new DElhi, Nov 14
Amid the ongoing crisis in Manipur, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday notified an extension of its ban under the UAPA of seven “Meitei Extremist Organisations” and their affiliates for a period of five years.
The groups are: the People’s Liberation Army and its political wing, the Revolutionary People’s Front; the United National Liberation Front and its armed wing, the Manipur People’s Army; the People’s Revolutionary Army of Kangleipak and its armed wing, the “Red Army”; The Kangleipak Communist Party and its armed wing, also called the “Red Army”; the Kanglei Yaol Kanba Lup; the Coordination Committee; and the Alliance for Socialist Unity Kangleipak.
The MHA notification collectively referred to them as “Meitei Extremist Organisations”, having the professed aim of the secession of Manipur from India through armed struggle and “and to incite indigenous people of Manipur for such secession”.
The notification stated that the Union government is of the opinion that these groups have been “engaging in activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India”, engaging in armed means to achieve their objectives, attacking and killing civilians, police and security forces in Manipur, intimidating and extorting civilians to collect funds, maintaining camps in neighbouring countries, and “making contacts with sources abroad” to influence public opinion and secure their assistance to procure arms and training.
Stating that these organisations are considered detrimental to the sovereignty and integrity of India, the notifications said that the Union government is of the opinion that in the absence of “immediate curb and control”, they will take the opportunity to continue with these activities. A 2018 notification for their ban had specified that these groups were involved in 756 violent incidents in the preceding five years and had been responsible for the killing of 86 people, including 35 security forces personnel, in that period.
While Monday’s notification did not carry such an enumeration, the increased activity of cadres of these groups with the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur has been a concern, especially since these groups had weakened and waned over the years.
The oldest of these Meitei insurgent groups, the UNLF, had been formed in 1964, and the others came into being subsequently – both to press for secession and to ward off the Naga insurgent groups operating in Manipur
In the last month, the Manipur Police arrested multiple people on different occasions in different parts of the Manipur valley, saying they were active members of groups such as KYKP, KCP and UNLF, found to be allegedly extorting the public and to be in possession of arms. In September, the NIA had arrested M Anand Singh, a former cadre of the PLA, from Imphal in a case related to “transnational conspiracy by Myanmar based leadership of terror outfits” to exploit the ethnic unrest to “wage a war against the government of India”.
