Intelligent inputs from Intelligence But who is guarding the border ?

    22-Sep-2024
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One has to give it to them. The Intelligence Department or Intelligence Agencies of the Government has proven itself to be really intelligent and this observation is made on the premise that Security Advisor Kuldiep Singh has gone on record to announce that 900 trained and armed Kuki militants have made their way into the soil of India, in Manipur. It is not just a question of the Intelligence Department working out the number of Kuki militants having sneaked into Manipur, but also on when they are likely to strike, putting the tentative date at September 28. The date when the freshly arrived Kuki militants are likely to strike out at Meitei settlements. Now 900 is a strong force, probably making up a battalion of the Indian security force and what has made the admission of the Security Advisor all that more interesting is the fact that long before this was officially acknowledged, a letter from the Chief Minister’s Secretariat to the DGP and the Security Advisor himself, warning about the infiltration of the 900 armed Kuki militants had gone viral on the social media on September 17. The Sangai Express did receive a copy of the said letter but it was brushed aside as a fake but what added that tinge of uncertainty was the loud silence of the Government on the circulated note. And it was on September 20, that is three days after the note had circulated on the social media, that Kuldiep Singh addressed the media and talked about the entry of the 900 well armed Kuki militants. Details such as the militants have been organised into groups of 30 each were spelt out and the detailed and minute work executed by the State Government is noted. However there are certain questions that ought to be raised now. How did 900 armed Kuki militants manage to sneak across the border ? The Assam Rifles is the force given the task of guarding the border but when 900 armed militants have made their way into the soil of India, one is left wondering whether the militants could have sneaked across the border, without any assistance from anyone. This is a question which the Assam Rifles authority should answer for if this is how the border is being guarded, one shudders to think of the bigger ramifications. This should also take one back to the question of why the border fencing work at Kuki dominated areas has been put on halt. Is it done so with a design to facilitate the entry of well armed militants into Manipur and give a helping hand to the Kuki militants to run riot at the Meitei villages located at the foothills ? Amit Shah and the Assam Rifles authority should be able to answer this, but the very fact that this question has been raised should tell so many stories.
Making things all that more murky is the fact that news agency News18 which broke the story of the border fencing work being halted at Kuki dominated areas had taken down the story barely 24 hours after it was posted. The Sangai Express is the lone newspaper in Imphal which gave wide coverage to the story only to find 24 hours later that the same story had been taken down. Too many things just do not add up. It was Union Home Minister Amit Shah who pointed his finger at incursions from across the border as the root cause of the violence, but just a few days after this statement was delivered, came the news of 900 Kuki militants having crossed the border into Manipur. Read this with the report that border fencing work has been stalled at Kuki dominated areas and the game that Delhi is playing may become a little clearer, but in the process leave the people confused. The Security Advisor did say that security forces have been put on alert and a high level security meeting attended by the IGAR (S), IGAR (E), GOC of 57 Mountain Division, chief of the BSF, Home Commissioner, DG of Manipur police, DG of CRPF, Manipur has already been held. This is what is expected at the security level, but what steps has Imphal taken up to put this development in the context of invasion of elements from across the border ? Will Imphal be able to now present a story of foreign invasion before New Delhi ? No answer is expected immediately but the very fact that 900 well trained and armed Kuki militants have made their way into Manipur from across the border is not something to be brushed aside and where Manipur stands in the eyes of Modi and Shah will be known by how Delhi responds to the unfolding situation.