Manipur Erupts In Protests As Kuki Militants Lay Siege To Border Town Moreh And Kill Police Personnel

Manipur has once again become engulfed by intense protests over what is widely perceived to be long and inexplicable inaction by central forces to prevent Kuki militants from establishing their writ over the strategic town of Moreh along the India-Myanmar border. 

Kuki militants have, so far, killed three Manipur Police personnel and injured nearly a dozen more in attacks on police camps and posts. The militants have used sophisticated arms, including rocket-propelled grenades, in their offensive against Manipur Police personnel who they want to leave not only Moreh, but all Kuki-dominated areas in the hill districts of the state.

The trigger for the fierce offensive launched by Kuki militants on Manipur Police was the arrest of two Kuki community leaders Monday (January 15). The two had allegedly shot dead Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Chingtham Anand, in Moreh on October 31 last year. 

Anand was supervising the construction of a helipad in Moreh. The helipad was meant to facilitate the transportation of Manipur Police commandos by choppers into Moreh since Kuki militants had been staging ambushes on the Imphal-Moreh highway. 

Kuki organisations have not only been opposing the induction of police commandos in Moreh, but have also been demanding that all state police personnel be removed from all Kuki-inhabited hill districts. The Kukis accuse the state police of bias. 

The Kukis want only the Assam Rifles and central forces to remain in Moreh and the Kuki-inhabited hill districts. 

The Assam Rifles, which is mandated to guard the India-Myanmar border, is accused by Meiteis of being soft on Kukis and failing to prevent largescale illegal immigration of people belonging to the Kuki-Chin-Zo ethnic group into Manipur. 

A large number of cadres belonging to Myanmar-based Chin-Kuki-Zo militant groups like the Chin National Army, Kuki National Army, Zomi Revolutionary Army and Chinland Defense Force are believed to have entered Manipur. These cadres are said to be armed with sophisticated weapons.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh confirmed the presence of Chin-Kuki-Zo militants from Myanmar in and around Moreh. But he was contradicted by state security advisor Kuldeip Singh, a former director-general of BSF. Singh was appointed to his present post immediately after the outbreak of ethnic clashes in the state in early May last year. 

Since the arrest of the two Kuki community leaders for the killing of the Manipur police officer, Kukis have been staging protests by blocking roads and launching attacks on Manipur police personnel stationed in Moreh. 

Videos of heavily-armed Kuki militants blatantly attacking state police posts and camps have inflamed passions among the majority community in the state. 

The Meiteis feel that the Assam Rifles, which is tasked with guarding the international border and also the border town of Moreh, has failed to prevent entry of Kuki militants from Myanmar and the smuggling of weapons from across the border. 

The Assam Rifles, which maintains a strong presence in Moreh, has been accused of being reluctant to clamp down on Kuki militants. The Meiteis feel that by not launching an offensive against Kuki militants, the Assam Rifles has only emboldened them to launch attacks on Manipur police personnel. 

A video of an armoured vehicle of the Assam Rifles being stopped by armed Kuki militants from entering a Kuki village has been making the rounds since Wednesday. The militants, armed with sophisticated weapons, adopt a menacing posture and ask the Assam Rifles vehicle to go back.

The driver of the Assam Rifles vehicle is seen meekly submitting to the militants’ diktat and reversing. This abject surrender to Kuki militants by Assam Rifles is being cited by Meiteis as a live example of the paramilitary force handling the rebels with kid gloves and being overtly soft towards them (the militants). 

The failure of the Assam Rifles and central forces to tackle Kuki militants resulting in the deaths of Manipur Police personnel has, thus, inflamed passions. 

Imphal Valley witnessed angry protests, especially by Meira Paibis (women), who are demanding an all-out offensive against the Chin-Kuki-Zo militants. 

Anger is also being directed against the BJP government headed by Chief Minister N Biren Singh as well as the Union Government for their failure to take a strong stand against Kuki militant groups. 

Along with the offensive launched by Kuki militants on Manipur Police in Moreh, Kuki vigilantes have also stepped up attacks on Meitei villages in the peripheries of Imphal Valley since Wednesday (January 17). 

These peripheral areas, which have been designated as buffer zones to keep the warring communities (Meiteis and Kukis) at bay, have been reverberating with the sounds of gunfire and bombs over the last few hours. 

This has fuelled public anger in the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley against the state and Union governments which are now being seen as apathetic to the plight of Meiteis. 

According to latest reports from Moreh, the offensive by Kuki militants is still on. Security analysts feel that if an all-out offensive is not launched jointly by the Assam Rifles, central forces and Manipur Police against the Kuki militants right away, Moreh will fall to the Kukis. 

That apprehension is not without basis. Over the past few decades, Kukis have targeted other communities in Moreh and driven them away in a systematic manner. 

Moreh was once a cosmopolitan town with Meiteis, Nagas, Tamils, Gorkhas, Marwaris and Kukis living together in harmony. But the Kukis started driving away the other communities one after the other (read this).

After the cleansing of Meiteis from Moreh in May-June last year, Kukis have become the overwhelmingly majority community in the border town. 

The objective is to gain full control over the lucrative international trade and smuggling, including trafficking in drugs, arms and humans, through Moreh. This trade and smuggling is valued at thousands of crore of Rupees (read this).

Security experts say that if control over Moreh is not wrested back immediately from the Kuki militants and if these militants are not eliminated completely, Moreh will spin out of state control. Re-establishing the writ of the Indian state over Moreh after that will be a bloody affair that will take a huge toll of lives.