Some points of pre plant involvement of cm biren n it's govt during this ethnic clean sing of zo kuki. Article by Major Amit Bansal

 Some points of pre plan involvement of cm biren n it's govt during this ethnic clean sing of zo kuki.

Article by Major Amit Bansal

#Forest survey& selective eviction of tribal – The turbulences started first when the Manipur government started a forest survey in the hill districts of Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, and Tengnoupal. The real purpose of this survey was not known however a large number of Kuki-Zo people were forcefully evicted from their roots terming them as encroachers. This brought a lot of resentment, and the tribal population was antagonized. As a result, smaller protests started in these districts. Surprisingly, when it comes to hill tribes, a significant population of Nagas stay in the hills of Senapati, Tamenglong, Chandel, and Ukhrul districts but no such survey was undertaken in these areas which proves that all the actions of the state government were selective and were directed against Kuki-Zo community only.

#Removal of AFSPA from Valley – Historically, all the terror groups which are active in Manipur and are fighting against the Indian government are from the majority Meitei community to which Mr N. Biren Singh belongs too. Most of their terror activities too are coordinated either from the valley area or from the terror camps in Myanmar. At this juncture, the Manipur government selectively proposed the removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from Imphal Valley on 25th March 2023 so that central security forces cannot carry out any kind of searches or operations against these terror groups. One of the possible reasons as quoted by a few experts was to allow Meitei extremist groups to prepare for a possible conflict.

#Unilaterally withdrawal of SoO against Kuki-Zo groups- Indian Government has signed a suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with almost all Kuki-Zo extremist groups and there has been no incident of its violation in last two decades. Further, any kind of SoO agreement is considered a matter of union list but in March 2023 itself, N.Biren Singh government unilaterally withdrew the SoO agreement against three of the most prominent Kuki-Zo groups terming them illegal without any consultation with the central government. This put the state-controlled Manipur Police directly against these groups and the police started operating against these groups which further infuriated the tribal.

#Partial action against Kuki officers of Manipur Police – The Director General of Police in Manipur was incidentally from Kuki community, and he voiced his concerns right when the violence started. Yet, state government removed not only him but other officers of the Kuki community too from active duties without any reason while the officers of the majority Meitei community continue to serve at their respective places. These Meitei officers were not only helping their rioters but also stopping central security forces from taking action. These selective steps directly point out that the primary perpetrator of the violence was none but the State government of Manipur.

#Selective distribution of aid to people – Despite of the fact that over 80% of the displaced people are from Kuki-Zo community, state government has organized nearly all of its relief camps and aid distribution points in Imphal valleyonly where they are distributing aid to the people of their own community. Not only this, but there had also been instances where relief aid sent by some NGOs to the hill districts was stopped by Manipur police in the name of security and not allowed to reach the affected people. This shows a biased mindset of the Manipur government and proves their involvement in the riots.which further infuriated the tribals.

#Inclusion of Meitei in scheduled tribes-On 20th April 2023, just two weeks before the violence, a judge of the Manipur High Court unilaterally heard a petition and ordered the State government of Manipur to include Meitei’s in Scheduled Tribes (ST) within 4 weeks. This was an unconstitutional step which was later confirmed by another bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, but the damage was already caused. Quoting this order, tribal people started protesting as their very existence was now under threat. The circumstances under which this order was passed and the role of state government in the entire episode is under suspicion.

#Sequence of violence and modus operandi – The entire sequence indicates that the violence was pre-planned. Minutes after the violence broke out in the solidarity rally of the Kuki-Zo people in Churachandpur, attackers armed with petrol bombs, sharp-edge weapons, and firearms started attacking minorities in Imphal Valley. They were organized under the flag of two extremist organizations “Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun” which were formed barely months before the violence. These groups recruited a large number of volunteers and surrendered terrorists of valley-based groups in their ranks. These volunteers were being trained in various grounds, stadiums, and halls of the Meitei community for a possible fight under the nose of the state government. It was the failure of state government which ignored these sights.

Not only this, the fiery statements from the leaders of these groups were also conveniently ignored by the Manipur government’s law enforcement agencies. Soon after the events on 03rd May, these groups looted over 4000 sophisticated weapons and ammunition from the headquarters of Manipur Police, Reserve battalions, and shops of Arms dealers within the valley area and surprisingly, there was no resistance from the state police or any other state force which is just not possible had there been no involvement of state government in this.

In later days, these groups started attacking Kuki-Zo villages located in the periphery of the Valley area and they were assisted by womenfolk (Meirapaibis), State police and local people. They were moving in large convoys of several dozen vehicles openly brandishing Arms which was authenticated by the Indian Army too. Everything was happening in an organized way. While local police provided them with the information, the womenfolk (Meirapaibis) stopped central security forces from reaching the place of the incident so that the rioters have a free run. Surprisingly no action was taken against any of these and not even a single rioter is arrested till now.

When the central government took a Suo-moto notice of the loot of weapons and dispatched a team of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate, these Meirapaibis gathered in large numbers and did not allow the CBI team to enter the premises of the Manipur Police Training Centre (MPTC). Interestingly, the state police officers accompanying the CBI team withdrew from the place and as a result CBI team too had to fall back citing their own security. Can it happen without the involvement of the state government?The incidents of Churachandpur are another example where officers of Manipur police fired at rioters killing 38 people in a single day because the rioters were from Kuki-Zo community, but the same Manipur police did not even carry out a small lathi-charge or lobbed tear gases against the rioters who were from their own Meitei community. Voices inside Manipur police indicate that they had clear orders from state government not to take any action against the Meitei people.