900 Myanmar Kuki militants infiltrating Manipur ‘wrong narrative’: Army chief
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New Delhi: Indian Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Tuesday termed the Manipur government’s claim of suspected Kuki militants from Myanmar infiltrating the state a ‘wrong narrative’, Scroll reported.
Responding to questions about situation in Manipur at the Chanakya Defence Dialogue, Upendra Dwivedi countered the Manipur government’s claim in September that more than 900 suspected Kuki militants had entered the state.
Army chief made it clear that “we should not allow wrong narratives to be built up”.
He was quoted as saying ‘There was…wrong narrative [that] 900 anti-national elements have infiltrated [Manipur]’, adding ‘We checked up, there’s nothing like that. So if we control that, I think things will be alright.’
On September 25, Manipur’s Security Adviser Kuldiep Singh and Director General of Police Rajiv Singh said that intelligence report from chief minister’s officer about Kuki militants infiltration from Myanmar could not be verified.
The report claimed that the militants would launch ‘coordinated attacks on Meitei villages around September 28’ but Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s office withdrew the claim made on September 16.
Dwivedi stressed that there was no bomb drone, adding the ‘narrative of the bomb drones’ was false.
The Manipur Police claimed on September 1 that alleged that Kuki militants’ use of ‘high-tech drones’ to deploy explosives against security forces and civilians triggered ‘significant escalation’ in the state’s ethnic clashes.
The Army chief said that unarmed persons were crossing over to India looking for shelter, adding that ‘India, the country we are, we’ll make sure that they are provided shelter, food and support till the time we can’.
Dwivedi pointed out that Myanmar is in the middle of a civil war with people getting displaced, adding that when people are getting displaced they will go to peaceful places that are ready to accept them, ‘That’s what is happening in Mizoram and Manipur’, he said.
Dwivedi further said that the situation in Manipur is a ‘battle of narratives, given the polarization between communities.