(TibetanReview.net, Jul29’23) – While the ethnic clashes in the Indian state of Manipur are real, what is fuelling the unrest further may be behind-the-scene involvement of China, India’s former army chief general MM Naravane has indicated Jul 28.
He said the involvement of foreign agencies in the Manipur violence “cannot be ruled out”, flagging records of “Chinese aid to various insurgent groups”, reported the PTI news agency Jul 29.
Interacting with journalists at the India International Centre on the topic ‘National Security Perspective’, Naravane has said instability in the country’s border states was bad for the overall national security.
“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 has said Chinese aid has been helping these groups for years and will continue to do so even now.
Also, asked why the Chinese might have attacked Indian troops in Galwan valley of Ladakh in May 2020, he has said he was still unable to figure it out. “Post-Galwan, that is the first thing that we used to ask each other – why did China do this.”
“Was it a localised action or did it have sanctions or blessings from the higher-ups? When the whole world was grappling with Covid, why did it undertake such a misadventure? I say misadventure because finally it had to go back but we are really not being able to fathom what the reason was. Or was it a combination of many factors including the creation of two union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh,” General Naravane has wondered.