The security forces have arrested as many as 11 militants from Manipur in the last two days, including seven suspected cadres of the Kuki National Army (KNA), along with arms and ammunition, police said on Sunday.
Providing details about the arrests, the officials said that the KNA cadres were apprehended from the old Khaukual area in Churachandpur district on Friday. It must be noted that the KNA is a signatory of the tripartite suspension of operations (SoO) pact signed in 2008 among the United Peoples’ Front (UPF) and the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), an umbrella of 24 insurgent groups, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the Manipur government.
However, the Manipur government withdrew from the pact in March 2023. Nevertheless, in another operation on Saturday four active members of the proscribed outfit Kangleipak Communist Party (PWG group), including two women, were arrested at Huikap village in Imphal East district, police said.
The police also confiscated two AK-47 rifles, pistols, live ammunition, incriminating documents and booklets among items recovered from their possession, they added. This comes after the presidential rule was put in place by President Droupadi Murmu amid protracted ethnic strife.
Expressing hope in the President's rule to bring peace to the state, Kuki-Zo MLAs of Manipur have anticipated that the central government would lay out a “comprehensive political roadmap” for peace and justice, following the imposition of the President's rule in the strife-torn state.
In a joint statement, 10 MLAs – seven BJP legislators, two Kuki Peoples’ Alliance MLAs and one independent – stated that they also look forward to measures to end the sufferings of those affected by the ethnic conflict and internally displaced.
“We... while acknowledging the Centre’s decision to place the Assembly under Suspended Animation express hope that the Government of India would lay out a comprehensive political roadmap for peace and justice under a negotiated settlement,” the statement said.
On Thursday, President's rule was imposed in Manipur and the state assembly was put under suspended animation, days after Chief Minister N Biren Singh resigned from his post. “We also look forward to time-bound measures to end the sufferings that the conflict-affected and internally displaced people continue to undergo,” the MLAs said.
(With PTI Inputs)
