Manipur violence will stop if 4K looted weapons are recovered, Says Army
Guwahati: The Eastern Command chief of the Indian Army Lieutenant General Rana Pratap Kalita has said that ongoing violence and unrest in trouble-torn Manipur needs a political solution as sporadic incidents of violence continue to rock north-eastern states due to sharp polarisation between two communities.
In an interaction organised by the Gauhati Press Club Lt Gen Kalita told reporters, “It is a political problem in the state where two communities, Kukis and Meiteis, are polarised. There has to be a political resolution of the Manipur situation.”
He said, “Our efforts have been to contain the violence and motivate both sides of the conflict to come for a peaceful resolution of the political problem. Because ultimately, there has to be a political resolution to the problem.”
Lt Gen Kalita also asserted that the violence will not stop unless around 4,000 weapons, which were looted from security forces, are recovered from common people.
He said that the Indian Army’s initial aim was to carry out rescue and relief operations for the people who were displaced from their houses, and then to contain the violence, which they have been largely successful. However, he added that some sporadic incidents keep taking place here and there due to the polarisation between the two communities.
He pointed out that the root cause of the clashes was the legacy issues between the three communities that live in the state – Meitei, Kuki and Naga. He said that there had been conflicts between the Kukis and Nagas in the 1990s when almost 1,000 people were killed.
"What has happened now is that both the communities have completely got polarised. Though the level of violence has come down, more than 5,000 weapons were taken away from various police stations and other places.
“Out of that, only about 1,500 weapons have been recovered. So, around 4,000 weapons are still out. Till the time these weapons are out in society, this sort of sporadic violent activities will continue,” he said.
He also said that weapon smuggling along with drugs through the Indo-Myanmar border has been checked, although some isolated incidents may be there.
About ongoing unrest in Myanmar he said that India is providing shelter to anyone from Myanmar seeking refuge, including common villagers, army or police, in Mizoram and Manipur, but not armed cadres of militant groups or drug traffickers.
