Ongoing ‘state of war’ since 2023 No winners, only losers
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In a ‘war’ between communities, people who have lived together for years, there will be no winner and this should stand true in the case of the ongoing clash between the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zos. It is only Manipur which stands to lose and lose she has tremendously since the evening of May 3, 2023. On the other hand, one may also question whether the State Government has managed to take the fight to the illegal immigrants and the drug barons. In other words, has the State Government managed to check the incursion of illegal immigrants from across the border after Manipur went up in flames in the evening of May 3, 2023 ? Moreover has Imphal managed to defang the drug barons, the powerful but invisible elements who could very well be financing the ongoing clash ? This question may better be understood in the context of the fact that while the arms looted from the police armouries have been accounted for, no one has deemed it fit to ever question from where the guns used by the Kuki militants have come from. At the moment, a full scale ‘gun battle’ is on between cadres of underground outfits of Manipur and the KNF (B)at the border area near Kamjong district and this is where one is left with the question of what the force tasked with the job of guarding the border have been doing all these days. How did cadres of an outfit based in a foreign country manage to engage in gun battles with cadres of underground outfits at the border ? How did the KNF (B) cadres manage to make their way to the border areas from across the international boundary to engage with armed cadres from Manipur ? Or is it a case of the cadres from the Manipur based outfits venturing beyond the international boundary ? If yes then what was the force guarding the border doing ? These are not much more than questions at the moment, but significant to note that prevailing circumstances have compelled one to raise such questions. And these questions have not been plucked from thin air for these have come against the disappearance of a Meitei man from inside the highly fortified Army base camp at Leimakhong on November 25 last year. The man in question, Kamalbabu, remains untraceable till now while the year 2025 has already completed its first month. It should also not be forgotten that the presence of the Army base camp at Leimakhong did not stop Kuki villagers from surrounding and trying to take people, including reporters, hostages in the earlier part of the conflict in 2023 while they had gone there at the invitation of the security personnel.
So many things just don’t add up. The War on Drugs mission was launched with an objective in 2018 and amid much fanfare. But however in the period from 2018 to 2024 no one has heard of any drug kingpin being arrested. So many stories of drugs being seized have ended with just the tales of the people in possession of the drugs arrested, with absolutely no follow up. Acres and acres of poppy plantations have been razed to the ground, but other than picking up some tillers of the soil and two or three village chiefs , no one has heard of any big fish being arrested, such as who financed the poppy plantation, who bought the harvested pods and who marketed the same. Repeating the same points which have been referred to here quite often, but the reason why this keeps coming up in this column should say so many things. Bottomline is, the Government needs to do more and move beyond destroying poppy plantations and give more teeth to the War on Drugs campaign. Connect the dots and cross the Ts and this could go a long way in accounting for the guns and ammunition used in attacking villages at the foothills and in sustaining the conflict and the line, ‘the Government needs to go beyond destroying poppy plantations and give more teeth to the War on Drugs campaign’ will become more clear. Financial muscle could be responsible for sticking to stands like, ‘No negotiations, unless the demand for a Separate Administration is on the agenda,’ and one does not need rocket science to understand from where the financial muscle could have come from.
So many things just don’t add up. The War on Drugs mission was launched with an objective in 2018 and amid much fanfare. But however in the period from 2018 to 2024 no one has heard of any drug kingpin being arrested. So many stories of drugs being seized have ended with just the tales of the people in possession of the drugs arrested, with absolutely no follow up. Acres and acres of poppy plantations have been razed to the ground, but other than picking up some tillers of the soil and two or three village chiefs , no one has heard of any big fish being arrested, such as who financed the poppy plantation, who bought the harvested pods and who marketed the same. Repeating the same points which have been referred to here quite often, but the reason why this keeps coming up in this column should say so many things. Bottomline is, the Government needs to do more and move beyond destroying poppy plantations and give more teeth to the War on Drugs campaign. Connect the dots and cross the Ts and this could go a long way in accounting for the guns and ammunition used in attacking villages at the foothills and in sustaining the conflict and the line, ‘the Government needs to go beyond destroying poppy plantations and give more teeth to the War on Drugs campaign’ will become more clear. Financial muscle could be responsible for sticking to stands like, ‘No negotiations, unless the demand for a Separate Administration is on the agenda,’ and one does not need rocket science to understand from where the financial muscle could have come from.