Last month, Manipur police came out with a strong statement that it might be compelled to call in armed forces to conduct widespread combing operations in the wake of an incident in which the residence of a senior police officer was attacked in Imphal by armed miscreants and the officer himself abducted for a few hours.
As the state hesitated on taking resolute action, police commandos surrendered their arms in protest. In response, armed village volunteers began leaving their posts and winding up camps in the periphery of the valley saying that police and state forces are in fact responsible for defending the fringe villages from attacks by Kuki militants. Better sense seems to have prevailed, as both police and the village volunteers went back to their posts.
Nevertheless, the widespread combing operations came both in the valley and the hills while security was stepped up in and around Imphal. The operations were further enhanced with the announcement of general elections leading to recovery and seizure of arms and ammunition besides other war like stores, mostly cached near the villages or the bunkers in the surrounding hills or so-called buffer zones.
Chief Minister N Biren Singh had tried to clarify that, there is no such thing as a buffer zone only sensitive or hotspot zones and also forces including state forces are instructed to operate anywhere, as they deemed fit. Meanwhile, the Kukis keep asserting that there really is a ‘buffer zone’ between the valley and the surrounding hills. Some paramilitary forces seem to hold the same opinion, although they have not voiced it openly.
It is not at all strange, given the nature of relationship the Indian security establishment had cultivated over the years with the Kukis. They keep saying that Meiteis, be it the state forces or local militias, have no right to cross the ‘buffer zone’ whatsoever be the circumstances. As we said before, it was like the British dividing the valley and hills in the matter of administration during the colonial times.
As regards the search operations, if one cares to look a bit closely at the type of arms and ammunition recovered from the hills and the fringe areas of the valley and compare it a clear distinction would spring up. While most of the arms recovered from the hills are mostly of the country-made variety like local bomb launchers called Pompi guns and other assorted weapons including army grade bombs and rockets, those recovered from the valley are mostly single or double barrel guns with a sprinkling of weapons suspected to be ‘looted’ from police armouries. This begs the question of why no sophisticated weapons used in attacking the fringe villages in the valley and often displayed in social media posts are not recovered from the hills.
Well, suspension of operations (SoO) with Kuki militant groups are still in limbo although it expired on February 29, 2024. The SoO agreement was signed by the Centre and the Manipur government with 25 Kuki militant groups in August 2008. And the Manipur government had unilaterally withdrawn from the pact citing involvement of Kuki militant groups in illegal poppy cultivation.
Meanwhile, the Centre is yet to spell out in clear terms whether it has a mind to retrospectively extend it or completely do away with it. Still, the security forces are yet to carry out operations or disarm the Kuki militants so far. And, this speaks a lot. Maybe, it has been kept on hold to test the waters in the ongoing conflict or in line with a decision to wait and watch till the conclusion of general elections.
