New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Monday extended the ban on nine “Meitei extremist organisations” under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for their declared aim of Manipur’s secession from India. The fresh ban will be in place for five years.
The MHA gazette notification names the Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) and its political wing, the Revolutionary Peoples’ Front (RPF), the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) and its armed wing, the Manipur Peoples’ Army (MPA), the Peoples’ Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) and its armed wing, the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) and its armed wing, the Kanglei Yaol Kanba Lup (KYKL), the Coordination Committee (CorCom) and the Alliance for Socialist Unity Kangleipak (ASUK).
These organisations were first banned in November 2018 on account of their involvement in 756 instances of violence which led to the killings of 86 persons including 35 security forces personnel between 1 January 2013 and 31 July 2018, according to the gazette notification dated 13 November 2018.
The extension of the ban comes in the wake of months-long ethnic violence in the northeastern state, between the Meiteis and the Kukis, which has led to dozens of killings and left thousands displaced.
Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, a Meitei himself, has blamed the violence on Kuki militants based in India and abroad, saying they have waged a war against India.
‘Detrimental to sovereignty & integrity of India’
In its notification, the MHA said the extremist organisations named have been killing security and police personnel as well as civilians in Manipur and are engaged in activities that are harmful for the sovereignty and integrity of the country.
These organisations are looting the public and extorting money to collect funds to meet their secessionist objectives, it added.
The ministry said these organisations have set up camps in neighbouring countries to avail of safe haven, training and for a secret flow of information, while influencing public opinion in their favour and subsequently securing their help in fulfilling their objectives.
The ministry said it was necessary to ban these organisations because they would have continued their “secessionist, subversive, terrorist and violent activities” in collusion with forces “inimical to sovereignty and integrity of India”.
“The central government is of the opinion that the activities of the Meitei extremist organisations are considered detrimental to the sovereignty and integrity of India and that they are unlawful associations,” the notification said.
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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