Biren Should First Introspect on His Inner Circles in His Pseudo 'War on Drugs' Campaign

A joint team of Ukhrul Police, 35 Assam Rifles, Forest Department, 6th Manipur Rifles on Wednesday carried out destruction of poppy cultivation at Tora-Champhung hill range of Ukhrul, a Naga dominated hill district. Sadly for the cultivators and the hard working-dutiful security personnel, Biren made no mention of them on any of his social media handles. If it had been another community, rest assured it will get pinned on his profiles by this time. The news is only reported by Ukhrul Times, a news network.

It is no secret that poppy is cultivated in almost all the hill ranges of Manipur irrespective of the community residing therein. Poppy cultivation has been one of the sources of livelihood for the tribal populace in the state. The poppy cultivated in these hills are the source of supply for the drug lords based in Imphal valley. These drug lords are the real kingpins and power holders transacting in terms of crores. They are the real players controlling the flow of processed drugs from Myanmar and raw materials from the tribal hills. The brunt of Biren’s war on drugs however has been born by the tribal cultivators. The real players or Imphal-based drug lords which include several top political leaders of the state have free passage and immunity from the “war”.

If the government is so hell bent on the destruction of drug network within the state, it must start with the real players and the real power houses based out of Imphal of which Biren himself is accused, by a former MPS officer. The real drug which includes WY, Heroin, etc., etc. are granted free passage into India from neighbouring countries courtesy of the powerful ministers and top government officials controlling the trade route and Asian Highway which passes through Moreh. While the raw material for the production of drugs, cultivated by tribals on tribal lands, on the demand of Imphal based drug lords are made to bear the brunt while the political classes carry on their free trade practices earning in terms of crores.

During the ongoing ethnic conflict, there were widespread allegations on a particular community that they are drug peddlers. Several people were killed due to this fake narrative whereas the figures reveal a different story altogether.

Although some people from Kuki-Zo community have been known to cultivate opium for the past few years but since opioid based drug business in Manipur is just 30% of the entire syndicate so what about the rest 70%? There is another aspect of it. As per the data revealed by the government of Manipur states that a total of 2,518 people were arrested between 2017 and 2023 under Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) act in Manipur out of which a whooping 1464 (More than 58%) were Meitei (1083 were Meitei Pangals & 381 were Meitei’s), 873 were Kuki-Zo (35%) and 181 (7%) were from other communities. This puts the majority community itself under question. A large number of chemical drug factories were busted in Lilong and Sora (The areas dominated by Meitei Pangals) in the past and huge recoveries were made. The way drug business has increased manifold in the border state in last few years, there is a high possibility that Thounaojam Brinda is right. However if the central government is really serious about cracking down on drug business n Manipur, they need to target the organised cartels first.