Cadres of Myanmar-based insurgent outfit arrested in Manipur with weapons: Manipur police

Guwahati: Police in conflict-hit Manipur said that two cadres belonging to Chin Kuki Liberation Army (CKLA), an insurgent group based in Myanmar, were arrested with sophisticated weapons in Churachandpur district that shares borders with Myanmar. 

The arrests have come as a boost for the BJP-led government's claim that "transnational conspiracy" added to the violence in Manipur that have claimed more than 175 lives and displaced over 60,000 others since May. 

In a social media post, Manipur police said the two cadres were arrested on Monday from Chaljang area in Kuki-dominated Churachandpur district.

They belong to a group of CKLA, which is not in suspension of operation agreement with the government.

The weapons seized from the two cadres included six automatic weapons (two INSAS rifles, one AK 47 rifle, one M16 rifle and one sniper) along with ammunition, 2.5kg opium and cash of Rs. 4.86 lakh, police said.

Chief Minister N Biren Singh said the arrest was a major breakthrough in the ongoing operations to bust the conspiracy that led to violence in Manipur. 

"Earlier, the National Investigation Agency had taken up cases wherein it was particularly stated that there exist a transnational conspiracy by Myanmar and Bangladesh based leadership of terror outfits to wage war against the government of India by exploiting the current unrest in Manipur. The apprehension of CKLA cadres and the recovery of weapons has yet again underscores a transnational plot aimed at destabilizing both Manipur and our nation," Singh said in a post on X (formerly twitter).

Singh had earlier said that although a section was trying to project the conflict as an ethnic clash between the majority Meitei and the minority Kuki tribe, insurgents based out of Myanmar and Bangladesh were part of the conspiracy that led to the violence. 

The NIA earlier arrested two persons for their alleged involvement in the "transnational conspiracy."

Kuki organisations, however, claim that the violence was an "ethnic cleansing" of the Kukis by the majority Meiteis and CM N Biren Singh was part of the "plot."

They claim that the Manipur government was trying to project it as an international conspiracy in order to protect the "Meitei miscreants" who were directly involved in the killings and looting of weapons from the armouries. 

Biren Singh, however, rejected the allegations.