The claim by the Manipur government in September that more than 900 suspected Kuki militants from Myanmar had infiltrated the state is incorrect, Indian Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi said on Tuesday.

Responding to questions at the Chanakya Defence Dialogue about the situation in Manipur, Dwivedi said that “we should not allow wrong narratives to be built up”.

“There was…wrong narrative [that] 900 anti-national elements have infiltrated [Manipur],” he said. “We checked up, there’s nothing like that. So if we control that, I think things will be alright.”

On September 25, Manipur’s Security Adviser Kuldiep Singh and Director General of Police Rajiv Singh also clarified that a recent intelligence report from the chief minister’s office claiming that more than 900 Kuki militants had entered the state from Myanmar could not be verified.

The militants were “expected to launch multiple coordinated attacks on Meitei villages around September 28”, the report had claimed.

Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s office later retracted the claim, which was made on September 16.

Dwivedi also said that the “narrative of the bomb drones” was false. “There’s no bomb drone,” he said.

On September 1, the Manipur Police said that the use of “high-tech drones” by alleged Kuki militants to deploy explosives against security forces and civilians marked a “significant escalation” in the ethnic clashes in the state.

Manipur has been gripped by ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities since May 2023. At least 237 persons have died since the beginning of the clashes.

The Army chief said that persons crossing over to India from Myanmar “are coming unarmed” looking for shelter. “And India, the country we are, we’ll make sure that they are provided shelter, food and support till the time we can,” he said.

He said that Myanmar, which is in the midst of a civil war, was dealing with its own problems and that people there were getting displaced.

“When they’re getting displaced, where will they go? They will only go to places which are peaceful and ready to accept them. That’s what is happening in Mizoram and Manipur.”

‘Battle of narratives’

Dwivedi said that the situation in Manipur has become a “battle of narratives”, with polarisation between communities. “The situation may be stable today but it is tense,” he said.

“It all started with a rumour that there was an Anglo-Kuki War Centenary Gate, which is being burnt,” the Army chief said. “And it was not burnt. I’ve gone on ground and confirmed. That rumour-mongering led to major violence, which is still finding its stabilisation phase, which it has not reached.”

Scroll has reported that the first spell of violence in the state began with a rumour of an Anglo-Kuki war centenary gate being burnt down.

Dwivedi said that the society had been “weaponised to some extent” because of the looting of weapons. “The women-led organisations have come up for the defensive purposes, the underground organisations have come for the defensive purposes,” he said, without naming any groups.

The armed forces have recovered 25% of the looted weapons and the number of persons displaced within the state has reduced to 40,000 from 60,000, he said.

Also read: Why Manipur CM’s office warned of Kuki militant attack – and then retracted the claim