India: Violent Surge In Manipur – Analysis

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India: Violent Surge In Manipur – Analysis
By: SATP

January 21, 2013

By Veronica Khangchian

On December 28, 2012, United National Liberation Front (UNLF) militants killed two Tangkhul tribal hunters at Kongkan village under the Chassad Police Station of Ukhrul District. A day later, owning responsibility for the killing, the UNLF sought forgiveness from the tribe, claiming that it was a case of ‘mistaken identity’, as its armed cadres mistook the hunters for Assam Rifles (AR) troopers.

Further, on November 23, 2012, on the eve of its 38th foundation day, UNLF militants had simultaneously triggered two improvised explosive devices (IEDs), planted at a distance of about 20 feet by the roadside, injuring two Army personnel and a sniffer dog at Konthoujam along the Imphal-Jiribam highway in Imphal West District.

UNLF again claimed responsibility for the ambush and reiterated its demand of holding a ‘plebiscite’ to resolve the armed conflict in Manipur. Refusing to hold talks with the Government, it declared that the conflict could only be resolved with restoration of Manipur’s ‘sovereignty’.

Earlier, on September 28, 2012, at least two AR personnel and a civilian were killed, while another five AR personnel and two civilians sustained injuries, in serial bomb blasts triggered by UNLF cadres at Kwatha village in Chandel District near the Indo-Myanmar border. While claiming responsibility for the ambush, the UNLF disclosed that the operation was carried out by its ‘mobile unit’ operating in Chandel District.

After a dramatic decline in insurgent violence over the preceding two years, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) database, total fatalities, at 110 in 2012, increased by 69.23 per cent over the 65 recorded in 2011.

While civilian fatalities remained at the same number, fatalities among the Security Forces (SFs) increased by two, from 10 in 2011 to 12 in 2012. There was a two-and-a-half fold increase in militant fatalities, from 30 in 2011 to 73 in 2012.

Manipur Fatalities: 2001-2013
Years

Civilians
Security Force Personnel
Terrorists
Total
2001

70
25
161
256
2002

36
53
101
190
2003

27
23
148
198
2004

40
41
127
208
2005

138
50
143
331
2006

107
37
141
285
2007

150
40
218
408
2008

131
13
341
485
2009

77
18
321
416
2010

26
8
104
138
2011

25
10
30
65
2012

25
12
73
110
2013

2
0
1
3
Total*

854
330
1909
3093
Source: SATP, *Data till January 20, 2013
63 incidents of killing were recorded in 2012, as compared to 33 in 2011. The number of major incidents (each involving three or more killings) in 2012 stood at eight, as against three in 2011. Similarly, 107 incidents of explosion were recorded in 2012, resulting in nine killed and 90 injured, as compared to just 39 bomb blasts in 2011, with eight fatalities and 52 injured.

46 abductions were recorded in 30 registered incidents, as compared to 32 abductions in 14 reported incidents in 2011 [a large proportion of abductions go unreported]. In one such incident, suspected Kuki National Army (KNA) militants abducted four employees of the State Electricity Department, from Tengnoupal in Chandel District, on December 18, 2012. The militants allegedly made a demand of INR 500,000, though no further reports are available in the open source.

Extortion continues to remain a major concern in the State, with SATP recording at least 35 incidents in 2012. 40 incidents of extortion were recorded during the preceding year. According to a January 18, 2012, report, a probe carried out by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) discovered that the UNLF alone earned around INR 1.5 billion between 2007 and 2010 through extortion.

Incidents of violence were reported from all the nine Districts of Manipur, both in 2011 and 2012.

Meanwhile, the CorCom, which comprises of seven Valley-based militant groups, including the UNLF, remained the most violent formation in the State. Of 12 SFs fatalities in 2012, nine were attributed to CorCom. Further, of 107 blasts in 2012, the formation was responsible for 33. It had escalated violence particularly during the Assembly Elections of January 2012. In once such incident, on January 26, 2012, two days before elections and on the occasion of India’s Republic Day, at least four SF personnel and three militants were killed in two separate clashes in Manipur, at Aishi village in Ukhrul District and at Taretlok, bordering Thoubal and Ukhrul District.

Manipur also saw an escalation of violence by Naga groupings engaged in factional clashes in the Tamenglong District. The year recorded at least 10 clashes between the Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF) – at times a combined force of ZUF and Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland–Khaplang (NSCN-K)] – and the NSCN-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM), which resulted in 25 fatalities, as compared to seven fatalities in four such reported incidents in 2011. The worst fratricidal clash between ZUF and NSCN-IM cadres erupted in the evening of September 25, 2012, and continued late into the night of September 26, leaving six persons dead. The incident occurred inside a forest near Wairangba village in the interior Tamenglong District.

