Lately, one gets the feeling that the security establishment had been given a free hand in dealing with the Manipur situation or that they are acting independently or to the whims of its successive commanders. Well, their line of thinking on responses to the insurgency problem in the northeast and geo-political considerations seem contrary to the political establishment, whatever be the colour.
Given the nature of their straight-jacket training module and operational experiences, their methods are not too subtle. The political bosses at present do not take kindly to illegal infiltration or refugees crossing the border and the Union Home Minister Amit Shah had even cited illegal infiltration as one of the factors of the present crisis in the state. Upon instructions from the Centre, the state administration here in the state is discouraging illegals while the neighbouring state of Mizoram is welcoming refugees from war-torn Myanmar.
Perhaps emboldened by the Mizoram response, the Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi in a recent interview said that they have no other option but to accommodate and provide temporary shelter to refugees coming from across the war-ravaged country of Myanmar and it is natural for immigrants to seek shelter in areas where there is peace.
We must thank him for declaring the border villages adjoining Myanmar as peaceful, although he speaks in a different tenor when it comes to infiltration by valley based insurgent outfits. He also said that, the immigrants who came in were without arms. He must have got the input from the border guarding force in the Indo-Myanmar stretch namely Assam Rifles which is under the operational command of the Army and briefed.
Regarding the Manipur conflict, the Army Chief also said that the conflict started because of a rumour that a Kuki centenary gate was burned by Meiteis near Torbung and in the same breath he also opined that the report of bombings in valley civilian areas by drone is not true, but a false narrative. Perhaps he thought that demystifying the Kuki claim of Meiteis starting the conflict by burning the gate would please the Meitei community while on the other hand discounting the drone bombing would find favour among the Kukis.
In his heart of hearts, he must have felt satisfied that he had been able to puncture both ‘theories’ as such. While there are differing claims as to who exactly the perpetrators of the attempt to burn the said centenary gate were, state police is still investigating it and also it is one of the important points under investigation by a enquiry committee of the Supreme Court. In such matters, police investigation is important in establishing the facts while army narratives are heresy.
As regards the drone bombings in the fringe villages of Koutruk and Kadangband in Imphal West district by Kuki militants, state police has already given its findings that bombs were deployed by drones killing and injuring people while damaging properties based on evidence particularly in the light of the claims of former DG of Assam Rifles PC Nair. When the retired general made the claims, we thought he must have had his reasons of saying so. But when a sitting general and serving Army Chief makes a claim which is beyond his purview and mandate it becomes stranger than fiction. After all, he is not the police chief.
(The views expressed are personal)
