The Manipur government will construct two camps at two locations at a cost of ₹11 crore for 416 cadres of the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), the oldest armed Meitei insurgent group, which signed a peace agreement with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Manipur Government on November 29, 2023.
Around 80 cadres of the Pambei faction of the UNLF surrendered in 2023 with 31 weapons. A few more cadres laid down arms subsequently.
The group advocates for the secession of Manipur and largely operates from Myanmar. The surrenders came months after ethnic violence between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei people erupted in the State on May 3, 2023.
The Manipur Police Housing Corporation Limited floated two tenders on February 12 for “construction of infrastructure for the proposed peace Camps at Ingourok in Thoubal district and Kakching Khunou in Kakching district for the accommodation of UNLF cadres (Under Peace Agreement)“.
The first tender is for the construction of pre-fabricated infrastructure for 285 cadres at Kakching at an estimated cost of ₹3.45 crore.
The second tender is for the construction of semi-pucca buildings for 115 cadres and “conventional semi pucca buildings for 16 ranking cadres at a cost of ₹7.72 crore”. The construction cost will be borne out of the Security Related Expenditure (SRE), which is reimbursed by the MHA.
A Manipur Police officer said that the UNLF cadres were presently staying at a temporary accommodation set up at Yathibi Lokoun on Thoubal-Kakching district border and Nongshun in Imphal East, adding that there were space constraints.
According to the ground rules signed by the UNLF, the group will honour the Constitution of India and the laws of the land. The rules state that the cadres have to stay in designated camps and their movement would be monitored by central security forces.
On January 4, The Hindu reported that at a meeting chaired by Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Border Security Force (BSF) flagged the violation of ceasefire ground rules by UNLF cadres. In a statement, the group denied the violations terming the security forces’ concern “baseless.”
On February 8, the Manipur Police arrested two members of the UNLF (Pambei), identified as Khoisnam Ronaldo Singh (23) and Soram Ngouba Meitei (30) from Imphal West District. “They were directly involved in extortion activities from general public, government officials, shopkeepers, etc., in Greater Imphal areas, and in illegal smuggling of arms and ammunitions for use in extortion purpose,” the police said.
