Centre sets up tribunal to adjudicate ban imposed on 8 Manipur insurgent groups

New Delhi: The Centre has constituted a tribunal to adjudicate matters related to extension of ban imposed on eight insurgent groups in Manipur for five more years over continued involvement in unlawful and violent activities.

In a notification, the Home Ministry said the tribunal was set up under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and will be headed by Delhi High Court judge Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal.

The tribunal will adjudicate whether or not there is sufficient cause for declaring the Meitei extremist organisations of Manipur as "Unlawful Associations", the notification said.

The organisations which were banned last month include Peoples' Liberation Army generally known as PLA and its political wing, Revolutionary Peoples' Front (RPF), United National Liberation Front (UNLF) and its armed wing Manipur Peoples' Army (MPA), Peoples' Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) and its armed wing 'Red Army'.

The others are Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) and its armed wing, also called Red Army; Kanglei Yaol Kanba Lup (KYKL); the Coordination Committee (CorCom) and Alliance for Socialist Unity Kangleipak (ASUK).

The home ministry said the eight Meitei extremist organisations of Manipur were involved in 756 violent incidents in the past five years from January 1, 2013 to July 31, 2018 during which they killed 86 people, including 35 security personnel.

The groups have been indulging in acts of intimidation, extortion and looting of civilian population for a collection of funds, making contacts with sources abroad for influencing public opinion and securing assistance by way of arms and training for the purpose of achieving their secessionist objective, the ministry said.

They are also indulging in such activities for maintaining camps in neighbouring countries for the purpose of sanctuaries, training and clandestine procurement of arms and ammunition, it had said.