Opinion | Peace Pact with UNLF Shows Modi Government is Moving in Right Direction in Manipur

Strife-torn Manipur sighed a sense of relief when one of the strongest factions of the oldest Valley-Based Insurgent Group, the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) [Pambei], formally signed a peace agreement.

The development will act as a boost to bringing back normalcy to Manipur. It also showcases the seriousness with which the Modi government is approaching the problem that has been besetting the state since May this year.

The UNLF (Pambei) group was one of the insurgent organisations that made up the Coordination Committee (CorCom). The CorCom, now known as the G-5 (or Group of Five) had Manipur’s oldest insurgent group, the UNLF, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL), Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP), two factions of the PREPAK.

In recent times, since the outbreak of the Meitei-Kuki conflict in the state, many cadres of the Valley-Based Insurgent Groups have entered Manipur from Myanmar in order to foment trouble. The coming over ground and signing of a peace agreement by the Pambei faction of the UNLF can be viewed as the first bold step by the Government of India in the direction of ushering peace in the sensitive border state.

The following steps may be regarded as robust arrays to ensure that durable and lasting peace comes to Manipur.

1. The government should form a civil society team comprising journalists, intellectuals, et al, from both Kuki and the Meitei communities. The government should hold intense interaction with them and try finding a way out of the crisis.
2. The government must disband vigilante groups such as Arombai Tenggol and Meitei Lipun. These two armed “illegal” organisations have been spearheading the violence in Manipur. It has also been reported that they have G-5 patronage. However, the coming over ground of the UNLF (Pambei) will certainly take the wind out of the sails of the insurgent groups that are seeking to continue with violent activities in Manipur. New Delhi must, even as it is lauded for its success in bringing the UNLF (Pambei) to the mainstream, seize the opportunity and take active steps to root out the menace once and for all.
3. One of the important steps in the direction of ushering in normalcy in Manipur is to destroy the three clusters that make up the camps of the G-5 in Myanmar. To that end, it is imperative that Naypyidaw (notwithstanding its present war with the People’s Defence Force and sundry other ethnic militias) must be correctly cultivated. After all, it was Naypyidaw that had engineered Op Sunrise-I and II a few years ago that had destroyed several Indian insurgent camps in Taga and thereabouts.

The return of the oldest Manipuri insurgent group to the mainstream augurs well for Manipur and the Northeast. As aforesaid, it showcases the seriousness with which New Delhi is approaching the seven-month-old problem. It must now follow up the success with able steps that will bring about lasting peace to the “Land of the Sangai”.

Jaideep Saikia is a conflict theorist and bestselling author. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.