Manipur intensifies fight against drug trafficking and poppy cultivation
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Imphal: In a bid to combat drug trafficking and illegal poppy cultivation, the Manipur government has revamped its Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) by appointing new officers, including experts in agriculture, forensics, and cybercrime.
This initiative aims to address the issue of illegal poppy cultivation, which had contributed to tensions between the Chin-Kuki tribes and the state government earlier this year.
Poppy cultivation had spread across more than 18,000 acres of land in the Manipur hills between 2017 and 2023. The ANTF, with its new team of experts, will conduct extensive surveys, verification, and destruction of illegal poppy farms in the state.
The "war on drugs" campaign led by Chief Minister N Biren Singh since the BJP came to power in Manipur in 2017 has disrupted the drug-trafficking network along the Manipur section of the India-Myanmar border. A significant portion of poppy cultivation was identified in the hill areas, predominantly inhabited by the Chin-Kuki tribes.
However, only 10% of the 400-km international border in Manipur is fenced, leaving it vulnerable as a transit route for drug trafficking from the "Golden Triangle" - the tri-junction of the Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand borders.
"We have formed a joint committee with the state's anti-narcotics force and the Narcotics Control Bureau. We will continue the surveys and destruction of poppy cultivation," stated Chief Minister N Biren Singh.
Illegal poppy cultivation was eradicated from 3,861 acres in 2018; it was 4,175 acres in 2019; 2020 (1,382 acres), 2021 (5,740 acres), 2022 (3,696 acres), and 2023 (2,499 acres from January to April). This totals over 18,000 acres in five years, excluding the January-April period this year.
The Manipur government has also urged the central government to expedite border-fencing work and terminate the "free movement regime" between India and Myanmar, which allows citizens of both countries to travel 16 km inland on either side without travel documents.
"We immediately need border-fencing. The Home Ministry has sanctioned work on 60 km, and the Border Roads Organisation has taken up the task. We want the free movement regime to end and have told the centre that it was because of this policy that we could not effectively check illegal immigrants," said the Chief Minister.
Allegations of illegal immigrants from Myanmar have also contributed to the Manipur crisis. The hill-majority tribes argue that people of the same clans and communities have been living on both sides of the border with family ties dating back to pre-Independence years.
Muan Tombing, General Secretary of the Chin-Kuki group Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF), welcomed the formation of the new anti-narcotics task force but expressed concerns about the alleged involvement of individuals within the state government in drug trafficking.
