NEW DELHI: Differing from Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Anil Chauhan’s assertion that Manipur unrest is “an ethnic clash… nothing to do with insurgency”, a PIL filed in the SC said the border state is witnessing cross-border narco-terrorism by armed Kuki militants infiltrating from Myanmar to promote and protect illegal poppy cultivations and an illicit drug trade in the hill areas.
“The serious issues of narco-terrorism and external aggression posing threat to national security is prevalent in Manipur and the resultant fallout is the present human crisis wherein a large number of people have been displaced from their homes disturbing normal life in the state,” said the petitioner – NGO ‘People’s Alliance for Peace and Progress, Manipur’.
03:55
Fresh Violence in Manipur: “We have taken strict action. Till now 40 terrorists eliminated,” says Manipur CM
Warning of a major fallout if the Kuki militants were not reined in and their nefarious activities curbed, the NGO said, “If narco terrorism in the north-eastern border areas of India is not acknowledged by the Union government and contained in time, it will have larger implications posing a serious threat to national security.”
It alleged that the unabated influx of illegal migrants from Myanmar have allowed unhindered encroachment of reserve and protected forest land.