“Government Cracks Down on Meitei Extremist Organizations in Manipur: Unlawful Associations Designation Sparks Concerns”

On Monday, the Central government invoked the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) to designate several ‘Meitei’ extremist organizations as “unlawful associations.” The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued a notification, asserting that this step was taken to suppress their “secessionist, subversive, terrorist, and violent activities.” The government’s decision stems from concerns that these organizations are involved in attacks on security forces, police, and civilians in Manipur, posing a threat to the sovereignty and integrity of India.

The designated Meitei extremist organizations include 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 organizations.

The ban is effective for five years from Monday. The MHA states that these organizations aim to establish an independent nation by seceding Manipur from India through armed struggle and inciting indigenous people for such secession.

The government justifies the ban by highlighting the organizations’ engagement in activities detrimental to India’s sovereignty and integrity, such as employing armed means to achieve their objectives, attacking and killing security forces, police, and civilians in Manipur, engaging in intimidation, extortion, and looting for fund collection, making international contacts to influence public opinion, and maintaining camps in neighboring countries for sanctuary, training, and procurement of arms and ammunition.

The MHA warns that failure to control these Meitei extremist organizations immediately could lead to an escalation of their secessionist activities, collaboration with forces hostile to India’s sovereignty, civilian killings, illegal arms procurement, and extortion from the public. This move comes amid escalating ethnic violence in Manipur, with 178 casualties and 50,000 displaced since May 3.