Govt bans Meitei extremist groups as 'unlawful associations' for 5 years

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday declared several Meitei Extremist Organisations, their factions, wings and front organisations as unlawful associations under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for a period of five years.

These organisations are 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.

Also, 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 for a period of five years.

The ministry made the announcement through a notification pointing that the action is taken by exercising "the powers conferred by the proviso to sub-section (3) of section 3 of the said Act".

As per the notification, the order will be effective from Monday (November 13, 2023) for a period of five years.

"In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (37 of 1967), the Central Government hereby declares 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," reads the notification.

The MHA said the action is based on inputs that all the Meitei Extremist Organisations-- the PLA and its political wing RPF, the UNLF and its armed wing MPA), the PREPAK and its armed wing "Red Army", the KCP and its armed wing also called the "Red Army", the KYKL, the CorCom and the ASUK-- have as their professed aim of establishing an independent nation by secession of Manipur from India through armed struggle and to incite indigenous people of Manipur for such secession.

Besides, the MHA said, these Meitei Extremist Organisations have been engaging in activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India and employing and engaging in armed means to achieve their objectives of attacking and killing the security forces, Police and civilians in Manipur.

"Indulging in acts of intimidation, extortion and looting of the civilian population for collection of funds for their Organisations; 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; and maintaining camps in neighbouring countries for the purpose of sanctuaries, training and clandestine procurement of arms and ammunition," MHA notification read.

The Ministry further said the activities of the Meitei Extremist Organisations are considered "detrimental to the sovereignty and integrity of India and that they are unlawful associations".

Considering all these facts, the MHA said there was a need for immediate curb and control of the Meitei Extremist Organisations as they are suspected of taking 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 ammunitions from across the international border and extort and collect huge funds from public for their unlawful activities.