'Those In Chair Doing Best But...': Ex-Army Chief Flags 'Involvement Of Foreign Agencies' In Manipur Violence

New Delhi: Flagging “Chinese aid to various insurgent groups”, former army chief general MM Naravane said the involvement of foreign agencies in violence-hit Manipur cannot be ruled out, news agency PTI reported. He made the statement while responding to questions over the ongoing tensions in the northeast state at the India International Centre on Friday.

"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," PTI quoted General (retd) Naravane as saying.

"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. He also asserted that China has been helping these groups for years and will continue to do so.

Hinting at the possibility of some entities who might “benefit” from the ongoing violence, Naravane said, “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.”

Weighing in on the role of drug trafficking in the strife-torn state, General (retd) Naravane said drug smuggling has always been there and the amount of drug that 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, and 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.