Ibobi meets Patil, focus on deal with insurgents

Manipur has been the hotbed for insurgency in the Northeast with a number of groups engaged in violent clashes over their competing demands.

Last week, the Centre and the Manipur Government entered into a tripartite “suspension of operations” agreement with two umbrella organisations representing 19 insurgent groups. The agreement with the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), which consists of 11 groups, and United People’s Front (UPF), a front for eight groups, is being seen as a significant development in the government’s effort to bring down the levels of violence in the state.

Ibobi Singh on Thursday informed the Home Minister about the other steps that the state Government is taking to control the insurgent groups and to bring their activists back into the mainstream, Home Ministry sources said.

KNO has been active in Senapati, Churachandpur and Chandel districts and also in some areas north of Imphal. It has been engaged in frequent clashes with the Meiti community which dominates the administrative machinery in the state and is opposed to the separation demand of the Kukis.

In order to put an end to the violent clashes and bring these insurgent groups into the mainstream, the Army had entered into a suspension of operations agreement with KNO in August 2005, which had led to an improvement in the situation in these districts. The Army was of the opinion that the situation could be improved further if a similar suspension of operations could take place between the insurgents and the state police.

Though slightly apprehensive in the beginning, the state Government veered around to the same view after a meeting called by the Union Home Secretary in August last year.