Manipur: Violent Hills

On the same day, the Nehlun faction of Kuki National Front (KNF-N) reportedly 'awarded' capital punishment to one Thanglallen alias Abi Vaiphei, in connection with the abduction of three construction workers on January 23, 2015, from Saramkon in Ukhrul District.

Earlier, on March 21, four personnel of the Gorkha Regiment, including a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO), were injured in an ambush by suspected militants of the Khaplang faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K), at Luklang Khunou in Tamenglong District in northwest Manipur. The injured SF personnel were identified as Subedar Chitra Bahadur, Rifleman Aan Singh, Rifleman Gir Bahadur Thapa and Rifleman Mingma Dorjee.

The five Hill Districts of Manipur - Senapati, Churachandpur, Ukhrul, Tamenglong and Chandel - have been the most troubled by violence. According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), in 2011, the Hills Districts accounted for 29 out of 65 (44.61 per cent) of total fatalities in the State; in 2012, 55 out of 110 (50 per cent); in 2013, 36 out of 56 (64.2 per cent); and in 2014, 40 out of 54 (74.07 per cent). Thus, while overall violence in the State has been declining, the share of violence in the Hill Districts has been increasing.

The trend continues into 2015, with the State recording 23 fatalities, (8 civilians, 2 SFs and 13 militants), till April 26, out of which 16 (69.5 per cent) are accounted for by the Hill Districts. The lone incident of SF killing in 2015 was recorded in Ukhrul. Further, there have already been seven incidents of encounters between SFs and militants in the Hill Districts (four in Tamenglong, and one each in Ukhrul, Senapati and Chandel).

In 2015, according to SATP data, 12 incidents of abduction have already been reported across the State till April 26, in which 21 people were abducted. Of these, one civilian and two militants who were abducted have been killed, six were released and two escaped unhurt. The current status of the others is not known. Of the 12 incidents of abduction, 10 are confirmed to have occurred in the Hill Districts (four in Tamenglong, four in Senapati, and one each in Ukhrul and Churachandpur).

Internecine clashes among militant groups have always been a significant aspect of violence in Manipur. According to partial data collected by SATP, all the nine internecine clashes in 2015 occurred in the Hill Districts (two in Churachandpur, five in Tamenglong and one in Ukhrul and Senapati). In a major incident Kuki factions clashed on February 10, 2015, after which the bodies of three Kuki Independence Army (KIA) militants, identified as Jongkholun, Manglensei and Sotinpai, were recovered near Vaison Cemetery in Churachandpur District. They were killed by a splinter faction of KIA. The original KIA was formed during the Naga-Kuki conflict in the 1990s.

Likewise, Naga factional clashes have continued between the NSCN-IM and the Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF), the militant group that broke away from NSCIN-IM in 2011, with the proclaimed objective of protecting the interests of the Zeliangrong tribe. In a Press Release, ZUF stated that, on March 30, 2015, a gun fight erupted between militants of NSCN-IM and ZUF at Taosang Khunou in Tamenglong District. They claimed that they killed an NSCN-IM militant identified as Joshua Thangal. This particular incident has not been independently verified.

The five Hill Districts, account for just 38 per cent of the Manipur's population, but occupy 90 per cent of the State's total area, and dominate the National Highways, where Naga and Kuki militant groups regularly extort huge amounts of money along the highways. Three of the Hill Districts - Ukhrul, Churachandpur and Chandel - share a porous 398 kilometre-long border with Myanmar, and this has had an encouraging influence on militant tactics, with the rebels crossing over into safe havens in Myanmar after engaging in violence.

Thus, while the internal security situation in the Hill Districts remains precarious, it is infinitely compounded by the porous Myanmar border. On April 23, 2013, reports indicated that as many as nine Northeast militant groups - including the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) and the Coordination Committee (CorCom), an umbrella group of six militant groups - had formed a joint front, the United National Liberation Front of West South East Asia (UNLFW) in the Sagaing Division of Myanmar, with S.S. Khaplang of NSCN-K as its 'chief'.

On March 29, 2015, (CorCom) issued a Press statement supporting the abrogation of the cease fire between NSCN-K and the Government of India (GoI). NSCN-K had withdrawn from the ceasefire on March 27. NSCN-K has provided shelter in Myanmar to various active militant groups, including PLA, which is a part of CorCom. PLA also has camps located in Mintha in Myanmar.

Earlier this year, a Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) official had stated that the Government of Myanmar was yet to take strong action to evict the militants from its territory, adding that there were about 2,000 Indian rebels sheltering in Myanmar. Significantly, on November 29, 2014, the then Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) Syed Asif Ibrahim had observed that safe sanctuaries of the militants in neighbouring countries, particularly Myanmar, was compounding to the security situation in North East, which he described as "fragile".

India has failed to effectively patrol the border with Myanmar, and among the reasons of this lapse is the fact that the bases of AR, the Force that has been guarding the Indo-Myanmar border since 2002, are located deep inside Indian Territory. AR troops have not been able to check the movement of militants and other anti-national elements along the border, and the Force has now sought to increase its strength, for dedicated deployment along the border. There have also been discussions of entrusting the Border Security Force (BSF) with the responsibility of guarding the Indo-Myanmar border, although no final decision has yet been taken. Earlier, a UMHA official had stated that, although it may not be possible to fence the entire border with Myanmar due to the terrain, the border may be fenced where such construction is possible.

Recent revelation by NDFB-IKS militant during interrogations by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) have confirmed that Chinese-made weapons were being smuggled into India through Manipur, via Myanmar, further underlining the necessity of secure borders and a revamp of law enforcement agencies of the State. The Union Government, well aware of the situation, is planning to improve border infrastructure and enforcement capabilities. During a visit to Manipur on April 6, 2015, Joint Secretary for the Northeast Shambu Singh emphasised further that increasing cases of bomb explosions and ambushes on AR personnel in the remote areas of Manipur were due to the lack of coordination between the State Police and AR.

Although SFs have been able to keep a lid on the violence in Manipur, with fatalities dropping significantly from 485 in 2008 to 54 in 2014, poor political management, porous borders and India's inability to get Myanmar's cooperation to smother the militancy, continue to be major obstacles to a restoration of peace. NSCN-K's withdrawal from the ceasefire is likely to worsen the situation, and could escalate factional clashes among Naga groups, once again deepening problems in the Hill Districts, reversing the declining trends in violence across the entire State.