Manipur’s UNLF has signed a peace agreement with the centre
Imphal/New Delhi:
Manipur’s oldest valley-based armed group UNLF has signed a tripartite peace agreement with the centre and the state government, Home Minister Amit Shah announced today in a post on X, days after Chief Minister N Biren Singh confirmed they have been in talks with the armed group that has been fighting against Indian forces for six decades.
The peace agreement brings the curtains down on the armed group once headed by Imphal-based RK Meghen, who left the outfit many years ago.
The United National Liberation Front (UNLF) had been fighting a guerilla war for a sovereign Manipur as the group – similar to other valley-based banned organisations like the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) – considered illegal the merger of the pre-Independence Manipur kingdom with India.
“The peace agreement signed today with the UNLF by the government of India and the government of Manipur marks the end of a six-decade-long armed movement,” Mr Shah said in the post.
“It is a landmark achievement in realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji’s vision of all-inclusive development and providing a better future to the youth in northeast India,” the Home Minister said.
The descriptor “valley-based” for the UNLF indicates it was an armed group with origins in the state capital Imphal valley and other districts not classified as hill areas. Similarly, at least 25 hill-based insurgent groups are already under a tripartite peace deal called the suspension of operations (SoO) agreement.
Manipur in the past few months have seen ethnic clashes between the hill-majority Kuki tribes and the valley-majority Meiteis over a range of issues, from land and resource crunch to taking a share of the affirmative action Scheduled Tribes (ST) policy. Over 180 have died and thousands have been internally displaced.
