Continuing Manipur Charade

On February 9, 2025, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh resigned but only after meeting the Governor in the morning and telling reports that that if a no-confidence motion is moved at the assembly session against the state government by “any member”, the MLA would be chased by the people and won’t be able to stay at home (https://www.thestrategicperspective.org/op-eds/voodoo-man-of-manipur/). Obviously, he was forced to resign because a number of BJP MLA’s were also part of the coalition of MLAs seeking no-confidence motion against him. The Manipur assembly session scheduled on February 10 was called off.  But Biren Singh was appointed “acting” Chief Minister with inputs that his replacement would take time; three to four months.

Biren Singh’s actions that turned Manipur from a peaceful border state into anarchy and bloodletting, including focused ethnic cleansing, has been covered in these columns earlier (https://www.thestrategicperspective.org/op-eds/visual-composer-1657/). In the ethnic clashes at least 250 people (including security forces personnel) died, scores were injured and 60,000 were rendered homeless in ethnic clashes in Manipur since May 3, 2023. However, for the political hierarchy Biren Singh remains the goose that lays narcotics-laced golden eggs and ready to clean out Kuki-Zo from the 6,000 hectares of land promised to politically favoured corporates (names withheld), who had already paid advance before violence was engineered in the state on May 3, 2023; aside from other reasons. It is quite possible the next hearing in the Supreme Court on the ‘Manipur Tapes’ scheduled on March 20, will be shoved under the carpet; although these tapes should indict him as a political-terrorist and punished as per law. 

Looking at the state of affairs in Manipur since May 2023, it is quite apparent that India’s external and internal agencies were napping; without a clue of the ground realities. Is this because of default or design to align with the political focus on how to down the opposition, win votes and force opposition lawmakers to join the ruling party? This is hardly surprising, given that of the 543 Lok Sabha Members of Parliament (MPs), as many as 251 face criminal cases, and of them, 170 are charged with offences punishable with imprisonment for five or more years.  To top this are illiterate lawmakers and the ones holding fake degrees.

There are calls for the IB to come out from its postman mindset and acquire the skills of strategic assessment, without which they are merely passing on information to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) or the state police. It has been suggested that for the IB to improve its tradecraft, it must inculcate deep knowledge and assessment skills in young officers and further divide its operations and assessment wing, enabling development of more refined intelligence for taking precise actions (https://www.witnessinthecorridors.com/BureaDetailsNew.aspx?id=46834).

Soon after Manipur was placed under President’s rule on February 13, 2025, Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on February 20 appealed to the people of all communities in Manipur to voluntarily come forward and surrender looted and illegally held weapons and ammunition to the nearest police station or security forces camp within seven days. The exact number of looted weapons and ammunition has been submitted to the Supreme Court in a sealed cover by the State Government. Otherwise, the overall number of looted weapons since May 2023, is reportedly at least 6,500 plus 6,00,000 pieces of ammunition.

On February 21, a day after Governor Bhalla issued an appeal to surrender all illegal arms, at least 28 members of the Meitei militant group Arambai Tenggol (AT), including 26 from Kakching, were apprehended by the Assam Rifles (AR). Immediately following these arrests, Meitei women came out in large numbers, demanding immediate release of the AT cadres. Roads were blocked in many parts of the Imphal City and on the outskirts, with burning tires and barricades. According to sources, the AT cadres were handed over to the Kakching police station but 17 of them were later released, even as roadblocks affected movement, including of students appearing in exams. The Kuki Students’ Organization (KSO) has been running six community schools since March 2024 in Churachandpur and three neighboring districts which also accommodate 2,000 students from internally displaced families.

News reports of February 25 said that a total of 87 different types of weapons and ammunition were surrendered in the state since the Governor’s appeal; one under barrel grenade launcher gun, some AK rifles, sub-machine guns, carbines, hand grenades, mortars and some country-made weapons.

On February 26, one day before the seven-day amnesty for voluntary surrender of weapons given by the Governor, Manipur police said in a statement that during the day 104 different type of weapons were surrendered – highest on any day. Officials in Manipur Police said people also surrendered at least 235 bulletproof jackets, 11 uniforms, 90 bulletproof helmets, nine pairs of military boots, and eight IEDs. News reports of the same day (February 26) stated that only 1,800 weapons had been recovered so far; extremely low number given the number of at least 6,500 plus 6,00,000 pieces of ammunition. Interestingly, surrenders included country-made pistols, Pumpi guns (country-made mortars), country-made rockets and Chinese grenades, which were not part of police/IRB armouries. The report quoted officials saying that bulk of the arms and ammunition (AK series of rifles, light machine guns, mortars, MP5 submachine guns, and hundreds of thousands of pieces of ammunition) are still in possession of militants/criminals. A post on X same day pointed out that only 1.75 % of 6000 weapons looted were surrendered and of the 246 weapons surrendered, 110 weapons are locally made that were never part of the Manipur Police armoury.

News reports indicate that the seven-day deadline for surrender of weapons has resulted in the surrender of all told 738 weapons of different types. But this included at least 110 weapons (if not more) that were not part of police/IRB armouries; implying that a very large amount of lethal armament has not been surrendered. Notably, the office of Biren Singh issued a statement on February 28 claiming that the surrender of weapons was on the appeal of Biren Singh (sic); not on the Governor’s appeal? Meanwhile, BJP’s Manipur in-charge Sambit Patra’s has been provided Z-plus security?

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said on March 1 that all roads in Manipur should remain open and strict action should be taken against extortion and drug peddling. One wonders why such instructions were not issued by the Governor on February 13, the day President’s rule was imposed in Manipur – was this inconvenient to Biren Singh?

It is no secret that the majority looting of weapons in May 2023 was orchestrated by the Biren Singh administration and the so-called looted weapons were distributed to Meitei militant groups – primarily to the Arambai Tenggol. Biren Singh not only organized the expansion and arming of AT, their grand entry into Imphal City (captured on video) by keeping Manipur Police off the streets, but also allowing them to muster all MLA’s (and even a Union Minister of State) to administer an oath of allegiance.   

Not only was the AT used for ethnic cleansing of the Kuki-Zo, the Manipur Police commandos operating directly under Biren Singh were also used for ethnic cleansing. Biren Singh has been caught on the Manipur Tapes ordering the police commandos to bypass their senior police officers, as also the DG Police. One can also hear him on tape saying that if he was not the chief minister, he would attack the Kuki-Zo with a rocket launcher.    

The mainstream media is highlighting the surrender of weapons by the AT, even as what has been surrendered is a mere token. On request from the AT, the Governor has extended the date for surrender of weapons and ammunition to March 6. Did the AT want extension to get weapons back from New Delhi and Punjab where they have opened branches?

The issue here is that Biren Singh has enough freedom of action as acting Chief Minister and even after imposition of the President’s, with his direct links with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), because of which he has scant regard for the Governor. He obviously knew that the Governor would be calling for surrender of weapons. Yet despite being directly linked to the AT, the charade of surrender of weapons is being played. Same may happen with the extended date for surrender. It would not be beyond his devious brain to plan on orchestrating some surrender and somehow route them back to the same militant groups.

Finally, the national political hierarchy and the Union Home Ministry needs to take a call, beyond considering Biren Singh an asset, how long the charade in Manipur is to be allowed to continue?

The author is an Indian Army veteran. Views expressed are personal