The United National Liberation Front (UNLF), also known as the United National Liberation Front of Manipur, is a

separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, regional, governmental, or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seekin ...

Meitei insurgent group active in the state of

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

Northeast India Northeast India, officially the North Eastern Region (NER), is the easternmost region of India representing both a geographic and political Administrative divisions of India, administrative division of the country. It comprises eight States and ...

which aims at establishing a

sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title that can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to ...

and

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

Manipur.

Background

The United National Liberation Front's movement manifested as a result of several similar movements of the same political agenda. The outfit was founded on 24 November 1964 with the following key personalities as its central committee members: # RK Meghen (Sana Yaima), Chairman # Kalalung Kamei, President # Thankhopao Singsit, Vice-President # Arambam Somorendra, General Secretary # Longjam Manimohan, Member # Laishram Kanhai, Member # Nongmeikapam Sanajaoba, Member # Nongmaithem Pahari, Member

Ideology and Aim

The

National Investigation Agency The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is the principal counter-terrorism law enforcement agency in India. Established under the National Investigation Agency Act, 2008, it is tasked with investigating and combating offenses related to terroris ...

(NIA), in September 2012, acknowledged that "the activities carried out by the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) are for bringing sovereignty in the state of Manipur." The UNLF has viewed the statement as "a big political victory." The UNLF chairperson, Rajkumar Meghan (Sana Yaima) has been charged for "waging war" against India by the

(NIA), but the UNLF leader has voiced that the UNLF does not view India or its army as enemies, and "the UNLF only resist the Indian armed forces stationed in Manipur and to resist those people who engaged in colonial repression." Sana Yaima believes that Manipur is "under martial law," and has questioned the character and worthiness of the elections that had been held in Manipur. He further believes that "the most democratic means to resolve conflict is

plebiscite A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or adv ...

Organization

The UNLF is one of the oldest insurgent organizations in Northeast India. E. N. Rammohan, the former

Director-General A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

of the

Border Security Force The Border Security Force (BSF) is a central armed police force in India under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is responsible for guarding India’s borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh. It was formed in the wake of the Indo-Pak War of 196 ...

, once wrote, "Of the five major (Imphal) valley underground groups, the UNLF's ideology is by and large intact. The senior leadership is well educated and has good organizational control."

Manipur People's Army

Manipur People's Army (MPA) was formed on 9 February 1987 as an Army Wing of UNLF. In 1991, the UNLF picked up arms, and its first armed action against Indian security forces was carried out on 15 December 1991 at Lamdan on a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). In 2005, the MPA's strength was estimated to be about 2,000 armed cadres. According to the UNLF, by 2005, the UNLF was engaged in a battle against about 50,000 armed personnel from the Indian Army deployed against the organisation in the forest regions of Manipur. The cadres of the group are drawn largely from the Meiteis and the Pangals.

Factions

In 2020, UNLF split into two factions, one led by R.K. Achou Singh alias "Koireng" and the other led by Khundongbam Pambei, called UNLF (Koireng) and UNLF (Pambei) respectively. The Koireng faction was said to have had 300 cadres and the Pambei faction 65 caders. Sukrita Baruah, Deeptiman Tiwary
Manipur valley's UNLF insurgent faction bids farewell to arms, Amit Shah calls it historic
The Indian Express, 30 November 2023. Vijaita Singh
Centre and Manipur ink deal with banned Meitei insurgent body
The Hindu, 29 November 2023. Samir K. Purkayastha
Manipur ground report: Armed groups, Myanmar factor hinder return to peace
The Federal, 21 February 2025.

Strategy and Tactics

The UNLF is known to be heavily involved with Extortion, Arms Trading, and Income Generating Projects to finance their armed movements. They have several organized training camps within the northeast sector of India and the neighbouring countries of Myanmar and Bangladesh. Ningtam Meira is the primary media outlet they use to make publications.

Four–point proposal to Indian government

The UNLF had put forward four condiciones sine quibus non before the government of India if it is willing to initiate dialogue and ink a peace accord with the organisation, which are: # "A plebiscite under UN supervision to elicit the people's opinion on the core issue of restoration of Manipur's independence." # "Deployment of a UN peacekeeping force in Manipur to ensure free and fair process." # "Surrender of arms by the UNLF to the UN force, matched by the withdrawal of Indian troops." # "Handing over of

political power In political science, power is the ability to influence or direct the actions, beliefs, or conduct of actors. Power does not exclusively refer to the threat or use of force (coercion) by one actor against another, but may also be exerted thro ...

by the UN in accordance with the results of the plebiscite."

Arrest of chairperson

On 4 December 2010, Sanayaima was produced by the NIA, who claimed to have arrested Sanayaima from Motihari in

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

; while, Sanayaima has proclaimed that he was abducted by the Bangladeshi agencies on 29 September 2010 and "handed over" to the agencies of India. Sanayaima has been booked by the NIA for "waging war against the Indian Union under section 120 (B)

IPC IPC may refer to: Businesses and organizations Arts and media * Intellectual Property Committee, a coalition of US corporations with intellectual property interests * International Panorama Council, an international network of specialists in ...

, 121, 121 (A), 122 IPC and 16, 17, 18, 18 (A), 18 (B) & 20 Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967 as amended in 2008." After the arrest, he said that "in a multi-community region, the idea of peace cannot be achieved without considering the collateral damages of the secondary conflict that emerges out of the meaningless peace process." Drawing inspiration from the "charged political atmosphere" during the " Naxalbari uprising", he had dropped out of the higher studies at the

Jadavpur University Jadavpur University ( abbr. JU) is a public state funded research university with its main campus located at Jadavpur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was established on 25 July in 1906 as ''Bengal Technical Institute'' and was converted into ...

in Kolkata, and "picked up a gun and vanished into the forest" about 4 decades ago; and had remained underground since then.

Controversies

Civil rights activist Babloo Loitongbom, said that "there was an allegation that certain members of the UNLF had raped 20 women. We formed a multi-ethnic fact finding team to go to the place. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to go inside the camp, we were not given any medical evidence."

Peace talk

On 29 November 2023, the Pambei faction of UNLF signed a ceasefire agreement with the Government of India. The agreement was claimed as being "historic" as the UNLF is the first Meitei insurgent organization to sign such an agreement.

References

External links

About UNLF in the Global Security Website

the international India Jammu organizationsOrganizations {{Terror outfits 1964 establishments in Assam Organisations designated as terrorist by India Organizations based in Asia designated as terrorist Guerrilla organizations Insurgency in Northeast India Islamism in India Islamic socialism Jihadist groups in India Left-wing militant groups in India Military units and formations established in 1990 National liberation movements Organisations based in Manipur Separatism in India Secessionist organizations in Asia Volunteer organisations in India Ethnic armed organisations in Myanmar