Arambai Tenggol's Unit Expansion Outside Manipur: A Serious Threat to National Security, Lives of Kuki-Zo People

It is of serious concern and grave threat to the national security and the lives of Kuki-Zo people residing in various cities of India that the Meiteis' armed outfits responsible for various crimes and unlawful activities in Manipur are reportedly opening their branches in various cities of India including the National Capital Region- New Delhi.

Reports have emerged on various media platforms that the Arambai Tenggol, a private militia group of the narcissistic Chief Minister N. Biren Singh and Rajya Sabha MP Leisemba Sanajaoba, have expanded their units even outside the state of Manipur in different cities - New Delhi, Chandigarh, etc., taking oath and allegiance to their Sanamahi religious founder Ibudhou Pakhangba to wage war against Kuki-Zo people.

This grave concern shows the patent failure of the Indian Government, its agencies and institutions in safeguarding the citizens of India and the growing threat to each and every citizen. The Ministry of Home Affairs' incompetence in containing the terrorists' criminal activities against the minority people for over 17 months has now become a cause of concern for the country as a whole.

It is shocking and beyond belief that the opening of Arambai Tenggol branches outside the State of Manipur could occur right under the nose of all the agencies, ministries, paramilitary forces and even the army despite the carnage and devastation caused by them over the last 1.7 years in Manipur. With the set-up of these new branches, the Kuki-Zo people residing in various cities of India have now faced grave security concerns to their precious lives.

Is the Government of India complicit in unlawful and criminal activities of the Arambai Tenggol against the minority people?

Can the Government of India presume that the militia groups, responsible for ethnic cleansing pogrom against the Kuki-Zo people, not a serious threat to the national security?

How is it possible then that a terrorist organisation instead of being banned, its members being jailed are roaming freely across the country and have started to open branches, starting with the National Capital?

The only logical answer seems that just like the civil war caused by them in Manipur, this expansion of militant units outside Manipur is supposedly being facilitated by the government, agencies and institutions.

Who are the Arambai Tenggols?

The Arambai Tenggol along with Meitei Leepun are unlawful radicalised terrorist groups of the Meiteis who, in cohort with the state machinery, led relentless persecution against the minority Kuki-Zo communities.

Prior to the eruption of state-sponsored ethnic violence, Arambai Tenggol was responsible for organising blockades on the roads leading to hill districts of Kuki people; leading the mobs in the Imphal city once the ethnic cleansing started against Kukis. The cadres entered police stations and police training centres, looting nearly 7000 sophisticated weapons and lakhs of ammunition from police armouries, setting fire to churches, and then looting villages and causing widespread havoc.

With tens of thousands of heavily armed terrorists, they are solely responsible for the ongoing state-sponsored ethnic cleansing pogrom. They openly brandish sophisticated weapons, looted from state armouries, and carry out deadly attacks against Kuki-Zo tribals by crossing the buffer zones. However, no action has been taken till date against them by the security forces or the Government of India.

Since the eruption of the state's orchestrated violence last year, the Arambai Tenggol have caused irreparable misery to the Kuki-Zo people, unleashing inhumanity or war crimes against the tribal groups. As a result of their atrocities, more than 200 Kuki-Zo people have already been killed in the most barbaric manner, thousands injured and more than 40,000 people have been forced to leave their homes and live in relief camps or displaced in their own ancestral land and country.

The Arambai terrorists' ideological ambition is to first annihilate the Kuki-Zo people from Manipur state, thereby grabbing their ancestral land. Secondly, along with the proscribed Valley-based Meitei militants (or VBIGs), they conspire to re-establish the erstwhile Meitei Kingdom by threatening the national and territorial integrity of India.

Keeping all these conspiracies in mind, there is every possibility that the stolen weapons will be transported or may have already been smuggled into various cities of India including the National Capital to further spread violence and destabilise India, endangering countless lives and causing untold damage.

In the event of the Government of India still remaining a mute spectator, it is a matter of time that this could become a great challenge to our freedom, liberty, law and order, civil rights, human rights, women and child rights issues.

Unless the Government of India takes swift action against these illegal activities of the Arambai Tenggol, a situation could inadvertently contribute to an increase in crime rates and may even lead to chaos and complete breakdown of law and order  across Indian cities as in the present context of Manipur.

It is high time that the concerned authorities take strict and immediate action against all individuals/militants responsible for this growing threat to national security and sovereignty. The safety and security of our nation and its citizens are of paramount importance, and the Government ministries must act swiftly to rectify this situation and prevent any further harm.