A key Kuki-Zo organisation criticised the Manipur government for its hasty clarification after releasing sensitive intelligence report about a possible attack on September 28 by Kuki militants from Myanmar, calling it unreliable and biased.

On Thursday, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), a conglomerate of recognised Tribes in Churachandpur, said that the Manipur government “is highly unreliable and partisan, with no qualms about falsifying and publicising sensitive intelligence reports, which could ignite violence and lead to a bloodbath”.

The ITLF, while referring to the clarifications, said: “Lacking proof and being unable to substantiate it ‘on ground’, the state government and the security adviser have fortunately retracted their claims, saying ‘the public need not worry further in this regard’. But the damage has been done, as tensions have spiked on both sides of the buffer zones....If any untoward incidents happen because of the earlier report, the CM and security advisor should be held responsible for publicizing false intel.”

The said intel report about 900 trained Kuki militants entering Manipur from Myanmar was shared by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) on September 16 with the state security adviser Kuldiep Singh and DGP Rajiv Singh, among others, but it “got leaked” on September 17, triggering concern and fear on both sides of the Meitei and Kuki-Zo divide.

There was no official confirmation about the input till last Friday. At a news conference, Kuldiep Singh said that “there is a report” about 900 Kuki militants having entered Manipur and they may attack any day in and around September 28.

Singh’s remarks fuelled apprehension within both communities. The Kuki-Zos dismissed the report as “rumour” and “baseless” while seeking resignation of Singh. The Meiteis too sought clarity on the inputs.

On Wednesday night, a joint statement issued by the state security adviser and the DGP said the input “was verified from different quarters but it could not be substantiated on ground” and that there was “no basis currently to believe in any such input”.

Soon after, N Geoffrey, secretary to the chief minister, also issued a clarification that the intelligence information was shared “to enable police department to use its machinery and network to develop the said information so as to determine actionability”.

The CMO’s statement further said it is now ascertained that possibility of any such misadventure by armed groups is remote.

“What started out as a dangerous disinformation campaign by Manipur’s chief minister to divert attention from leaked audio tapes” which purportedly “proved his complicity in the violence against the Kuki-Zo community has ended with egg on his face”, the ITLF said.

The Kuki-Zos also participated in a massive rally in Kangpokpi on Thursday, organised by the Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU) against the “fake intel input”. The COTU later submitted a memorandum to Union Home minister Amit Shah on the security threat owing “to false propaganda by the state of Manipur”.