Sajal Nag
When deadly ethnic clashes erupted in Manipur in India’s northeastern frontier with Myanmar in May 2023, it was attributed to one group’s demands for recognition as a constitutionally-mandated Scheduled Tribe. Soon, large swathes of the state were engulfed in the violence. Almost a year after the first killings last summer, the total death count stood at about 220. More than 1,100 people were injured while about 60,000 were displaced.
The cultivation of poppy and cross-border drug trafficking from Myanmar to India has been a frequent theme of reporting by journalists and confirmed by Home Ministry reports from time to time. The government acknowledges that while drug consumption in Northeast India is a “serious problem,” some new trends, such as drug syndicates and narcotic smugglers’ “collusion” with Nigerian cartels, have added a new dimension to the problem that shows no signs of abating.
Hi-tech Surveillance
India’s northeastern states – the “Seven Sisters” as they are traditionally referred to – have historically been associated with the cross-border drug trade whose origins are linked to the “Golden Triangle” with Myanmar at the center of this international narcotics-fuelled economy. As a result, Indian police have been empowered to use government rules and legislations to hit hard against drug trafficking in the northeast.
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