The Kuki Students’ Organisation (KSO) on Saturday sought the resignation of the security adviser to the Manipur government, Kuldiep Singh.
The trigger for the demand seemed to be Singh’s reaction to purported intelligence “inputs” that around 900 Kuki militants, trained in the “use” of drone-based bombs, projectiles, missiles and jungle warfare, had entered Manipur from neighbouring Myanmar. They are “grouped in units of 30 members each and currently scattered in the periphery, and expected to launch multiple coordinated attacks on Meitei villages around September 28”.
There was no official confirmation about the existence of these purported inputs till Singh said at a news conference on Friday that they were taking the inputs seriously and the security forces were put on alert. The inputs had been doing the rounds for the past three to four days, he said. Singh also said a special operating group meeting was held on Thursday, involving senior AR, CRPF, BSF and police officers, where the deployment of forces was discussed, among others.
Dismissing the “inputs” as “rumour”, the KSO on Saturday said: “One thing of a particular concern that the Kuki-Zo perceives as more of ‘propaganda’ and less of facts is his claim of ‘900 Kuki militants’ who have infiltrated into Manipur in groupings of 30 or more.”
The KSO added: “Kuldiep Singh, as the head security adviser, is responsible for monitoring border areas. If there are any infiltrators present as he claims, it is a security lapse under his supervision. Given this concern, we no longer feel secure under his leadership, as there is a possibility of more Meitei militants infiltrating in the future. So, we would like to call for his resignation and the appointment of a more capable adviser.”
They also clarified “once and for all that we were and are capable of defending our ancestral land since time immemorial and definitely against this secessionist community. We don’t need our kindreds from another side of the frontiers (Myanmar) to aid us as they have problems of their own.”
The KSO said this “rumour” first surfaced on social media on September 16. “The letter (on the infiltration of Kuki militants) has the signature, fake or genuine which we cannot verify, of the secretary to chief minister, N. Geoffrey. The said letter was addressed to the DGP, Manipur, and copied to the chief secretary, adviser (security) and commissioner (home).”
The KSO also said a TV channel had aired the letter but retracted the news because it “was fake” and a “careful comparison of the signature of Geoffrey, which is available in public to the one which was appended on the said letter doesn’t match”.
The KSO then asked “how is the security adviser of the state the last person in the security establishments to know about it? 4 days after the propaganda letter got viral!”