Imphal: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday declared several ‘Meitei’ extremist organisations as “unlawful associations” under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) to curb their “secessionist, subversive, terrorist and violent activities” for a period of five years.
In a notification issued by Additional Secretary, MHA, Piyush Goyal declared the ‘Meitei’extremist organisations, namely – 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 ‘Red Army’, the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) and its armed wing, also called the ‘Red Army’, the Kanglei Yaol Kanba Lup (KYKL), the Coordination Committee (CorCom) and the Alliance for Socialist Unity Kangleipak (ASUK) along with all their factions, wings and front organisations, as unlawful associations.”
The MHA said these organisations have, as their professed aim, “establishment of an independent nation by secession of Manipur from India through armed struggle and to incite indigenous people of Manipur for such secession”.
Moreover, the central government is of the opinion that the Meitei extremist organisations have been,- “engaging in activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India”, “employing and engaging in armed means to achieve their aforesaid objectives”, “attacking and killing the security forces, the police and civilians in Manipur”, “indulging in acts of intimidation, extortion and looting of civilian population for collection of funds for their organisations”.
The government also said that these groups are “making contacts with sources abroad for influencing public opinion and for securing their assistance by way of arms and training for the purpose of achieving their secessionist objective”, “maintaining camps in neighbouring countries for the purpose of sanctuaries, training and clandestine procurement of arms and ammunition”.
“The activities of these organisations are considered detrimental to the sovereignty and integrity of India and that they are unlawful associations,” the notification emphasised.
If there if there is no immediate curb and control of the ‘Meitei’ extremist organisations, the government believes they will take the opportunity to, mobilize their cadres for escalating their secessionist, subversive, terrorist and violent activities; propagate anti-national activities in collusion with forces inimical to sovereignty and integrity of India; indulge in killings of civilians and targeting of the police and security force personnel; procure and induct illegal arms and ammunition from across the international border; and extort and collect huge funds from public for their unlawful activities.
