Manipur Strife: Intel Agencies Sound Alarm Over Links Between Meitei Terror Groups, Militias And Mobs

Indian army soldiers carried out a successful operation at Itham village in Imphal East district, about 15 kilometre southeast of state capital Imphal, Saturday (24 June) morning. 

The army, acting on specific intelligence, laid a cordon around the village, inhabited by Meiteis, and forced 12 militants belonging to the proscribed terror group--the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) to surrender. 

A sizable number of arms and ammunition, as well as stores, was recovered from the KYKL rebels who were led by self-styled ‘Lieutenant Colonel’ Moirangthem Tamba alias Uttam.

Uttam was the mastermind behind the ambush on a convoy of the 6 Dogra Regiment on 4 June 2015, that killed 18 soldiers and left 14 soldiers seriously injured. 

But as news of the army operation and capture of KYKL terrorists spread, Meiteis from Itham and surrounding villages congregated and surrounded the Army troops. 

The Meitei mob, numbered about 1,500 and led by women, demanded that the militants be freed and that the Army soldiers surrender their weapons, ammunition and bullet-proof vests. 

The soldiers, led by a mid-ranking officer, refused. That enraged the Meitei mobs.

According to Army officers, the mob was led by local leaders of the two Meitei militias — the Arambai Tenggol and the Meitei Leepun — that were behind the looting of nearly 4,000 rifles and small arms from Manipur police armouries. 

The volatile situation was defused when the Army ultimately agreed to hand over the captured terrorists to a ‘local leader’ (belonging to the Meitei Leepun). The Army soldiers were allowed to retreat with the weapons, ammunition and other stores they had captured from the KYKL militants.

Though the army authorities hailed the “mature decision” of the operational commander (to hand over Uttam and the 11 other KYKL terrorists) since “use of kinetic force” against such a large crowd could have led to many casualties, the incident has left a bitter aftertaste in the top echelons of the army. 

Though a tweet by the Dimapur-based 3 Corps (the ‘Spear Corps’) of the Indian Army (this Corps oversees army operations in Nagaland, Manipur and eastern Arunachal Pradesh) said the “mature decision on part of Operational Commander shows (the) humane face of the Indian Army to avoid any collateral damage during the ongoing unrest in Manipur”, senior army officers are sore over the incident. 

A senior officer of the 57 Mountain Division headquartered at Leimakhong, about 20 kilometre northwest of Imphal, told Swarajya that the incident has caused grave concern. 

“Uttam (the senior KYKL militant) was a prize catch and we could have got a lot of information from him. He was the one who masterminded the June 2015 attack on an army convoy and should have been brought to justice,” the officer said. 

The open support to the terrorists by Meitei mobs who were instigated by the two Metei militias (Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun) has set alarm bells ringing in the security establishment. 

The two Meitei militias, the senior Army officer said, have developed very close links with the Imphal Valley-based terror groups--the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK), Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP0, the KYKL and the Manipur People’s Revolutionary Front (MPRF).

Army and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) have concrete reasons to believe that the two Meitei militias have handed over a large number of the INSAS, AK-47 and M16 rifles, ammunition, grenades, mortars and other explosives they looted from the police armouries to the Meitei terror groups. 

“A large section of Meitei society have started looking up to the militias and the terror groups as their saviours. They (the Meiteis) have started believing that only the militias and the militants can defeat the designs of the Kukis to carve out a separate state for themselves,” said the officer posted at the Army’s 57 Mountain Division. 

Manipur’s territorial integrity is a live wire issue among Meiteis and even a hint of compromising that integrity evokes outrage among Meiteis irrespective of religion, class, political leanings and other divides. 

An IB deputy director told Swarajya that reports from the field indicate that the Meitei terror groups, which had been marginalised in recent years, are regaining the support of the Meitei masses. 

“Some very powerful politicians and civil society leaders have also developed strong links with these terror groups, especially the KYKL, PLA and PREPAK. The Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun have also developed a symbiotic relationship with some other (Imphal) Valley-based terror groups,” the IB officer told Swarajya. 

It is feared that if the terror groups regain widespread support, Manipur will slip back into insurgency and all the good work done over the past couple of decades will be ruined. 

“Meiteis have been led to believe by some politicians and civil society leaders that only the armed militias and the terror groups can defeat the Kukis’ plan to carve out a separate state for themselves,” said the IB officer. 

Concurring with this assessment, the army officer said: “This is why Meitei mobs have been preventing security forces from carrying out operations to recover the looted arms, disarm the militias and capture militants who have started finding shelter among civilians once again”. 

The mobs very cleverly put womenfolk in the forefront to confront security forces. “We cannot use force against women, and the mobs that are controlled by the militias and insurgent groups know that,” the senior army officer said. 

He added that a highly volatile situation has developed in Imphal Valley with Meitei terror groups starting to regain support of the masses and self-serving politicians and civil society leaders extending patronage of the terrorists. 

“They (the Meitei politicians and civil society leaders) are playing with fire. What they are not realising is that they are creating Frankestein’s monsters and that will harm the state a lot,” said the IB officer. 

Angered by Saturday’s embarrassing incident where Army soldiers had to release the captured KYKL militants, Army officers have made it clear that it is getting increasingly difficult to operate in such “hostile circumstances”. 

“Such capitulation to mobs is very demoralising and is a setback to troop morale and confidence. We cannot operate like this,” the Army officer said. 

The Army and IB also feel that if the Meitei militias and terror groups are not contained and carry out attacks on Kukis, the Kuki militants who are under a ‘suspension of operations’ (SOO) agreement with the government will also not sit tight. 

“Manipur is under a serious threat of sliding into anarchy. Things are spiralling out of control fast. If the Meitei politicians and civil society leaders who have links with the terror groups and militias are not warned off right away, if the militias are not disarmed and if the militants are not captured, the situation in Manipur will get more complicated and the state will burn even more,” said a veteran Meitei army officer who stays in Imphal Valley after he retired from service two years ago. 

This warning is endorsed by serving army as well as IB officers. And given the current situation, it is the Union Government which has to act decisively now to bring the situation under control. 

Also read—Explained: Why peace continues to evade Manipur