Half Yearly Assessment:

2011

Manipur Still remains a serious insurgency-hit state even though the number of casualties in insurgency-related incidents has gone down. During the first six months of 2011, there were 33 casualties in insurgency-related violence in the state. The security forces have achieved good success in counter-insurgency operations over the last few years and it continued this year too. The protests against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) also continued in Manipur.

The major incidents in the first six months of 2011 include:

January 1-2: Two troopers of the Assam Rifles and one militant were killed in an encounter in Ukhrul district.

March 21: Bullet riddled bodies of four suspected cadres of United Tribal Liberation Front (UTLA) were recovered by troops of Assam Rifles from a place at Longkaophul village in interior Tamenglong district. Police suspected the cadres killed in a rival clash between the UTLA and suspected NSCN-K cadres.

April 15: Militants ambushed the convoy of independent legislator Wungnaohang Keishing. Seven policemen were killed and six injured in the ambush.

The demand for holding a plebiscite to decide Manipur’s sovereignty gained momentum in the state with the jailed ‘chairman’ of the insurgent group United National Liberation Front (UNLF), RK Meghen alias Sanayaima declining peace talks with the government. On February 21, 2011 he said that the outfit would lay down arms before United Nations authorities if the Centre allowed a plebiscite in Manipur in the presence of UN representatives and arrange for the deployment of UN peacekeeping forces in the State. The demand is getting strong with civil society groups and prominent personalities from the state like former Chief Minister of Manipur and state chief of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Radhabinod Koijam joining the process.

In June 2011, there were reports that insurgent outfits in the Northeast like the NSCN-K, ULFA, anti-talk faction of the NDFB, United National Liberation Front (UNLF), Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) and People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) were in a process to come together under an umbrella body. UNLF’s jailed chief RK Meghen has confirmed this report.

Meanwhile, the demands for repeal of the AFSPA continued in the state. Irom Sharmila entered the 11th year of her fast-unto-death against the act. Chief Minister of Manipur, O Ibobi Singh said on March 17, 2011 that considering the present turmoil in the state with multiple issues of insurgency related problems, the total lifting of the Act from the state was not possible. He also stated that the complete repealing of AFSPA is not the call of the State government and the Central government has to agree with that.

On January 14, 2011, reports in a local newspaper, Nagaland Post stated that the NSCN-IM and Kuki National Organization (KNO) signed a MoU demarcating their respective areas in the hill areas of Manipur. The 'MoU' was signed between KNO President P S Haokip and NSCN-IM General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah in October 2010 in the presence of leaders of Kuki Inpi, Kuki Nampi Palai, Kuki Students' Organisation, UNC, ANSAM, NSF and Naga Peoples' Movement for Human Rights. According to the 'MoU', the Hill areas presently demarcated as Churachandpur and Chandel districts of Manipur, the autonomous Sadar Hills Region of Senapati district and all Kuki villages in Ukhrul, Senapati and Tamenglong districts contiguous to Chandel, Sadar hills and Churachandpur belonged to the Kuki people and shall form a Kuki state. Likewise, the Hill areas presently demarcated as Ukhrul and Tamenglong districts of Manipur, all Naga villages in Sadar Hills region of Senapati, Chandel and Churachandpur districts, the areas in Senapati district other than the Sadar Hills Autonomous region belonged to the Naga people and shall be integrated into 'greater Nagalim.' It was also agreed that the Kuki villages in the interior of Ukhrul, Tamenglong and areas of Senapati district other than the Autonomous district Region of Sadar Hills would remain within 'greater Nagalim'. The MoU stated that the Naga villages in the interiors of Sadar Hills Autonomous Region in Senapati district, Chandel and Churachandpur districts shall remain within Kuki state.

The peace talks with the Kuki militant groups under ceasefire are yet to start properly in Manipur. The government is in Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with two consortiums of Kuki militant groups, Kuki National Organization (KNO) and United Peoples’ Front (UPF). On March 2011, they appealed to the government to initiate a joint meeting with the two umbrella groups of the Kuki militants who are under the SoO while maintaining that the Union government has so far met the two groups only separately.

The state of Manipur is yet to achieve peace and tranquillity. The insurgent groups in the state are still active and are engaged with the security forces. The forces have achieved quite a considerable success in the past two years but there is still time for the arrival of a lasting peace in the region. Maybe the remaining six months of the year may give an answer as to when peace will permanently reside in the state.

Yearly Assessment:

2010

Manipur, which is considered as the most insurgency-hit state in the Northeast, saw a steep decline in insurgency-related fatalities from 416 in 2009 to 134 in 2010. The 134 fatalities in 2010 included 103 militants, 24 civilians and 7 Security Force personnel in 1,086 recorded incidents, as against 416 persons, including 321 militants, 77 civilians and 18 SF personnel, killed in 950 incidents in 2009.

The major insurgency-related incidents of 2010 were:

February 11: Three suspected militants were shot dead by security forces during an encounter at Nambasi village under the Kasom Khullen sub-division in Ukhrul district.

