COCOMI calls for Meira rally against Army chief's remark
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, October 03 2024: Raising strong objections against the remarks of Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi, the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) has called upon the people of the state to take out statewide Meira (torch) rally on Friday evening to denounce recent statement of the Army chief, refuting use of weaponised drones by Kuki militants to drop bombs on civilian populations in the state.

Addressing the media at its Lamphelpat office, here on Thursday, COCOMI coordinator Th Somorendro recalled the remarks of the Army Chief, stating that there are no infiltration of armed militants and all those entering Manipur from Myanmar are the ones fleeing from the current civil war in the neighbouring country and they do not possess any arms.

The Army chief also said that the current Kuki-Meetei conflict is fuelled by fake narratives and he denied the use of drones to drop bombs.

Terming the remarks of the Army chief as "full of lies" resembling statement of a politician, Somorendro said that such remarks from the highest authority of Indian Army reflects the highest level of propaganda jointly weaved by the home ministry and the defence ministry.

Such propaganda is not new as the union home minister has been making differing statements regarding the current crisis in the state from time to time.

The statement regarding intelligence report of 900 armed Kuki militants infiltrating the state which was confirmed by the security advisor, and then later retracted by the security advisor as well as the DGP was also part of the propaganda and lies propagated by the home ministry.

Both the DGP and the security advisor are under the command of home minister Amit Shah and the recent episodes of the "false" intelligence report only shows how the Central government is using the "powerless" state government as a shield and tool to suit its agenda, he said.

The recent aerial bombing using drones and missile attack launched by Kuki narco-terrorists that claimed civilian lives and injured over a dozen have been confirmed with substantial evidences by the DGP and the security advisor.

Disturbingly, the Army chief downplayed the state police and state government by rejecting the evidences as fake narratives.

Such remarks from the Army chief raises question if he is part of the politics being played by the Central leaders, he said.

Somorendro further said that the Army chief should know that both the DGP and the security advisor are representatives of the Central government.

His remark against taking up the current crisis in the state to notice of the United Nations also demonstrates lack of commitment of the Central government to resolve the crisis.

It also raises the question of possible support of the Central government to the Kuki narco-terrorists in an attempt to disintegrate the state.

It would be safe to assert that the remarks made by the Army chief are part of the politics played by the Central leaders with a desperate attempt to prevent the ground situation from reaching the international forum.

The remarks made by the Army chief are in sync with the statements made by former Assam Rifles DG retired Lt Gen PC Nair and retired Lt Gen R Roy.

It is very unfortunate that the DGP and the security advisor, most importantly the state government have not issued a single statement against his remark, Somorendro said, while criticising the state government of being utterly powerless.

It is not that the Government of India could not resolve the 17-month old crisis but it is a deliberate act to prolong the conflict.

It is becoming clearer day by day that the conflict was engineered as a proxy war by the Centre by using the Kuki narco-terrorists to disintegrate Manipur into two-three pieces.

People of the state strongly condemn the statement of Army chief General Dwivedi, he said while calling upon the people to register their protest against his statement in the form of a Meira rally on Friday night.

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