New Delhi The Union government and Manipur Wednesday signed a peace agreement with the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), Manipur’s oldest valley-based armed group, which was also among the nine Meitei extremist groups on which the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had extended a ban earlier this month.
The UNLF, which was formed in 1964 and has been operating both within and outside India, had reportedly returned to the state and become active in midst of the ongoing ethnic conflict.
This peace agreement follows the extension of a ban imposed on the UNLF and eight other organisations for “engaging in activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India”. The ban was extended for five years on 13 November.
The home ministry had said that the “professed aim” of these outfits was the “establishment of an independent nation by secession of Manipur from India through armed struggle, and to incite indigenous people of Manipur for such secession”.
The agreement with the UNLF was signed two weeks later. According to the home ministry, this is the first time a valley-based Manipuri armed group has agreed to return to the mainstream by “abjuring violence and agreeing to honour the Constitution of India and laws of the land”.
In a statement issued by the MHA, Union Home Minister Amit Shah called it a “landmark achievement” for “all-inclusive development and providing a better future to the youths in Northeast India”
A home ministry spokesperson said, “The agreement will not only bring an end to hostilities between the UNLF and security forces which have claimed precious lives on both sides over the last more than half a century but also provide an opportunity to address the longstanding concerns of the community,” the spokesperson said.
He added that the return of the UNLF to the mainstream will also encourage other valley-based armed groups to participate in the peace process in due course.
According to the MHA, a Peace Monitoring Committee (PMC) will be constituted to oversee enforcement of the agreed ground rules. The development is likely to be a significant step in restoring peace and normalcy in the state.
The Government of India has signed agreements with several armed groups of the Northeast region since 2014 to end militancy and promote development, the spokesperson said.
Earlier, in 2008, a pact known as the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement was signed between Kuki militant groups and the central and Manipur governments, in light of the Kuki-Naga clashes in the 1990s.
Under this agreement, members of these groups were required to suspend their operations as insurgents and stay within designated camps with their weapons securely stored in safe zones under a double-locking system. The cadres were prohibited from opening fire, and the security forces from launching operations against them.
‘Oldest insurgent outfit’
The UNLF, formed under the leadership of Arambam Samarendra, is the oldest known Meitei insurgent group in Manipur. It was formed in 1964 to establish an “independent, sovereign Manipur”.
It was in 1990 that the UNLF launched an armed struggle for the ‘liberation’ of Manipur from India.
According to sources, the organisation has several camps in Myanmar’s Sagaing Region as well as in parts of Bangladesh, and its outfit armed wing is called the Manipur People’s Army (MPA).
According to information available on South Asia Terrorism, UNLF leaders had supported the Pakistani Army during the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war and later, the group also developed a relationship with China even while continuing its relations with Pakistan.
Also read: ‘Ignored & forgotten’ or ‘base of live insurgency’ — inside a Manipur SoO camp for Kuki insurgents