The intelligence note accessed by News18 indicates that China and Pakistan are exploiting the situation in Manipur to their advantage by infiltrating terrorists and funding radicals through Nepal, supplying arms and weapons to fighters and manoeuvring the drug trafficking operations in the region bordering Myanmar.
It is learnt that China has employed its Secret Service (MSS) in hiring Nepali traders as spies to fund radical groups in Manipur.
Both China and Pakistan are using Nepal as a silent territory to infiltrate the region with terrorists and weapons.
Most weapons recovered from the fighters in Manipur were Chinese and sent via Myanmar in a systematic manner over a period, the intelligence note indicates.
Recently, heavily armed groups from Myanmar started setting buildings on fire in Moreh area on July 26, making way for another clash between Kukis and Meiteis. Later, it was found that they were all equipped with Chinese weapons and arms.
It is also being learnt that the Manipur crisis is being seen as chance for both China and Pakistan to start a new border row, and “create another Kashmir”.
Another reason for China and Pakistan to take advantage of the Manipur crisis is its connectivity to other South Asian countries and to tell the world that no development has been made in the northeast by the Indian government.
On the contrary, the Centre has initiated large-scale development in the northeast in terms of road connectivity in Imphal-Moreh, Sikkim-Kalimpong-Darjeeling region, Dima-Kohima road and Nagaon bypass in Arunachal Pradesh; increase in the number of airports; withdrawing Armed Forces’ Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from most regions.
A UN report in January had indicated about the large-scale poppy cultivation in Myanmar, near Manipur border, since the country’s junta seized power from the government in a coup in February 2021.
In India’s context, the government of Manipur, which shares border with Myanmar, had launched a campaign ‘war on drugs’ in 2017 and had destroyed thousands of acres of poppy farms in the state.
Thus, there was a protest by Kukis in the hills some months later against the Meiteis, who live in the valley, over the latter’s demand to be included in the Scheduled Tribes category.