Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: The New Disguise of Radicalised Meitei Armed Personnel and Meitei Militants

Reports of 6th Manipur Rifles personnel attired in Indian Army camouflage along the highway to Moreh has surfaced on social media platforms. The personnel seen therein reportedly belong to 6th MR battalion which is presently stationed at Ukhrul. The use of state force personnel at any area irrespective of their official operational area and place of posting for the sole purpose of annihilating the Kuki-Zo community by the state government renders it impotent to the tribal groups. The police and state forces’ administration have totally failed to maintain the conduct of its personnel, while the personnel have failed to uphold the oath of service and conduct administered to them.

In another similar instance, a Meitei civilian posted a photo of himself fully clothed in tactical gear with the caption “Eshor na chanbiduna IRB khanjare, free salary da” meaning “I’ve been employed in IRB by god’s grace with free salary”. This is just one of many such happenings where Meitei civilians are often drafted in to the Manipur state forces without the due process of law and recruitment policies. The state security apparatus has functioned at their whims and fancies with utter disregard for the established law and mandates governing such institutions. The state machinery has employed differing tactics to gain access to Kuki-Zo areas where their acts of abuse, killing and looting in the name of combing operations have prompted the tribal community to debar their presence in their areas.

It must be remembered that the Assam Rifles on September 18, 2023 wrote to Manipur Police saying “It is reliably learnt that few Meitei miscreants with the help of Valley Based Insurgent Groups (VBIGs) have acquired many used TATA 407 from the civil market and have converted them to resemble the TATA 407 vehicles being used by Assam Rifles”. It may also be pointed out that the Indian Army tactical camouflage uniform is readily available at civilian shops and could be acquired with no sweat. With the ongoing Mission Moreh of the Meitei community (From the CM, the Titular King and VBIGs to all state forces, AT and ML combatants) and the occurrence of such deceit, it is of grave concern to the Kuki-Zo community to put their trust in any and every central security personnel and convoy wearing Indian Army attires.

Unofficial employment of unofficially trained civilians as state force personnel, abuse of military provisions for use in annihilation of a certain group is deeply concerning and thus require proper scrutiny by the concerned authority, be it the Ministry of Defence or the Home Ministry who have the operational and administrational controls respectively over the Assam Rifles. It also breaks the longstanding trust between the tribal groups and the central forces and will generate unnecessary misunderstandings between the two parties at a time when a deeper understanding and communication is the need.