New Delhi: Former army chief Gen M M Naravane has said the involvement of foreign agencies in the Manipur violence cannot be ruled out. Speaking to reporters, he also flagged the Chinese aid to various insurgent groups.
Responding to questions on the protracted violence in Manipur while interacting with journalists at the India International Centre on the topic ‘National Security Perspective’, General (retd) Naravane said instability in border states is bad for the country’s overall national security.
He said, “I am sure that those who are in the chair and responsible for taking whatever action is due to be taken are doing their best.”
“The involvement of the foreign agencies, not only I say, cannot be ruled out but I will say they are definitely there, especially Chinese aid to various insurgent groups,” he added
The former chief of the army staff said the Chinese aid has been helping these groups for years and will continue to do so even now.
On a question about the role of drug trafficking in the ongoing violence in the northeastern state, General (retd) Naravane said drug smuggling has been there for a very long time and the amount of drug which has been recovered has only increased over years.
“We are just a little remote from the Golden Triangle (the area where the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet). Myanmar is always in a state of disarray and military rule. Even at the best of times in Myanmar, the government only had control over the central Myanmar not really on the peripheral bordering state whether with India or with China or with Thailand. So drug trafficking has always been there," he said.
He added, "There will probably be agencies or other actors in the game who benefit from the violence and who would not want a situation of normalcy to get on because while this instability is there, they stand to benefit.”
“That might be one of the reasons why we are seeing this continuance of violence in spite of all the efforts, which I am sure have been put in by the state and the central governments to bring it down,” he said.
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