Time for Home Ministry to cast its net even wider
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: October 25, 2023 -

The arrest of two members of the Myanmar-based Chin Kuki Liberation Army (CKLA) along huge quantity of with weapons, ammunition, drugs and cash from Cheljang area in the violent-hit Manipur's Churachandpur district has once again underscored the transnational plot being hatched by militant groups based in neighbouring Myanmar and Bangladesh to stabilise the internal security of Manipur and India by stocking the current unrest in the northeastern Indian state.

The two CKLA members, who reportedly joined the militant group in 2020, were arrested by personnel of 36 AR on Monday and recovered huge quantity of arms and ammunition including 5.56 mmm INSAS Rifles, MQ Assault Rifle, AK 47 Rifle, M16 Rifle, Sniper Rifle telescope, AK 47 Magazines, 5.56 mm INSAS Rifle Magazine, M16 Magazine, Sniper Magazine, forty-eight 7.62mm Ball ammunition, fifty-seven 5.56 INSAS Ball ammunition, four 7.62mm Sniper Ball ammunition, etc.

What is interesting to note here is that the two arrested CKLA members identified as 32-year-old Ngamkhosei Baite and 25-year-old Lunminthng Haokip are residents of Churachandpur district but they become members of the Myanmar-based militant group.

From this, one could easily infer how easy it is for the Myanmar-based terror group to recruit members and sympathisers to augment strength and supply arms, ammunition for carrying out subversive activities on the soil of India.

This fact has already been highlighted by National Investigation Agency, which is currently probing the activities of at least three Kuki militant groups and one Zomi militant group, which are alleged to be forces behind the now nearly six months old unrest in Manipur.

The anti-terror agency started the probe following instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) which said these groups intend to hive off an independent Chin-Kuki-Zomi state out of Manipur, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

The fact that Chin Kuki Liberation Army (CKLA) is not even one of the terror groups which are now under the scrutiny of NIA indicates that the that 'transnational conspiracy' of waging war against India by terrorist organizations based in the neighbouring countries by stoking the current unrest in Manipur could be even more elaborate and serious than initially thought of.

This is where the Government of India, more particularly, the Ministry of Home Affairs need to cast its net far and wide.

Of course, the Ministry has already brought the activities of Kuki National Army (KNA), Kuki National Front (Nehlun faction), United Kuki Liberation Army (UKLA) and Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA), two of which, namely, KNA and ZRA are bound by the Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with the government, under the scrutiny of NIA so far, the possible involvement of the remaining SoO as well as non-SoO groups in the now established transitional conspiracy of stabilising the internal security of India by exploiting the current unrest in Manipur should not be overlooked.

Even before the outbreak of the current conflict between the Meitei/ Meetei and Kuki Chin communities following the supposedly peaceful Tribal Solidarity March taken out in Churachandpur district where some people were seen carrying sophisticated weapons, there have been growing concerns over the activities of members belonging to SoO groups who regarded SoO agreement as some sort of license given to do whatever they like without any fear of law.

The recent arrest of Lemtinsei Singson (50), the commander of a Kuki militant outfit under SoO pact by troopers of 39 Assam for drug trafficking from Phaitol village in Tamenglong district, which is 175 km away from Churachandpur district, where he is supposed to stay put in a designated camp, is a case in point.

Now, it would be naive on the part of anyone to think that the current conflict between the Meitei/Meetei and Kuki-Chin communities in Manipur would have continued for so long with such devastating consequences if not for the direct involvement of militant groups with a larger sinister plan in the making.