India’s Home Ministry has announced that it is extending a ban on seven Meitei extremist groups advocating for the secession of Manipur, a small state in northeastern India. As per an official “notification“, the groups identified 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).
These groups have been singled out as “unlawful associations” under section 3 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), 1967. The ban will come into effect from the 13th of November and is set to remain for the next five years.
Section 3 of the UAPA enables the Indian government to declare any group as “unlawful” if it is believed that the group’s activities could endanger the nation’s sovereignty and integrity. For such declarations, the law requires that a notification should be released containing reasons for its issuance and any pertinent information.
In this case, the government has stated that these Meitei groups have undertaken unlawful activities, such as engaging in armed conflict to achieve their objectives, attacking and killing security personnel, police and civilians in Manipur, and resorting to intimidation, extortion and looting of civilian populace to fund their organizations.
Such violent clashes have been prevalent since ethnic violence erupted in May between the Meitei and tribal Kuki groups in Manipur, resulting in the deaths of at least 178 people and displacement of 50,000 residents.