The real danger
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: September 09, 2024 -

SUBSEQUENT to the September 1 and 2 weaponised drone attacks carried out by Kuki-Chin militants on civilian populations in Koutruk and Senjam Chirang villages of Imphal West district with deadly results as well as the firing of long-range rockets, one of which landed at the Moirang Mairembam Leikai residence of former chief minister Mairembam Koireng in Bishnupur district on Friday afternoon and killed an elderly man while leaving five others injured; everyone is today talking about "foreign hands" helping the Kuki-Chin militants in the ongoing violent conflict in the tiny northeastern Indian state of Manipur.

Even some of the mainstream media outlets, which were more than eager to lap up every false narrative spun from the side of Kuki-Chin right from the very beginning, are now seeing everywhere imprints of not just a Chinese plot but also insinuation by the US behind the violence being perpetrated by the Kuki-Chin militants.

Although none of these media outlets have been able to provide any definite proof about the nexus of Kuki-Chin militants either with China or the US; many people in Manipur including chief minister N Biren Singh had been very vocal about the involvement of "foreign hands" in the current conflict in the form of Myanmarese Kuki-Chins, who entered the state illegally to either escape the civil war that is going on between the Military junta and rebel groups in the neighbouring country or for carrying out illicit poppy cultivation.

In addition to this, there had been an instance when the specialised counter-terrorism law enforcement agency in India, National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing a case of "transnational conspiracy hatched by Kuki and Zomi insurgents backed by terrorist organisations based in neighbouring Myanmar with the aim to exploit the current ethnic unrest in the region and wage war against the government of India through violent attacks" surprisingly talking about "China-Myanmar module" of NSCN-IM exploiting the ethnic unrest in Manipur by helping two banned Meetei outfits.

Of course, NSCN-IM had promptly rejected the claim of NIA as "not only misleading but cruel and vicious".

Turning the table over, the Naga rebel group, which is engaging in political talks with the government of India for the last 27 years, had also set the record straight by saying that it is Indian security forces who are waging a proxy war against NSCN-IM by helping KNA (B) and PDF with supply of GI pipes and other raw materials to run a bomb factory at Phaiyang across the India-Myanmar border and giving training to operate drones.

This was back in May 2024 and the counter-charges of NSCN-IM were not taken that seriously by anyone then.

However, after taking into consideration of the fact that the over 16-month-long ethnic conflict between the Meetei and Kuki-Chin communities is not only becoming more complex but also showing a "significant escalation" with unrestraint use of weaponised drones and firing of long-range rockets by the Kuki-Chin militants despite the presence of so many battalions of central security forces, one would have been compelled to have a rethink over what had NSCN-IM said or alleged.

As the saying goes, "The enemy without may be fought with sword, but the enemy within is more insidious", talking of "foreign hands" behind fomenting the conflict between the Meetei and Kuki-Chin communities may not help in any way without understanding the enemy within us.

Everyone needs to know that talking of a Chinese plot or insinuation by the US in the current conflict in Manipur, when the central security forces deployed on the ground are doing nothing substantial to stop the Kuki-Chin militants from carrying out indiscriminate aerial bombings or firing rockets randomly in populated areas, is only going to serve the purpose of diverting attention of the people from the real danger lurking around.