A Manipur-based organisation has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s help in the “war on drugs” launched by the State government headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Manipur Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh said on May 18 that the security forces seized narcotic substances worth ₹182-crore and arrested about 140 drug traffickers since March 20. The seized drugs included heroin, methamphetamine and cannabis.
According to the People’s Initiative for Progress (PIP), a social organisation working for bringing a transformative change in Manipur, a bigger problem lies in the hills of the State that have witnessed massive deforestation for poppy cultivation and related activities.
“Massive deforestation has resulted in the increase in the rate of siltation, frequent occurrence of landslips and scarcity of water on a large scale,” PIP’s chairman Namjaigai Pamei and secretary-general Ch. Joy said in a statement.
The PIP has also drawn the Prime Minister’s attention to Mark T. Haokip, “the self-styled president of the extremist People’s Democratic Republic of Kukiland”. Apart from involvement in drug-related activities, the PIP said Haokip has been bringing in foreigners from Myanmar through the “porous international border”.
The organisation said help from the Prime Minister’s office would be like an insurance against the failure of the initiatives by the Manipur government to check the powerful drug cartel.
The PIP’s appeal preceded the killing of Jilhem Khongsai, the 57-year-old chief of Naphai village in the Saikul subdivision of Manipur’s Kangpokpi district, on June 6. He issued a notification in May to prohibit poppy cultivation in his village.
On April 23, the people of Kangpokpi pledged to strictly prohibit the use, sale and supply of drugs in the district headquarters of the same name. Hundreds of residents took out a rally on May 19 for a “drug-free” town.
