NEW DELHI: The national investigation agency (NIA) has stated that militant outfits based in Myanmar and Bangladesh are behind the violence in the Northeast state of Manipur.
In a statement, the NIA said: “Myanmar and Bangladesh based militant groups have entered into a conspiracy with a section of militant leaders in India to indulge in incidents of violence with an intention to drive a wedge between different ethnic groups and to wage war against the government of India.”
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The NIA further stated that these militant outfits, based in Myanmar and Bangladesh, “have been providing funds to procure arms, ammunition and other types of terrorist hardware”.
It added that these weapons “which are being sourced both from across the border, as well as from other terrorist outfits active in the Northeast states of India” are being used “to stoke the current ethnic strife in Manipur”.
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The NIA claimed that the leadership of the militant outfits in Myanmar and Bangladesh, in collusion with the militant outfits in the Northeast are “exploiting the current ethnic unrest in the state of Manipur”.
The NIA made this statement after the arrest of an accused in a “transnational conspiracy by Myanmar and Bangladesh based leadership of terrorist outfits to wage war against the government of India.”
The arrested individual has been identified as Seminlun Gangte.
Gante was arrested by the NIA in a joint operation with the Manipur police and was then taken to New Delhi fir further interrogations.
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Earlier, the NIA had also stated that banned organisations in Myanmar are recruiting workers to carry out attacks on security forces and members of ethnic groups in violence-hit Manipur.
This statement from the NIA came following the arrest of a “trained operative” of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) – an outlawed organisation from Manipur.
The “trained operative”, identified as 45-year-old Moirangthem Anand Singh, was among the five persons, who were arrested by Manipur police on September 16, for allegedly carrying sophisticated weapons and wearing police uniforms.
“Investigation so far has revealed that in furtherance of the conspiracy hatched by the leadership based in Myanmar…proscribed terrorist organisations are recruiting OGWs [over ground workers], cadres and sympathisers to augment the strength to carry out attacks on security forces and opposing ethnic groups by exploiting current unrest in Manipur,” the NIA said.
Notably, Manipur has been wrecked by ethnic clashes and large-scale violence since May 3.
At least 175 people have lost their lives and thousands of others have been rendered homeless due to the violence in Manipur.