Chief Minister N Biren Singh said on Thursday that the Central Reserve Police Force’s (CRPF) prompt action after a “terror attack” in Manipur’s Jiribam district saved multiple lives.
115 internally displaced people were residing in a relief camp in Jiribam’s Borobekra when “10 Kuki terrorists” attempted to enter, but the CRPF stopped their attempt, according to Mr. Singh. In a confrontation with the central forces on November 11 in Borobekra, a village on the Assamese interstate boundary, all ten were killed. There was one CRPF soldier hurt.
“If the CRPF was not deployed, the lives of many civilians would have been lost. The Kuki terrorists came with rocket launchers, AK 47, and many sophisticated weapons. They attacked the (police) camp, and killed two people on the spot,” Mr Singh told news agency.
“They were trying to enter Borobekra relief camp where 115 Meitei civilians were living. But due to the timely intervention by the CRPF, the lives were saved. Otherwise that scenario could have been different. It’s very unfortunate that eight innocent people were killed. The two died in the attack, and six including three small children were kidnapped and mercilessly killed. It is an intolerable crime,” the Chief Minister said.
“Village volunteers” are what civil society organisations and Kuki tribe elders have called the ten guys. Despite this, the authorities have labelled them “militants” and taken from them assault guns and a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launcher. A bullet-ridden vehicle of the security forces was shown as one of the targets of the “militants”. According to police officials who spoke to news agency, at least two dozen suspected Kuki militants had divided into two groups prior to the attack in Borobekra. One gang of ten men killed two senior Meitei community members and vandalised and burned houses while another group took six Meitei captives. According to police sources, these ten were later shot dead during the confrontation with the CRPF.
Suspected Kuki militants massacred the six captives, who were all members of the same family: a woman, her infant child, her two-year-old boy, her mother, her sister, and her sister’s daughter. They disposed of their bodies in a river. Days before the Borobekra attack, a mother of three from the Hmar tribe was allegedly raped and killed by suspected Meitei militants during a night attack on a village in Jiribam.
Mr Singh said the Manipur cabinet’s resolution was placed “after a lot of thought”, adding the Centre sent more forces to catch the “militants”. “You can’t deal with Kuki militants without the forces. The operations have already started. This was the demand,” he added.
The Manipur cabinet has attempted to designate the militants who took hostages and killed them in the Jiribam terror incident as a terror group or an illegal organisation. He said he was confident the Centre would consider the “pulse of the people of Manipur” while examining the contentious Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, or AFSPA, and would undoubtedly take action.
In six police station areas of the valley region of Manipur, the AFSPA—which grants the security forces broad authority to operate in “disturbed areas” without fear of legal action—was reinstated.
When the slightly decomposed bodies of the six captives were discovered, protests had already started in the valley districts. The Chief Minister told that vandalism that happened during the protests was carried out by vested interests and rivals.
“The people came out to protest in shock after hearing about the killings of the six innocent women and children. They were simply rallying and appealing to the government and MLAs, not involved in the violence. The arsonists stole many things from the houses they targeted. It was not the public. They were peacefully protesting, rallying. The troublemakers were the defeated group, politically desperate group, politically motivated gang, who looted and attacked homes. No one from the public attacked the MLAs’ houses. The public was in the bazaar, protesting,” Mr Singh said in the state capital Imphal.
The Chief Minister said that in one MLA’s house, some 600 people came and spoke to him, and after agreeing to their demands of bringing justice in the Jiribam terror attack case, the group of people left.
“Another group of 200 or so people came. These were the ones who created trouble. We have identified them. There is video evidence. Most wore masks, but we know them. They have stolen gold, cash, even eight paddy bags from an MLA’s house. What’s all this?” Mr Singh said.
On the much controversial War on Drugs campaign, the Chief Minister said at least 500 acres of poppy cultivation has been detected in Kangpokpi district, which sprang up fast as the security forces are tied up with other priority tasks.
“Due to the present crisis, security has been tied up in some areas and cannot go out. Taking advantage of this, six villages in Kangpokpi are cultivating a huge amount of illegal poppy. Earlier, the forces used to go in the morning and evening to destroy illegal poppy cultivation. At least 500 acres are being cultivated,” Mr Singh told.
“We have asked the Chief Secretary to send forces to destroy the poppy farms in Kangpokpi before they can be harvested. They want to destroy the youth of Manipur by making them addicted to drugs, they want to harm India. They are using many strategies to invade India,” he said.
Even though many members of other communities have been arrested in drug-related instances, the Kuki tribes have frequently condemned Mr. Singh for allegedly singled out the community and labelling them as drug-trafficking advocates.
To bring peace in Manipur, Mr Singh said, the Centre had called both sides and started talks. “From the state government’s side, we sent MLAs, leaders to Guwahati, Kolkata, Delhi for talks. Political dialogue, negotiations, interactions, these are the things that will help bring peace,” he said.
He criticised the media for allegedly failing to cover the full image from Manipur, claiming that conflict only exists in two or three areas rather than the entire state, where people from various ethnicities coexist together.
“Differences between communities have been there for a long time. After my government came, I launched the go-to-hills campaign, go-to-village, meet with people from different communities, bring them together, we honoured every community, and constructed a museum of everyone’s culture and traditions,” the Chief Minister said.
“The Sangai ethnic park has the model of houses of every tribe to show oneness… we are all proud Indians, we are all proud Manipuris, and almost succeeded except for the present scenario with this one community. But other communities are living together. Go to Imphal and see. There are churches, temples, masjids. Trouble is happening only in one-two districts, not the whole Manipur. The national media needs to be aware of all this,” he said.
In several hill regions, temples were destroyed and burned during the May 2023 riots, while churches in the valley regions also experienced the same fate.
When asked if he was concerned about the National People’s Party (NPP) abandoning his government, Mr. Singh informed a news agency that he was not.
“The Congress has only five leaders. They won only five seats after 15 years… There’s nothing to worry about. Whether the NPP withdraws or not, there is enough of a majority. Those who want to give an excuse at a time when the state is going through hardships, let them be. For example, if a lifeguard runs away when an incident is about to happen, let him run away. I am here to save everyone,” he said.
The hills around the Meitei-dominated valley are home to numerous Kuki tribe communities. Over 220 people have been killed and nearly 50,000 internally displaced by the violence between the Meitei community and the roughly two dozen tribes known as Kukis, a word coined by the British during colonial times, who dominate several hill areas of Manipur.
The broad category Citing discrimination and an unequal distribution of resources and power with the Meiteis, the Kukis, who have ethnic ties to people in nearby Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram, seek a separate administration created out of Manipur, while the Meiteis want to be classified as a Scheduled Tribe.
