhi to come out of its slumber.