New Delhi: The Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Rana Pratap Kalita has said that the ethnic clashes in Manipur are a “political problem” that can only be solved by a peaceful dialogue between the Meitei and Kuki communities, news agency PTI reported. He also said that the violence will not stop unless around 4,000 weapons, which were looted from security forces, are recovered from common people.


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The Eastern Command General Officer Commanding-in-Chief also said that India is providing shelter to anyone from Myanmar seeking refuge, including common villagers, army or police, in Mizoram and Manipur, but not armed cadres of militant groups or drug traffickers.


“Our efforts have been to contain the violence and motivate both sides of the conflict to come for a peaceful resolution of the political problem. Because ultimately, there has to be a political resolution to the problem,” Kalita told reporters at an interaction organised by the Gauhati Press Club on Tuesday.


He said that the Indian Army’s initial aim was to carry out rescue and relief operations for the people who were displaced from their houses, and then to contain the violence, which they have been largely successful. However, he added that some sporadic incidents keep taking place here and there due to the polarisation between the two communities.


He said that the root cause of the clashes was the legacy issues between the three communities that live in the state – Meitei, Kuki and Naga. He pointed out that there had been conflicts between the Kukis and Nagas in the 1990s when almost 1,000 people were killed.


"What has happened now is that both the communities have completely got polarised. Though the level of violence has come down, more than 5,000 weapons were taken away from various police stations and other places.


“Out of that, only about 1,500 weapons have been recovered. So, around 4,000 weapons are still out. Till the time these weapons are out in society, this sort of sporadic violent activities will continue,” he said.


He also said that weapon smuggling along with drugs through the Indo-Myanmar border has been checked, although some isolated incidents may be there.


“But since 4,000 weapons are already out in the open, I think there is no requirement of weapons to come from outside,” he stressed.


More than 180 people lost their lives and several hundreds were injured since ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur on May 3, after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.


Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals – Nagas and Kukis – constitute little over 40 per cent and reside in the hill districts.


On the refugee crisis from Myanmar, Lt Gen Kalita said, “Any instability in our neighbourhood is not in our interest. It definitely impacts us as we share the common border. The problem of the Indo-Myanmar border gets accentuated because of the difficult geography and terrain conditions, and lack of development.” He further said that as the border is porous and people are from the same ethnicity on both sides of the border, a lot of free movements take place, and it becomes difficult for the forces managing the borders to identify who are the people from India and who are from Myanmar.


"We are giving shelter to anybody who is seeking refuge, whether it is a common villager or Myanmar Army or Myanmar Police. There is a due process that is followed. Whenever they want to come in, the weapons are separated obviously.


“Thereafter there is a proper identification, which is carried out so that the undesirable elements are segregated. We get in touch with the MEA and (Myanmar) Embassy. Generally, all these Myanmar Army people want to go back to their country,” he said.


He also said that India is not allowing any armed cadres of militant groups or drug traffickers to enter the country.