The PLA’s close links with the Communist Party of India–Maoist (CPI-Maoist) further accentuated apprehensions. According to a December 18, 2012, report, a supplementary charge sheet filed by the NIA in the CPI-Maoist-PLA nexus case revealed that the CPI-Maoist had been procuring Chinese arms and communication equipment from PLA via Myanmar, and routing it to Kolkata (West Bengal) through Guwahati (Assam) between 2006 and 2011. The charge-sheet has been filed against Maoist leaders, Pallab Borborah alias Profull (‘chief coordinator’ for ‘expanding’ Maoist activities and ‘forging ties’ with the Northeastern insurgent group); Indranil Chanda alias Raj (described by NIA as the Maoists’ chief in Assam); and PLA’s ‘external affairs chief’ Asem Ibotombi Singh alias Angou, who were arrested in 2012 from Assam, Kolkata and Odisha, respectively. The accused are alleged to have played a significant role in the training of Maoists by PLA in Jharkhand’s Saranda Forest, apart from facilitating procurement of arms and communication equipment.

Security agencies believe that the CPI-Maoist is making rapid inroads into the North-East, immediately to gain access to the arms market in the neighbouring Yunan Province of China, as well as in Myanmar and the Southeast Asian countries.

Amidst rising fratricidal violence, the SFs also intensified their operations. The year registered a total of 33 encounters between SFs and militants, in which 48 militants were killed (the remaining 25 militant fatalities were the result of factional clashes) as compared to just 10 encounters in 2011, in which 23 militants were eliminated (another seven were killed in factional clashes). In a major encounter, on June 30, 2012, at least four cadres belonging to the Lungam group of KNA, including its ‘commander-in-chief’ Lunkhongam, were killed at Phaikok village, located close to Myanmar border, in Ukhrul District.

The State recorded 609 arrests of insurgent cadres in 2012, as compared to 546 in 2011. The arrested militants in 2012 prominently belonged to different factions of the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP, 117), People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK, 87), People’s Liberation Army (PLA 62), UNLF (43), the Progressive faction of PREPAK (PREPAK-Pro, 35), NSCN-IM (28), United Peoples’ Party of Kangleipak (UPPK, 19), Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL, 11) and NSCN-K (4). In one significant arrest outside the State, on November 1, 2012, Ningthoujam Romen Singh alias Rocky (27), the ‘Commander-in-Chief’, who is also the ‘Finance Secretary’, of the Military Council faction of KCP (KCP-MC) was arrested from Sarai Kale Khan in New Delhi, for his alleged involvement in unlawful activities and several cases of murder, abduction and extortion.

The intensified pressure of SFs resulted in the surrender of at least 303 militants in 2012, as against 271 in 2011. In the most significant surrender of the year, 114 militants belonging to different outfits surrendered, along with arms, before Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, at Mantripukhri in Imphal East District, on September 26, 2012. The 114 cadres who lay down their arms in the ceremony included 16 from the Kazi Umar faction of the People’s United Liberation Front (PULF); 18 from UNLF; 17 each from KYKL and PREPAK; 12 from the Kuki National Liberation Front (KNLF); nine from various factions of KCP; 13 from PLA; six from UPPK; and three from the United Naga People’s Council (UNPC). Among those who surrendered, five were women.

On the political front, the State remained a major player in negotiations for a ‘solution’ to the ‘Naga issue’. On October 10, 2012, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, hinting that a ‘solution’ to the ‘Naga issue’ was likely before March 2013, when Assembly polls in Nagaland are due to be held, disclosed, “I have been talking to the Chief Ministers of both Arunachal and Manipur, and we are trying to reach a consensus on this.” The Kukis in Manipur opposed the talks, threatening to renew their demand for statehood, even as the Meiteis vehemently rejected the talks, claiming that settlement proposals would disturb the ‘unity of Manipur or its territorial integrity’. On October 19, 2012, Thangkhosei Haokip, the newly re-elected President of Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM), the apex traditional institution of the Kukis in the State, asserted, “Justice has to be delivered to the Kukis before any settlement is arrived at between the NSCN-IM and the GoI (Government of India)”. He then asserted that any further denial of justice to the Kukis was bound to compel the apex Kuki body to review its fundamental principles of non-communal, peaceful co-existence and justice for all.

Further, on November 2, 2012, the Kuki National Organization (KNO), an umbrella organization of 16 Kuki militant groups, threatened to resume armed struggle and to ‘secede from Manipur’ if the Centre did not begin talks with them. Meanwhile, the Suspension of Operations (SoO) pact signed between the two umbrella bodies of KNO and UPF, the Central Government and the State Government, in August 2005, which was extended by three months on August 31, 2012, expired on November 22, 2012. According to a January 2, 2013, report, Joint Secretary (North-East) Shambhu Singh was to finalize the modalities with the two Kuki militant formations to initiate formal peace talks at the earliest.

