According to the Chief of Defence Staff, this specific circumstance in Manipur has nothing to do with counterinsurgency.
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan, seemed to disagree with BJP Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Tuesday when he said that the conflict in Manipur “had nothing to do with counter-insurgency and was primarily a clash between two ethnicities.”
Singh had claimed on Sunday that the recent skirmishes weren’t between different groups but rather between Kukimilitants and security personnel, who had killed close to 40 armed rebels responsible for setting houses on fire and shooting at civilians.
Chauhan told reporters in Pune, “Unfortunately, this specific issue in Manipur has little to do with counter-insurgency and is basically a clash between two tribes.
“We are assisting the state administration in this law-and-order kind of crisis. We’ve done a great job and helped save a lot of lives. Manipur’s problems are still present, and it will take some years until they go away, but hopefully, they will.”
Veteran soldier Sushant Singh tweeted: “Manipur chief minister has called them terrorists on record. So, in the CDS’s opinion, the Manipur CM is in error. Is there any consistency in the Central government, or has all political leadership at the top completely collapsed?
According to a former joint director of the Intelligence Bureau who spoke to The Telegraph, Singh’s remark was inappropriate and seemed to demonise all Kukis as terrorists.
“This is nothing more than demonising a group of people and supporting the claims made by the Meiteis who have been labelling the Kukis as illegal immigrants. This is hardly what one would anticipate of the chief minister of a state that is on fire due to interethnic conflict,” he remarked.
While there has traditionally been ethnic violence between the predominantly Hindu majority Meiteis and the predominantly Christian tribal Kukis, the current fighting appears to have taken on sectarian overtones, for which many have blamed the ruling BJP.
The Manipur unrest was attributed by Congress to the BJP’s polarising policies, and the state government’s failure to restore order was brought up with President Droupadi Murmu.
Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the Congress, led a team that sent a message to Murmu requesting rapid rehabilitation measures and an investigative commission led by a former Supreme Court judge.
Jairam Ramesh, the director of communications for the Congress, claimed that Manipur was blazing 22 years ago when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was prime minister and that the war was caused by the BJP’s “politics of divisiveness and polarisation.”
The state government has stated that it will give a job to a family member and compensate the next of kin of those who died in the fight with Rs. 10 lahks. According to a public statement, the Centre and the state will split the cost of the settlement.