February 17: At least five People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) militants were shot dead by security force personnel during an encounter in Chandel district.

March 2: Three suspected cadres of the Military Defence Force faction of the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) were shot dead by a rival faction in the Kamuching Hills under the Yairipok Police Station in Thoubal district.

March 21: Four militants of United Tribal Liberation Army (UTLA), a newly formed militant group, are killed inside the Longpi Government High School in Tamenglong district.

May 14: Five suspected Pakan Revolutionary Army (PRA) militants were shot dead by security forces in Chandel district.

July 21: 18 militants were killed and four were injured in a clash between the combined cadres of the Kuki Liberation Army (KLA) and Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA), on the one hand, and the Prithvi faction of the Kuki National Front (KNF), on the other, in the Seijang Hill area on the border between the Imphal East and Senapati districts.

October 6: Manipur Police commandos gun down four militants of Kangleipak Communist Party (Mobile task force) at Yumnam Khunou Mamangpat, Mutum Yangbi area, about 28 km from Imphal.

Security Forces achieved many significant successes in the year 2010. They were able to arrest many top leaders of the insurgent outfits in Manipur. Ningthoujam Tomba alias Koireng, the military chief of KYKL, was arrested from Matigara of Darjeeling district in West Bengal on March 14, 2010. Further, Gopeshwar aka Athouba, the ‘chief' of the Military Defense Faction of KYKL was arrested on April 2, 2010, from Shillong in Meghalaya. Two chief operatives belonging to the Lamyanba Khuman group of the Military Council faction of the KCP were also arrested by a combined team of Manipur Police and Mizoram Police from Aizawl town in the night of March 15, 2010. But the biggest catch was that of Rajkumar Meghen, the ‘chairman’ of United National Liberation Front (UNLF), who was arrested on November 31, 2010 from Motihari in East Champaran district of Bihar. He had earlier gone missing after being reportedly arrested in Bangladesh in September 2010.
A number of militants also surrendered in the year. On September 21, 2010, 120 cadres of the Samuel faction of the KNF laid down arms the Assam Rifles and Churachandpur district Police. On September 28, 2010, 12 cadres belonging to the Pakan Reunification Army (PRA), including its ‘secretary’ Nungchin (53), surrendered before the security forces along with arms and ammunition in a formal surrender ceremony at Mantripukhri in Imphal West District. The Kuki National Front (KNF) also deposited its arms and ammunition at a designated camp at Natheljang in Sadar Hills of Senapati district on September 15, 2010. It was already under ceasefire agreement with the government since August 2005.

However, though the number of incidents of violence has decreased in Manipur, the extortion network still runs large in the state. The insurgents still target the government offices and officials, educational institutions, health centres, commercial establishments and as well the common people and extract levies from them.

Manipur turned tense on the news of the visit of NSCN-IM general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah to his native village Somdal in Ukhrul district of Manipur on the first week of May 2010. The Manipur State Cabinet on April 30, 2010 decided not to allow entry of Muivah in Manipur as it considered that there are possibilities of disturbances in the state if the NSCN-IM leader comes to Manipur. It clamped Section 144 of Cr PC in the Senapati district and brought in additional forces in order to prevent entry of Muivah in Manipur. After this decision of the government, seven Naga MLAs resigned protesting the move. On May 6, 2010, the situation in Mao border gate, through which Muivah was expected to enter Manipur, turned tense. A number of locals stormed a temporary security barrack which lead the security personnel resort to firing leaving three locals dead and fifty others, including women, injured. After this incident and at the request of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Muivah postponed his visit to Somdal and camped himself in Viswema village near the Mao gate on the inter-state border of Nagaland and Manipur.

After the Manipur government denied entry to Muivah, various Naga tribal groups launched an indefinite economic blockade in Manipur. An economic blockade was already in place in Manipur from April 11, 2010 by Naga groups residing in Manipur protesting the state government’s decision to hold autonomous council elections and after the state government denied the entry of Muivah, the Naga groups continued with the blockade. Hundreds of trucks carrying essentials and medicines were stranded in the adjoining state of Nagaland with protesters blocking the National Highway 39, the main lifeline to Manipur. Eventually, on June 5, 2010, the Central Government persuaded Muivah to leave Vishwema village where he had been camping since May 6, 2010. The blockade of NH-39 was lifted on June 18, 2010 after negotiations with different Naga groups.

The year 2010 saw the increasing nexus of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) and insurgent groups of the Northeast. In Manipur, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and PREPAK have established links with the CPI-Maoist. Kanchan, the West Bengal State ‘secretary’ of the CPI-Maoist, who was arrested on December 3, 2010, revealed during interrogation that the Maoists in West Bengal had received a huge cache of arms and ammunition from PREPAK.

The security forces have gained significant success against the insurgents in Manipur in 2010. The government is now in a position in which it can work effectively to eradicate insurgency from the state. For this it has to take measures for development of economy and infrastructure in the state. Only then the situation in Manipur would be stable and it would cease to be the most trouble state of the Northeast.