On the other hand, the United Committee Manipur (UCM), the apex body of the Meiteis, on October 18, 2012, categorically stated that it would demand ‘pre-merger status’ of Manipur if the ongoing political dialogue between NSCN-IM and GoI disturbed the unity or territorial integrity of Manipur in any way. UCM argues that Manipur was ‘forcibly merged’ with India on 15 October, 1949.

On October 26, 2012, the United Naga Council (UNC), the main apex body of the Nagas, asserted that a peaceful parting of the Nagas in Manipur and the Meiteis, as good neighbours, was the only way to avert a catastrophic situation that would arise out of the prolonged ‘forced union of the two’.

Conspicuously, the growing ‘unity’ of valley based militant groupings, turf war-related rivalries among Naga militant groupings, and ethnic tensions between the three principle ethnic groups – Kuki, Naga and Meitei – continued to undermine peace efforts in the State, notwithstanding the earlier tainted recovery. Unsurprisingly, on December 3, 2012, the State Government extended the Disturbed Areas Act in Manipur for another year, till November 30, 2013. It remains to be seen whether New Delhi and the State Government are able to counter the insurgents effectively, and extract the State from the endless violence that has now continuously plagued it for 48 years.

Veronica Khangchian
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

The United National Liberation Front (UNLF) is an insurgent group in the state of Manipur in the north-east of India. The UNLF aims to establish an independent socialist Manipur. The outfit was founded on 24 November 1964 with the following key personalities as its central committee members.

The United Nation Liberation Front movement manifested as a result of several similar movements of the same political agenda. The UNLF is also the oldest insurgent organization of Manipur, India, forming in 1964. . They have several organized training camps within the northeast sector of India and the neighbouring countries of Myanmar and Bangladesh. Ningtam Meira is the primary media outlet they use to make publications.

 

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Insurgency in Northeast India

Various groups are involved in the Insurgency in Northeast India, India's north east states, which are connected to the rest of India by a narrow strip of land known as the Siliguri Corridor.In the region several armed factions operate. Some groups call for a separate state, others for regional autonomy while some extreme groups demand complete independence.

Northeastern India consists of 7 states (also known as the seven sisters): Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, and Nagaland. Tensions exist between these states and the central government as well as amongst the tribal people, who are natives of these states, and migrant peoples from other parts of India.

The states have accused New Delhi of ignoring the issues concerning them.[citation needed] A feeling of second-class citizenship meted out to them by mainland Indians has led the natives of these states to seek greater participation in self-governance. There are existing territorial disputes between Manipur and Nagaland, Nagaland and Assam, Meghalaya and Assam, and Mizoram and Assam, often based on historical border disputes and differing ethnic, tribal or cultural affinities.[citation needed] There has been a number of insurgent activities and regional movements in all parts of the northeast, often unique in character to each state. Military action by the armed and paramilitary forces and political action have led to the intensity of these insurgencies fluctuating and to the resolution of the insurgency in Mizoram.[citation needed]

Regional tensions have eased off as of late, with Indian and state governments' concerted effort to raise the living standards of the people in these regions. However, militancy still exists within the region. At present insurgent activity is present in Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura.

Assam
Assam has been the hotbed of militancy for a number of years due to its porous borders with Bangladesh and Bhutan. The main causes of the friction include the anti-foreigner agitation in the 1980s and the simmering Assam-Bodo tensions. The insurgency status in Assam is classified as very active.The government of Bangladesh has arrested and extradited senior leaders of ULFA.

ULFA
The United Liberation Front of Asom was formed in April 1979 to establish a sovereign state of Assam through an armed struggle. In recent times the organisation has lost out its middle rung leaders after most of them were arrested.

NDFB
The National Democratic Front of Bodoland was formed in 1989 as the Bodo Security Force, aims to set up an autonomous region Bodoland.

KLNLF
The Karbi Longri N.C. Hills Liberation Front is a militant group operating in Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao districts of Assam that was formed on May 16, 2004. The outfit claims to fight for the cause of Karbi tribes and its declared objective is Hemprek Kangthim, meaning self-rule/self-determination of the Karbi people. It is closely linked with the ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom)

UPDS
The United People's Democratic Solidarity was formed in March 1999 with the merger of two terrorist outfits in Assam's Karbi Anglong district, the Karbi National Volunteers (KNV) and Karbi People’s Front (KPF).

