Security forces dropped their guard & I fear prolonged violence in Manipur: Senior Journalist, Pradip Phanjoubam, to Karan Thapar for The Wire.

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In an interview to comment upon and discuss two days of rocket propelled grenades dropped by drones in Imphal, one of Manipur’s most senior journalists has said that the security forces dropped their guard and after four months of relative calm a certain complacency set in. He says the technology to counter and check drones exists in Manipur but was not used. Now Pradip Phanjoubam says he fears a prolonged spell of violence in the state. He does not believe that Sunday’s and Monday’s attacks are one offs.



Mr. Phanjoubam said that speculation – as contained in some national papers – that the drone attacks on Sunday and Monday could have been carried out by Kuki insurgents who have breached the terms of the SoO agreement needs to be verified. As yet we simply don’t know who carried out the attacks.



In a 25minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Pradip Phanjoubam, who is also a wellknown columnist and author, said the demand raised by MLA Rajkumar Imo Singh, the Chief Minister’s soninlaw, in a letter to the Home Minister yesterday, calling for all 60,000 Central Forces in Manipur to be removed is “hasty” and “not properly thought out”.



The interview contains an extensive section about the recent audio tapes, where a voice that purports to be the voice of Chief Minister Biren Singh claims that he is the architect of the violence and has encouraged it and allowed it to happen. I will leave you to hear the interview to find out what Pradip Phanjoubam says about this. However, he does say, very clearly, that the voice sounds like that of the Chief Minister.



Finally, at the end of the interview, Pradip Phanjoubam says that by failing to intervene Prime Minister Modi and the Central Government have made the situation in Manipur worse. Again, I will leave you to see the interview to find out further details.



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