Government of India is working towards recalibrating its strategy and standard operating procedure vis-a-vis Manipur, where the situation continues to remain volatile despite New Delhi’s best efforts. As part of the new strategy, top police officials, who were brought from outside in different roles last year to check the violence, but have failed to do so, are likely to be replaced with new people. Apart from this, the government is mulling to give a “free-hand” to troops on the ground to counter the heavily armed insurgents.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is facing stiff challenges from militant organization Arambai Tenggol, which is composed of people from the Meitei community. The group has assumed the role of law enforcers in many parts of Manipur and in many instances have forced the state and the central forces to retreat even as they take law in order in their own hands. In response, the opposing Kuki groups too have armed themselves with heavy artillery and as seen in videos accessed by The Sunday Guardian, have successfully been able to force the Indian armed forces to go back without completing their combing operations.
The sensitive state, that has international borders, is witnessing a series of violent incidents that started in May last year, which has failed to ebb despite the Central government taking an what it has called a “balanced” approach in the sensitively located state, where intelligence agencies of neighbouring countries have a history of making their presence felt. Sources in the security establishment posted in the state said that the morale of the armed forces was very low and unless New Delhi removes the factor of the threat perception that armed groups of both these communities have been able to create for themselves, things will deteriorate rapidly as the locals were losing confidence in the state machinery to maintain law and order.
Sources said that the situation in the state was unprecedented and more disturbed than even what was witnessed in Jammu and Kashmir when the terrorism was at its peak. The armed forces are working hard to counter the Meitei and Kuki armed groups that are becoming increasingly bold and audacious with every passing day. According to officials, one reason for Delhi not letting ground commanders respond proportionately was the fact that the whole state was under constant watch from lawmakers based in the United States and the United Kingdom, given the fact that most of the Kukis practise Christianity.
Even Indian Police Service officers who had come to Manipur from outside the states with much fanfare and a selfarranged comprehensive media coverage, have failed to much impact. In an illustration of how challenging the situation facing the armed forces have become, on 27 February, the Additional Superintendent of Police of West Imphal, Moirangthem Amit Singh was beaten and kidnapped from his residence.
The 1988 January- born Singh is a Manipur Police Service cadre officer. He was kidnapped by more than 200 gunmen, carrying automatic weapons, who stormed his well-guarded home at Wangkhei Tokpam Leikai, Imphal East District, while firing in the air. They assaulted his personal security officers severely. They also snatched an AK-47 rifle and broke the nose of one of his staff members. They took him away and after beating him dropped him at a local hospital.
The statement released by the Manipur police a day after this horrific incident claimed that the attack was carried out by members of Arambai Tenggol. “The Manipur Police Department highly condemns the incident of life attempt on one of the Addl. SP (Ops), Imphal West, other police officers and men in the evening of 27/2/2024 by members of Arambai Tenggol. During the incident the family members of Shri Moirangthem Amit Singh (Addl. SP, Ops, IW) were also intimidated by firing bullets, besides vandalizing houses and properties.
The Addl. SP was also abducted, beaten and later released after timely intervention by the department. In connection with this incident numerous concocted narratives are being circulated on various platforms, including social media, leading to character assassination of the said officer and the police department as a whole,” the release reads. Sources said that by initiating such actions, the Meitei militia wants to take away the respect that the armed forces have and replace them as the protector of life and liberty with themselves and also intimidate the armed forces to submission. As a result of this, commandos of Imphal West Police Personnel did a gun-down protest on Wednesday to express their anger and helplessness as they watched their senior being beaten and kidnapped right in front of their eyes.
The commando personnel of Thoubal, Kakching and Bishnupur districts also joined the gun-down protest. This type of protest by members of the armed forces has rarely occurred in independent India. Later, as part of confidence building measures, on 29 February, about 1,000 police personnel, including commandos and senior officers from the rank of Superintendent of Police and above, conducted a five-hour “area dominating exercise” in the Imphal valley. While the attack on the Additional SP has brought global attention to the situation in Imphal, things are not good in areas that are located away from Imphal. In two videos accessed by The Sunday Guardian, shot in Moreh town of Tengnoupal district in early February, which is dominated by people from the Kuki tribe, heavily armed militants are stopping a convoy of bullet proof armoured vehicles by firing in the air and aiming portable shoulder-launched projectile systems at these vehicles, while threatening to stick IEDs on them.
They are successfully able to force the armoured trucks to retreat. The town is close to the Myanmar border, on the other side of which Chinese influence is strong. Sources said that the general sentiment among the armed forces was not to take “unnecessary and avoidable risks”, given the fact that the militia members of both these groups have now lost fear of the armed forces and are armed to the teeth with weapons that are not allowed to be in the possession of an ordinary citizen.
The artillery power that these groups openly flaunt has also added to the concerns among the people on the ground. On 24 January, more than 35 Meitei MLAs and other political representatives, who were summoned to Imphal by the Arambai Tenggol to show their support for the Meitei cause, were assaulted in front of thousands of people with at least three beaten up publicly by the members of Arambai Tenggol. This unprecedented event had happened less than 24 hours after a high level three-member team from the MHA, which included advisor A.K. Mishra, Joint Director IB Mandeep Singh Tuli, and Joint Director SIB Imphal Rajesh Kumble had met Arambai Tenggol leaders. The incident, sources said, illustrates the problem caused by these militias to the locals and the armed forces.