Clean Police Dept: PAPPM to Govt
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, January 19 2023: While supporting the War on Drugs campaign in the State, People's Alliance for Peace and Progress, Manipur (PAPPM) has appealed to the Government to cleanse the Manipur Police Department of the black sheeps, supporting and indulging in trafficking drugs.

PAPPM said, people smuggling drugs and undertaking poppy cultivation are "public enemy No 1" and they should be given exemplary punishment.

In a statement its president, M Bobby Meetei released to the media today, PAPPM said, the Government's War on Drugs is yielding commendable results in the effort to root out drug menace in the State.

However, exemplary punishment should be given to those caught smuggling drugs and the Government should cleanse the Police Department of "black sheeps", who are supporting drug smugglers and poppy cultivation.

Notably, this appeal of the PAPPM came days after Kakching police caught five personnel of the district's commando unit smuggling contraband drugs worth lakhs on January 16.Meanwhile, PAPPM said drug smugglers and poppy planters are the enemy of not only the people of Manipur but also of humanity.

Also, the Government should abrogate the Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with militant groups which are 'encouraging and supporting' drug trafficlang as well as cultivation of poppy.

Pointing out that the North East India has become a transit point for smuggling drugs, PAPPM said the deep rooted problem of drug menace can judged from the paper "Guns, drugs and rebels" submitted by Subir Bhaumik, a veteran BBC journalist and analyst of eastern and North East India in a seminar in 2005.PAPPM said, the paper pointed out that India did not join the 'Joint Special Task Unit 2002' set up by the six countries-Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China to coordinate the fight against drug trafficking despite clear indications that the Burmese drug cartels were increasingly using North East Indian States to send their deadly cargo into Bangladesh, mainland India or Nepal enroute to regional and global markets.

The journalist wrote about a 3 fold threat posed by the increasing drug trafficking to India and particularly to the North Eastern region.

The threats he wrote about include-
1) Trafficking through the North East has led to a rise in local consumption.

2) Several military and paramilitary officials have been arrested for smuggling heroin or lesser drugs in NE India.

The drug cartel has sucked in several politicians, bureaucrats and even security force officials to carry on their illicit trade.

Unless checked firmly, this trend is dangerous for the morale of Indian security forces.

3) Ethnic separatists in India's NE (Except Manipur Peoples Liberation Front & a few others) are taking to protection of drug mafias as a quick way to raise funds.

The Burmese drug lords are also encouraging tribal fanners to plant poppies.

PAPPM also mentioned that the journalist emphatically wrote in 2005 that unless new poppy plantations are promptly destroyed and gainful agricultural alternatives are provided to the farmers, the India-Burma border will soon be dotted with poppy fields feeding the processing plants in western Burma.

He also warned of a rebel-druglord-officialdom nexus emerging in India's North East in a repeat of the Colombian scenario.

It was very unfortunate that the then Government of India as well as the Government of Manipur had not made any serious attempt to fight drug problems and as such, today, the State is facing a mammoth problem of incessant drug trafficking and rampant poppy plantation in some hill districts.

Poppies are being planted to the extent that massive forests have been destroyed leading to landslides, mudslides, flood and shortage of drinking water besides the potential disastrous environmental damage in the long run threatening the lives of lakhs of people living in hills as well as the valley in Manipur.

It is also more disturbing that the Governments are "indirectly supporting" the poppy plantation by way of signing the Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with various militant groups in 2008 which led to further increase in poppy cultivation through encouragement and protection by these groups, claimed PAPPM.

While reiterating that the then Government of the Congress did not make any serious attempt to solve the problem of drugs, PAPPM acknowledged that much changes have been brought after Chief Minister N Biren Singh's BJP-led Government first came to power in 2017.CM N Biren Singh had declared War on Drugs campaign on November 3, 2018.The campaign has given positive results.

Hectares of poppy plantations have been destroyed.

Further, the recent arrest of the five commando personnel with drugs at Kakching by the district's police is a "clear example of commitment and no compromise" from the part of the present Government in dealing with drugs and it deserves appreciation from one and all, said PAPPM.

While accusing some individuals of trying to derail the War on Drugs campaign, PAPPM appealed for unstinted support of the public in the Government's effort to root out the problems of drug trafficking.

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