The ethnic conflict that has been going on for a year and a half in the northeastern state of India is also fueled by false rumors. The last one spoke of “at least 900 militiamen” who had infiltrated from neighboring Myanmar to fight against the Meitei, a reconstruction personally denied by the chief of staff of the Delhi Army: “The Burmese who arrive are unarmed and seek refuge from the war”.
Imphal (/Agencies) – Claims that at least 900 Kuki fighters from Myanmar had infiltrated the Indian state of Manipur are false. declared this week Indian Army Chief of Staff General Upendra Dwivedi during the Chanakya Defense Dialogue, an annual forum on national and regional security. “We must not allow wrong narratives to be constructed,” the general continued.
In mid-September, Chief Minister Biren Singh, representative of the ultranationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had published an intelligence report according to which hundreds of Christian militants from the Kuki ethnic group had infiltrated Manipur to fight against the Meitei, predominantly Hindus. . The armed confrontation between both groups broke out in May 2023 and according to official sources so far it has caused more than 200 deaths and displaced nearly 60,000 people.
On September 25, Manipur Security Advisor Kuldiep Singh and Director General of Police Rajiv Singh explained that claims of infiltration by the Kuki (who have ethnic ties to Myanmar’s Chin populations, who in turn face the army in the Burmese civil war) could not be “verified on the ground.” But in the previous days, due to a series of drone attacks that had always been blamed on the Kuki, Kuldiep Singh and Rajiv Singh had put security forces on high alert in the Kuki-dominated mountainous areas (also called zo). In response, the Meitei community organized large demonstrations and called for more military action because, according to the report, Myanmar militants were about to launch “multiple coordinated attacks on Meitei villages around September 28.” This week General Dwivedi claimed that the “drone narrative” was false: “There is no armed drone,” he said.
Several tribal representatives had accused the security advisor of spreading false information about the Kuki-zo community and had failed to ensure their safety. “We no longer feel safe. We would like to ask for his resignation,” he said in a statement from the Kuki Students’ Organization in reference to Kuldiep Singh. The Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum, which brings together several organizations, also accused Singh of amplifying “malicious propaganda.”
At the Chanakya Defense Dialogue, the army chief also stated that people coming from Myanmar “arrive unarmed” in search of refuge. The situation in Manipur has become a “battle of narratives”, with growing polarization between communities, Dwivedi said. “Today the situation may be stable, but it remains tense.”
Furthermore, shortly after the fighting began in May last year, several police stations were looted and according to estimates Nearly 4,000 firearms were stolen, of which 25% were recovered. On the other hand, the number of displaced people fell from 60 thousand to 40 thousand, the general added.
However, after a period of relative calm, on September 1, two people were killed and 10 injured near Koutruk in Imphal West, a buffer zone separating Meitei territories from the Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi district.
Commentators believe that the episode not only revealed the local government’s willingness to blame the violence on the Kuki minority (which admitted to having drones but only uses them for surveillance, not to drop bombs), but also showed the differences between the Manipur police and the army, and the Assam Rifles, a paramilitary force that, like the army, reports to the central government and was deployed to reduce tensions.
The local police, whose ranks include many officers from the Meitei community, had already accused the Assam Rifles of siding with the Kuki-zo. Some analysts have stated that those who entered Manipur from Myanmar are actually rebel groups closer to the Meitei and the militia Arambai Tenggolwhich was born in 2020 to preserve local culture, but quickly transformed into an armed group that enjoys the favor of the population and the protection of Chief Minister Biren Singh.
A local observer told the newspaper Scroll that insecurity among the Meitei favors Chief Minister Biren Singh. “The chief minister wants to prove that he is the savior of the meitei. He wants to show that he and his people are fighting for the meitei.” But, he continued, the same tactic is also used by some Kuki-zo leaders who “want to keep the pot boiling.”
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