The current turmoil in the north-eastern State of Manipur was primarily an ethnic clash and had nothing to do with insurgency, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan said on Tuesday.

“The situation in Manipur has nothing to do with counter-insurgency and is primarily a clash between two ethnicities. It is a law-and-order kind of situation and we are helping the state government with the problem. We [the Army] have done an excellent job and saved a large number of lives,” Gen Chauhan told reporters here after reviewing the Passing Out Parade (POP) of the National Defence Academy (NDA) at Pune’s Khadakwasla.

The CDS was the Reviewing Officer for the Passing Out Parade (POP) of the 144th course of the NDA, which was held today morning.

While stating that the challenges in Manipur had “not disappeared,” the CDS expressed hope that the problems would settle down in some time and that the State government would be able to deal with the situation with the help of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF).

“Before 2020, the Army, the Assam Rifles were all deployed in Manipur for counterinsurgency operations. As the challenges in our Northern borders was greater, we were able to withdraw the Army [from Manipur]. We were able to do it as the insurgency situation [in Manipur] had normalised…while present challenges in Manipur have not disappeared, they will hopefully settle down. The State government will then be able to do the job with the help of CAPF and Armed forces should be back tackling the challenges at the Northern border which have not yet gone away,” said Gen. Chauhan.

Earlier, addressing cadets at the PoP, the CDS said that that the war in Europe [alluding to the Russo-Ukrainian conflict], the deployment of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) along the northern borders and the political and economic turmoil in the immediate neighbourhood presented “a different kind of challenge for the Indian military.”

“We are living in a time when the global security situation is not at its best. International geopolitical order is in a state of flux. The war in Europe, the continued deployment of PLA along the northern borders and the political and economic turmoil in our immediate neighbourhood, all present a different kind of challenge to the Indian military. But the armed forces are committed to maintain the legitimacy of our claims on the Line of Control and play a constructive role in maintaining peace and stability not only in our immediate but extended neighbourhood,” Gen. Chauhan said.

Stating that a new revolution was being seen in military affairs mostly driven by technology, he urged cadets on the need to be “well-informed” and “adaptive” to meet the demands of this transformation and be future ready for combat.

Earlier, Gen. Chauhan, himself an alumnus of the 58th course of the NDA, inspected the parade line-up of the passing out cadets and pinned medals on the award-winning cadets.

A total of 1175 cadets participated in the parade of which 356 cadets were from the passing out course. This included 214 Army cadets, 36 Naval cadets and 106 Air Force cadets including 19 cadets from Friendly Foreign Countries (Bhutan, Tajikistan, the Maldives, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bangladesh). The cadets will hereafter join their respective pre-commissioning training academics.