Manipur outfit on ceasefire accused of gun-running

In contrast, a faction of the outfit has undertaken a drive against drugs.

Security forces in Manipur have accused an extremist group in ceasefire mode of breaking the ground rules of truce and turning a village into the hub of illegal activities, primarily gun-running.

In sharp contrast, a faction of the outfit has undertaken a drive against drugs by destroying poppy plantations in another part of the State bordering Myanmar.

Officials of the Assam Rifles and Manipur Police said the Samuel faction of the Kuki National Front or KNF(S), one of 25 groups formed by the Kuki-Zomi ethnic communities that signed suspension of operation (SoO) since 2005, has been indulging in unlawful activities despite a truce.

These 25 groups are split into two broader organisations — the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and the United People’s Front — that are seeking a self-rule territory within Manipur on the lines of Assam’s Bodoland Territorial Council.

“The KNF(S) is a SoO group on paper. It has been blatantly violating the SoO ground rules and indulging in all prohibited activities besides turning Tuilaphai village in Churachandpur district into a hub of gun-running and other illegal activities,” said an Assam Rifles spokesperson.

The arrest of a “non-SoO underground cadre” in December with automatic rifles led the security forces to three KNF(S) members who have been “recruiting members in violation of ground rules” and camping them in Tuilaphai village. The security forces also said KNF(S) was enjoying the support of the villagers in activities such as storing arms and ammunition and extorting truckers and poppy cultivators in the area.

KNF(S) is a constituent of KNO, whose secretary T.S. Haokip denied any illegal activities in the Tuilaphai area.

While security forces have kept a watch on KNF(S), members of the mother organisation KNF have earned praise for going after poppy growers in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district. The outfit’s president, Thangboi Kipgen, led his group in destroying poppy plantations on about seven acres in Ngahmun Gunphiajang village.

Mr. Kipgen is also the chief of the village. “The war against drugs needs to start from home,” he said, adding that the village authority had resolved a year ago to stop poppy cultivation once and for all.

Manipur has one of the highest cases of drug abuse in the northeast.

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