DIMAPUR, SEPTEMBER 14 (MExN): The Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) has expressed concerns over the alleged procurement of advanced weaponry by the Government of Manipur.
According to a statement released by the KIM, the state government has acquired 7.62 mm MMG MK 2A1 machine guns from the Ordnance Factory Jabalpur. It added that Manipur Police personnel are being trained, to use the machine gun, at the Manipur Police Training College in Pangei, with assistance from the Indian Army’s 57th Mountain Division.
Backdropped by an ethnic conflict within the state, it questioned the appropriateness of what it held was a “wartime weapon,” typically utilised in high-intensity warfare, rarely employed even by the Indian Army and Assam Rifles in counter-insurgency operations.
“Its deployment in a domestic ethnic conflict is not only disproportionate but also exacerbates the already volatile situation,” it claimed. It added that it has caused confusion and anxiety among the public, while “raising concerns about the state government’s intentions.”
Stating that the potential use of advanced weaponry was particularly alarming, it accused the state government of using such equipments, in coordination with the state police, Arambai Tenggol and Valley-Based Insurgent Groups against the Kuki-Zo community.
As claimed by the KIM, the Manipur state government has purchased various military equipments, including bulletproof vehicles and mine-protected vehicles (MPVs), coinciding with the ethnic violence, which began in May 2023.
It called upon the Government of India to urgently address the issue and reconsider what it said was “the necessity of deploying such advanced weaponry in an internal conflict.” According to it, the alleged introduction of the machine gun could have severe implications for the Kuki-Zo people, who they claim have been the target of coordinated attacks “by radical militias and the state police.”
