The year 2000 has seen a rise in incidents of violence in Manipur. In the first six months of the year (until June 28), 127 terrorism related incidents were reported, including the killing of a candidate for the February 12 State Assembly elections. This killing was, carried out by Hmar People's Convention (HPC) in Churachandpur district on January 31, 2000, for defying their warning against contesting this election.
In this period, 106 lives were lost in these violent incidents which include 53 terrorists, 26 security force personnel and 27 civilians. The Central government responded to this deteriorating climate of violence by sending a team headed by former Home Secretary N N Vohra to review the situation and measures required to counter terrorist groups.
NOTE: Figures for 2000 till June 28.
1999 too showed an increasing trend of terrorist violence with 281 incidents being reported as compared to 255 in 1998. However, the total casualties declined marginally from 244 in 1998 to 231 in 1999. The number of security force personnel killed in 1999 increased marginally to 64 from 62 in 1998. Civilian casualties were 89 in 1999 as compared to 87 in 1998. The number of terrorists killed fell to 78 in 1999 as compared to 95 in 1998. The number of arms looted rose to 147 from 58 in 1998, and the total number of arms recovered fell from 95 to 65.
Among 35 insurgent groups present in the State, 18 groups were reported to be active through the year in their quest for demands that ranged from the creation of a separate State within the Indian Union to outright sovereignty. Among the most active were five banned Meitei terrorist groups - the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK), the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) and Kanglei Yawol Kunna Lup (KYKL) - who were separately waging an armed struggle for their common objective of an ‘independent’ Manipur. On March 1, 1999, three of these terrorist groups, the UNLF, PLA and PREPAK, united to float a new platform, the Manipur People’s Liberation Front (MPLF), posing a serious threat to peace in the State.
The first major strike by Meitei insurgents in 1999 occurred when Dasarath Prasad, Director, Manipur Tourism, was shot dead on January 25. On February 15, nine army personnel were killed in an ambush by UNLF terrorists. On May 21, a powerful bomb exploded and another was detected and defused on the road leading to Imphal Airport, minutes before the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, arrived for his two-day visit to the State. No loss of life was caused by this explosion. In July a police official was killed. There were repeated ambushes on security force personnel, with 26 killed by terrorists based in the Imphal Valley districts of Bishnupur and Thoubal during the year. There were also reports of widespread extortion from government officials and civilians, carried out by the PLA, UNLF and PREPAK.
Some Islamic terrorist outfits had also emerged in the State in the early 1990s. They include: United Islamic Liberation Army (UILA), People’s United Liberation Front (PULF), North East Minority Front (NEMF) and Islamic National Front (INF). These groups remained more or less passive during 1999. However, law enforcement agencies closely monitored the activities of these groups and several activists were arrested.
Terrorism in Manipur continues to be influenced by the activities of the insurgent groups of other Northeastern States, particularly Nagaland. The main Naga insurgent group, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland -- Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) remained active in the Naga-inhabited districts of Manipur--Ukhrul, Senapati and Tamenglong. It is significant that Thuengaling Muivah, the General Secretary of the NSCN-IM, is a Tangkhul Naga from Manipur. The NSCN-IM is fighting for an ‘independent Nagaland’ that would include the Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur.
The Meiteis have strongly objected to this demand and, consequently, viewed with suspicion, the Central government’s ongoing negotiations with the NSCN-IM. These groups perceive that the peace talks with Naga groups would jeopardise Manipur’s territorial integrity. The ceasefire agreement that was signed between the NSCN-IM and the Central government in 1997 was later extended to the Naga-inhabited areas in Manipur and in other neighbouring States. However, this step failed to check Naga insurgent activities in Manipur, and has proven a boon for many of the Valley-based Meitei terrorists, who are now bivouacking in the hill districts, taking full advantage of the ceasefire there.
One of the most intractable problems facing Manipur is the ethnic conflict between Nagas and another major tribal group in the State, Kukis. The Kukis have been struggling for a separate State within the Indian Union since the late 1980s. There have been repeated Kuki-Naga clashes in the State. The ethnic conflict has an added dimension as a result of a bitter struggle to control drug trafficking and smuggling of contraband through the border town of Moreh. The NSCN-IM controlled this illegal commerce till the Kuki-Naga clashes erupted in 1992. The Kukis are now in control, but the NSCN-IM remains determined to drive its rival out of Moreh, as well as out of the Kuki settlements in the Naga dominated hill districts. The conflict has resulted in the death of nearly a thousand people so far and an enormous loss of property. Over 2,000 houses have been burnt and hundreds of villages were affected.
The Kuki-Naga tension persisted through the year, especially in the Chandel district. Nevertheless, violence has substantially been contained. There were only two incidents in 1999, claiming 10 lives, as compared to 18 such incidents in the previous year, with 33 lives lost.
The entire State’s polity remained polarised along ethnic lines. In addition to the Meitei, Kuki and Naga rebel groups, several other tribes, such as the Paite, Vaiphei and Hmars have also launched their own terrorist groups in recent years. There have also been frequent internecine conflicts, particularly between the Kukis and the Paites. However, there were no violent incidents between these two tribes in 1999, the fruit of the Agreement between their leaders dating back to October 1998. Violence between the Kukis and the Paites had peaked in 1997-98, when clashes claimed over 1,000 lives, with 4,600 houses torched and hundreds of thousands of rupees worth of property destroyed.
While ethnic violence was substantially contained in 1999, the law and order situation remained grave. Subversive activities of insurgent groups were particularly stepped up on the eve of the elections to the thirteenth Lok Sabha (Parliamentary). The UNLF carried out two ambushes against security forces convoys on October 2 and 4 killing six security personnel and ten civilians in the two incidents at Henglep and Sugnu.
The first week of October also saw the NSCN-IM organise a series of raids in which more than 100 sophisticated rifles, thousands of rounds of ammunition and some wireless sets were ‘snatched’ from Manipur Rifles personnel who had been sent into the hill districts for election duty. There is reason to suspect that there was an element of collusion in these incidents; allegations of a nexus between some sections of the State police and Manipur Rifles, on the one hand and the terrorists, on the other, are frequently reported. State police personnel are often bound by tribal loyalties and there have been incidents reported when they have voluntarily handed over service weapons to their clansmen.
The army, which had deployed over 20,000 personnel in Manipur at the behest of the State government, was in favour of launching joint counter-insurgency operations under a Unified Command structure. The Manipur government has, however, consistently blocked the proposal. Maj. Gen. Arvind Sharma, General-Officer-Commanding, 57 Mountain Division, who is in charge of counter-insurgency operations in Manipur has spoken to the press of the difficulties faced by army personnel in their action against terrorists. Most of the ‘insurgents’, almost 90 per cent, arrested by the army were almost immediately released by the police or the courts. According to Maj. Gen. Sharma, nearly 70 per cent of those released immediately rejoined the armed movement. He conceded, however, that the army personnel, who come from various States outside the region, faced a problem in making a positive and foolproof identification of suspects; this was one of the grounds that made joint operations necessary.
In view of continued violence in the State, the Manipur government re-imposed the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, declaring the State a Disturbed Area for a further two years, commencing June 1, 2000.