Inside Manipur: How geopolitics, missionaries, and narco-terror networks fuel conflict
Manipur, located in North East India and bordered by Myanmar, known as the “Land of Jewels“, has been on the radar of foreign intelligence agencies, drug traffickers, and foreign religious institutions, who have identified it as India’s Achilles Heel. But, long before the entry of these entities, since 1894, American and British missionary gangs targeted Manipur for intense conversions. As part of the conversion syllabus, inter-community harmony in the North East was disrupted by pitting every tribal community against the others.
As elsewhere in the North East, conversions really took off post-1941, and by 1951, Christians were 12% in Manipur. The significant change happened in this period, primarily because of the Nehru-Elwin policy, which gave missionaries a carte blanche for conversions on the pretext of anthropological tribal studies. Rampant, uninterrupted conversions upset the population equation and created a serious rift between the Meitei Hindus and Kuki convert Christians. Lobbying and pressure from foreigners enabled the Kukis to secure ST status, which was denied to the Meiteis, who had to contend with OBC status, which was also granted after decades of agitation. Resultantly, Kukis had an exclusive monopoly over the entire hill tracts, which comprised 90% of the land, while Meitei Hindus were restricted to the plains, which comprised just 10%. But another created mischief was that Kukis could buy land in the plains whereas the Meitei’s could not buy land in the hills. The current crisis occurred when, on 20 April 2023, the Manipur High Court ‘requested’ the state government to include the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list. The Kuki-Zo community feared that the ST status would allow the Meiteis to purchase land in their exclusive hilly areas. Unabated conversions using foreign funds and legal ineptness and shoddiness have caused havoc in Manipur.
Adding another foreign dimension, has been the emergence of drug-trafficking, and illegal migrants from Myanmar, who share affinities with the Kukis. This has resulted in a demand for a separate Kukiland. The alleged involvement of certain Kuki insurgent groups and individuals in drug trafficking led to the then Chief Minister N. Biren Singh to pursue a “war on drugs” since 2017, targeting illegal poppy cultivation in the hill districts, which are predominantly inhabited by the Kuki-Zo community.
Manipur is located adjacent to the notorious “Golden Triangle”, an area in Southeast Asia covering civil war-torn Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) describes the region as one of the “biggest drug trafficking corridors in the world”. Heroin, opium and synthetic drugs like methamphetamine from the region are “feeding the whole of the Asia Pacific [region]”.
Developments in Myanmar have severely impacted Manipur. After the Military Coup of 2021, the political situation in Myanmar has worsened because of tensions between various Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) and the Junta. Myanmar has been experiencing highly violent crackdowns, armed resistance, and economic turmoil as a result of the coup. Opium cultivation has surged, and the revenue generated from poppy cultivation touched US$ 355 per kg, unmatchable by any other crop. In 2023, an estimated 154 tonnes of heroin were illegally exported from Myanmar, worth up to US$2.2 billion. Wanting a share in the financial bonanza are the Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs), such as the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Arakan Army (AA), and United Wa State Army (UWSA). Money realized from drug-trafficking is used in buying arms and explosives, and to recruit fresh recruits. Key weapons in the arsenal of EAOs include FGC-9 3D-printed guns, captured Myanmar Army MA-series rifles, Chinese-supplied arms, and assault rifles like the M-16, with heavy weapons and man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS) used by some ethnic armed organizations. The easy availability of sophisticated Chinese-made weapons, like AK-47 assault rifles, machine guns, anti-tank mines, grenades, and ammunition, has raised serious questions about the scope and depth of China’s support to terrorist groups in the region in pursuit of its policy of what a Thailand-based organization termed “Diplo-terrorism”. Many of these weapons are also flowing into the hands of the Kukis, including the M4 carbine, an assault rifle used by all three services of the US military, the US-origin AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and its successor, the M16, as well as the German-origin 5.56 mm Heckler & Koch rifles. In addition, Chinese-made AK-56 rifles, Myanmar’s MA1 MK-3, and British-origin Mk-5 rifles have been identified among the arsenals of Kuki armed groups.
Adding another dimension of foreigners dabbling in the geo-politics of the region was deposed Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who, in an interaction with IANS, did not completely rule out the possibility of a foreign hand being involved in the fall of her government in August 2024, apprehending the role of foreign mercenaries in stirring violence during the student-led agitation. “There have been multiple suggestions that provocateurs, perhaps mercenaries from abroad, were involved in stirring up violence at the outset of the unrest,” she stated. Sheikh Hasina also alerted that a plot is reportedly underway to create “a Christian state like East Timor” from parts of Bangladesh and Myanmar. While Hasina didn’t name which nation was purportedly trying to create a Christian state from parts of Bangladesh and Myanmar, officials from her Awami League party have opined that the US has been trying to make inroads in the South Asian region through its support for anti-government forces, which include the National Unity Government (NUG) and People’s Defence Forces (PDF).
In the background of the above, India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) detained seven foreign nationals—six Ukrainians and one American- in March 2026, over an alleged terror conspiracy involving illegal entry into India’s restricted border areas (Mizoram) and links to insurgent groups in Myanmar. The individuals are suspected of providing drone warfare training and smuggling drones from Europe, raising national security concerns. The accused have been identified as US national Matthew Aaron Van Dyke; and Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefankiv Marian, Honcharuk Maksim, and Kaminskyi Viktor from Ukraine. The US national was detained by the Bureau of Immigration at Kolkata airport, and three Ukrainians each were detained at airports in Lucknow and Delhi. What should be worrisome for India is the presence of Ukrainians in the North-East. Ukraine has emerged as a global leader in drone warfare, transforming into a powerhouse of innovation, production, and battlefield strategy. With production capacity reaching millions of drones annually, including interceptors and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), Ukraine excels in low-cost AI-driven combat, electronic warfare integration, and defense. According to media reports, the arrested Ukrainians were allegedly providing training in drone operations, including assembly, manoeuvring, and potential weaponization techniques, with equipment sourced from Europe. The trainees were identified as ethnic armed groups operating in the Myanmar-India border region, specifically suspected to be linked with groups involved in conflict in Manipur and surrounding areas. The American, Matthew Van Dyke, is described as a mercenary with a history of active participation in conflicts in Libya and Syria.
The NIA faces a big investigatory challenge in trying to decipher how these terror-trainers walked into India, entered a highly sensitive zone like Manipur and Mizoram, with the avowed objective of imparting sophisticated drone technology. A critical point to be investigated is as to who was providing boarding, lodging and logistics to these foreigners? Most foreign-funded religious organizations, schools, and colleges maintain excellent guest houses that are utilized for those wanting to avoid public glare and scrutiny by the police. Though hotels, guest houses, and homestays in India must register online to submit “Form C” for foreign guests, to report traveller details (passport, visa) upon check-in, usually within 24 hours of arrival, it is impossible to detect discreet violations happening in remote locations in Manipur. Further, these guest houses function as safe houses, and also for secreting bulk cash, much needed for terror operations.
India needs to be on heightened vigil, to detect terror-trainers slipping into the country in the guise of tourists, students, religious preachers and researchers. As Sun Tzu says, “All warfare is based on deception. There is no place where espionage is not used”.
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1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
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