'It's a war against Indian Union,' says Manipur CM Biren Singh on the ongoing violence in state

A day after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said that it came across a "transnational conspiracy" stoking the ethnic strife, Manipur CN N Biren Singh stated that the five-month-long violence is a war against the Indian Union by Myanmar and Bangladesh-based Kuki militants jointly with militant groups operating in the state.

"The current crisis in Manipur is not a clash between ethnic groups and not a law-and-order issue of the state, but purely a war against the Indian Union by Myanmar and Bangladesh based Kuki militants in collaboration with militant groups operating in Manipur," Singh told reporters in Imphal on Sunday evening.

Stating that the current crisis was instigated by a group of people who want to disintegrate Manipur but has been shown as an ethnic or communal clash, or religion-based, or a clash between majority and minority. "However, with the voice of the people, the real cause has come up."

Referring to the arrest of Seiminlun Gangte, a Kuki by the NIA on Saturday from Churachandpur for his alleged involvement in the "transnational conspiracy," Singh said as the issue is "war against the Indian Union," the Centre would further take up necessary measures to tackle it.

The NIA on Saturday said investigation revealed that the insurgent leaders based in neighbouring Myanmar and Bangladesh have been providing funds to procure arms, ammunition and other "terrorist hardware" which are being sourced both, from across the border, as well as from other terrorist outfits active in Northeast to stoke the current ethnic strife in Manipur.

"Investigation revealed that Myanmar and Bangladesh based militant groups have entered into a conspiracy with a section of militant leaders in India to indulge in incidents of violence with an intention to drive a wedge between different ethnic groups and to wage war against the Government of India," the NIA said in a statement on Saturday (September 30).

On September 22, the NIA had arrested Moirangthem Anand Singh, a Meitei man from Imphal for his alleged involvement in the "transnational conspiracy."

More than 175 persons have been killed and over 60,000 others have been displaced due to the clashes between the Meiteis and the Kukis since May 3. While the Kukis have called it a "state sponsored ethnic cleansing," CM Biren Singh and the Meitei organisations have alleged the involvement of the Kuki "narco terrorists," some of whom are based in Myanmar.