Imphal/New Delhi:
Four members of a Meitei insurgent group that signed a ceasefire agreement with the Centre and the Manipur government in November 2023 were injured in an attack by a group of 15-20 suspected members of the Arambai Tenggol (AT), the police said in a post on X on Sunday.
There were reports of firing from both sides at the incident that happened on Saturday, the police said.
The suspected AT members came to the house of alleged United National Liberation Front (Pambei), or UNLF (P) functionary Irengbam Nandakumar Singh alias Tonsana, 56, the police said, adding a fight broke out between them in which four UNLF members received blunt injuries.
“Immediately, teams of security forces rushed to the spot. The four UNLF (P) cadres were detained and taken to hospital for treatment. They are reported to be free from any danger and have only blunt injuries (not gunshot), they are stable,” the police said in the post on X.
The security forces also raided the premises of AT Unit-17 under Imphal East district’s Porompat police station, and recovered incriminating material including approximately 15 gram of a substance suspected to be heroin, INSAS assault rifle bayonet etc, the police said.
On 22.03.2025, some unknown persons suspected to be from Arambai Tenggol (AT) numbering about 15/20 entered the residence of alleged functionary of UNLF(P), namely, Irengbam Nandakumar Singh @ Tonsana (56) Kongpal Chingangbam Leikai near Kongpal Thong and a fight took place… pic.twitter.com/sUe0V64Dri
— Manipur Police (@manipur_police) March 23, 2025
An AT delegation met Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on February 25 and discussed the way forward for bringing peace in the border state. The AT delegation sought assurance from the Governor that there would be no attacks on civilians after the surrender of firearms, and the central forces and the police would fill any security gap, which otherwise may force civilians to arm themselves again.
The valley-dominant Meitei community and over a dozen distinct tribes collectively known as Kuki, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, have been fighting since May 2023 over a range of issues such as land rights and political representation.
Kuki civil society groups have alleged the AT launched attacks on their villages along the inter-district borders after the first wave of clashes in May 2023, which forced the Kuki tribes to take up arms and form village defence forces. Many AT members have been named in cases of police armoury lootings.
The AT, however, says it was a cultural organisation that was compelled to take up arms as “village volunteers” due to ineffective law enforcement in the early days of the ethnic violence; it says lack of law enforcement led to Meitei villages in the foothills coming under attacks from Kuki militants.
Insurgents From Both Communities Involved In Manipur Violence: Police
The involvement of overground insurgents from both communities in the Manipur clashes was confirmed in September 2024 by the police after a gunfight in Jiribam district, neighbouring Assam.
Banned Meitei militant groups such as the PLA, KYKL and KCP that had become nearly extinct in Manipur for the last 10 years also returned from Myanmar after May 2023 and due to the junta’s diminishing hold in areas where the few remaining Meitei militants camped.
The UNLF (P) is the only Meitei insurgent group that signed a ceasefire with the Centre and the state government.
The Kuki and Zomi tribes have nearly two dozen insurgent groups that come under two umbrella organisations called the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and the United People’s Front (UPF). The KNO and UPF have signed the controversial suspension of operations (SoO) agreement whose terms include the insurgents staying at designated camps and their weapons kept in locked storage, to be monitored regularly. Many of them face allegations of taking part in the Manipur violence.
The Manipur violence has claimed over 250 lives and displaced nearly 50,000 people.
