PAPPM files petition at SC, details threats of narco-terrorism
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, May 30 2023: Highlighting the grave issue of narco-terrorism, growing threat to the National security and the resultant crisis seen in Manipur today, the People's Alliance for Peace and Progress, Manipur (PAPPM) has filed a petition at the Supreme Court.

The petition says that there is an imminent threat posed by the presence of Narco-Terrorism and external aggression of illegal migrants with Kuki militants to the National security of India particularly in the State of Manipur.

It submitted that the influx of illegal migrants from Myanmar has been continuing unabated to the State of Manipur since a long time.

The acceptance of illegal migrants as soldiers for a Kukiland has led to the phenomenon of an expanding population who are accommodated by Kuki chiefs, officials and Suspension of Operation (SoO for short) militant outfits on available lands such as the Reserve and Protected forests, protected sites and wildlife sanctuaries giving rise to encroachment, deforestation and other illegal activities.

The present SoO pact has created a conducive environment to strengthen the militant outfits and they are responsible for bringing in the Kuki migrants providing them language and combat training in their camps and also using the illegal migrants as a labour force for poppy cultivation, arms-running and drug trafficking, it said.

The Kuki militants and drug mafias are taking advantage of the shifting drug activities (poppy plantation and drug manufacturing) from the Golden Triangle specially the Shan State in Myanmar to the Indo-Myanmar border specially towards the Chin and Kachin States of Myanmar neighbouring India as reported in the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crimes (UNODC for short) report titled, "Major Opium Economy Expansion is Underway in Myanmar", published on 26th January 2023 .

The Kuki militants controlling these areas and also the adjacent areas in Manipur and Mizoram further strengthened by SoO pact have found the opportunity to raise money from narco-related activities such as poppy cultivation, opium production and drug trafficking, it said.

The opium and other synthetic drugs passing through Manipur finds a destination in several parts of India making vulnerable Indian youths drug dependents.

The motive of the narco terrorist is to fulfil the dream of a long cherished homeland known by various names such as Zoram, Zalengam, Greater Mizoram and Kukiland for this people who are migratory in nature.

It was further submitted that the possible links between the present crisis with the influx of illegal Kuki immigrants from Myanmar continuing since long time, cannot be ignored.

To fulfil the dream of a homeland, backed by powerful Kuki militant outfits, Kuki intellectuals, activists and politicians started a project of aggrandizing propaganda and narratives to grab land from other communities such as the Liangmei, Koireng, Meitei, Tangkhul and other smaller hill communities.

The involvement of Kuki militants with sophisticated arms in the recent violence in Manipur clearly suggests the present violence in Manipur being orchestrated by the Kuki militants, it said.

Imploring for an unbiased look into the genesis and process of the present crisis in Manipur, the PAPPM said it may not be wrong to suggest that the present crisis is a fall-out acts of terrorism orchestrated by Kuki militant groups funded by narco money, mediated by Kuki policy makers and high ranking officials using Kuki illegal migrants as soldiers in addition to the Kuki militants who are under Suspension of Operation (SoO).

From time to time, the Kuki militants and their supporters have been putting their best efforts to gain benefits in furtherance of their motive to achieve administrative segregation exclusively for Kukis.

This time, in the aftermath of the present human crisis in Manipur which erupted on May 3, 2023, all the 10 MLAs representing Kuki dominated areas, instead of trying to pacify the situation, are making their best attempt to take advantage of the present situation of Manipur to achieve their goal of establishing a separate administrative unit for Kuki dominated areas, it said.

The PAPPM also submitted that the present human crisis in Manipur cannot be looked in isolation as communal one, rather it is the result of a chain of events which somewhere or the other, have direct relation with emerging narco-terrorism in the Northeast region of India.

The illegal Kuki immigrants and the Kuki militants have tried to portray the narrative of the violence which erupted on May 3, 2023 as the fallout of the demand for inclusion of Meiteis in ST category.

But the present crisis is a pure example of narco-terrorism in which gullible civilians have been pulled in through various machinations.

And if narco terrorism in the North Eastern borderlands of India is not acknowledged by the Indian State and contained in time, it will have larger implications causing a serious threat to the National security of the country, according to the petition.

The respondents listed in the petition in the case are the Union of India, Narcotics Control Bureau, National Investigation Agency, National Human Rights Commission, National Highways Authority of India and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

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