Manipur
Insurgent groups in Manipur may be broadly classified into hill-based (mostly tribals) and valley based(mostly majority meiteis).While the former demand for tribal state to preserve their tribal cultures from outside influence,the latter based their demands for independence from historical perspective claiming that Manipur a princely state with its geographical area extending to as far as the Kabaw valley of modern Myanmar during the British colonialism,was never a part of India and continues to remain so.About 90% of the hill-based insurgents and a few of the valley-based insurgents have now entered what is called Suspension of Operation (SoO).

Peoples Liberation Army
The Peoples Liberation Army is a leftist organisation formed in 1978 with the aim of liberating Manipur from India.

UNLF
The United National Liberation Front was created in 1964 and demands an independent socialist state of Manipur.

PREPAK
People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak is an armed insurgent group in Manipur demanding a separate and independent homeland.

Nagaland
Nagaland was created in 1963 as the 16th State of Indian Union, before which it was a district of Assam.[2] Insurgent groups classified as active, mainly demand full independence. The Naga National Council led by Phizo was the first group to dissent in 1947 and in 1956 they went underground.

NSCN-IM
The National Socialist Council of Nagaland was formed in 1980 to establish a Greater Nagaland, encompassing parts of Manipur, Nagaland, the north Cachar hills (Assam). The NSCN split in 1988 to form two groups namely NSCN(IM) & NSCN(K). As of now, both the groups are in ceasefire with the Indian government.Though sovereignty and independence was their ideology initially, of late the Indo-Naga talks seem to centre around Greater Nagaland which itself is being vehemently opposed by the states of Assam,Manipur,Arunachal Pradesh etc. solely for the reason that it is nothing sort of encroachment on their territories which continues to forment suspicion and ill-will in the North-east India. However, they continue to be actively involved in illegal activities including extortion, kidnapping, inter-factional clashes, bootlegging and recruitment besides imposing various tax/duties to all types of commercial enterprises and establishments. In spite of the name, the Council's ideology is Maoist rather than Hitlerite.

NSCN-K
The National Socialist Council of Nagaland—Khaplang is the second faction with the same aim of a Greater Nagaland and was formed in 1988.

Tripura
The insurgent groups in Tripura were emerged in the end of the 1970s, as ethnic tensions between the Bengali immigrants and the tribal native population who were outnumbered by the former hailing from mainland India and nearby Bangladesh which resulted in their being reduced to minority status even threatening them economically,socially, culturally which thus resulted in a clarion call of safeguarding tribal rights and cultures.Such being the extent of desperation naturally resulted in hatred and suspicion and as such their status is classified as very active.

National Liberation Front of Tripura
The National Liberation Front of Tripura was formed in March 1989.

All Tripura Tiger Force
The All Tripura Tiger Force was formed by the local aboriginal tribals in 1990, who were gradually outnumbered both directly and indirectly even at the cost of being threatened for their survival economically and culturally not to speak of their being reduced to minority population-wise, with the sole aim of the expulsion of all Bengali speaking immigrants from mainland India and nearby Bangladesh.

Meghalaya
Problems in Meghalaya arise from the divide between tribals and non tribal settlers, identity issues and growing corruption besides the fear of being reduced to minority by native tribals. The activity status is classified as active.

ANVC
The Achik National Volunteer Council was formed in 1995 with the intentions of forming an Achik Land in the Garo Hills. As of 2010, a Suspension of Operations Agreement (SoO) between the Government and ANVC has been in force since 23 July 2004.[3]

HNLC
The Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council, formed in 1992, aims to free the state from the alleged Garo and non-tribal Indian domination.

Mizoram
Mizoram's tensions are largely due to the simmering Assamese domination and the neglect of the Mizo people. In 1986, the Mizo accord ended the main secessionist movement led by the Mizo National Front, bringing peace to the region. Insurgency status is classified as partially active, due to secessionist/autonomy demands by the Hmars, chakmas, Brus, Pawis, Lais and the Reangs.

Hmar People's Convention-Democratic - HPC(D)
The Hmar People's Convention-Democracy is an armed insurgency group formed in 1995 to create an independent Hmar State in North East India. It is the offspring of the Hmar People's Convention (HPC), which entered into agreement with the Government of Mizoram in 1994 resulting in the formation of Sinlung Hills Development Council (SHDC) in North Mizoram. Their recruited cadres are from the States where the Hmar people are spread - Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghaaya. The HPC(D) is demanding a separate administrative unit under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India.

BNLF
The Bru National Liberation Front was formed in 1997 to protect the rights and dignity of the Reangs. The BNLF have surrendered with 757 of their comrades to the Mizoram Government on 21 October 2006.

 

[beijingwalker]

quite a bunch in such a small area,India northeast must be crowded with rebels..