1. India
Manipur: Violent Hills
M. A. Athul
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management
On March 31, two Assam Rifles (AR) troopers identified as Havildar N.K. Dolly and Havildar B.N.
Kshetri were killed and Rifleman G.D. Shastra was wounded in an ambush by cadres of the People’s
Liberation Army (PLA) at a location between Kamjong and Kongkan villages in the Hill District of
Ukhrul. A PLA ‘sergeant’, Prem, was also killed in the incident. The PLA militants exploded an
Improvised Explosive Device (IED), and then rained bullets on the troops. Two IEDs were recovered
during the subsequent search by Security Forces (SFs) in the area. On April 1, PLA claimed that the
assault was carried out by a team of its 'tactical command'.
On the same day, the Nehlun faction of Kuki National Front (KNF-N) reportedly ‘awarded’ capital
punishment to one Thanglallen alias Abi Vaiphei, in connection with the abduction of three
construction workers on January 23, 2015, from Saramkon in Ukhrul District.
Earlier, on March 21, four personnel of the Gorkha Regiment, including a Junior Commissioned
Officer (JCO), were injured in an ambush by suspected militants of the Khaplang faction of the
National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K), at Luklang Khunou in Tamenglong District in
northwest Manipur. The injured SF personnel were identified as Subedar Chitra Bahadur, Rifleman
Aan Singh, Rifleman Gir Bahadur Thapa and Rifleman Mingma Dorjee.
The five hill Districts of Manipur - Senapati, Churachandpur, Tamenglong, Churachanpur and
Chandel – have been the most troubled by violence. According to partial data compiled by the South
Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), in 2011, the Hills Districts accounted for 29 out of 65 (44.61 per cent) of
total fatalities in the State; in 2012, 55 out of 110 (50 per cent); in 2013, 36 out of 56 (64.2 per cent);
and in 2014, 40 out of 54 (74.07 per cent). Thus, while overall violence in the State has been
declining, the share of violence in the Hill Districts has been increasing.
The trend continues into 2015, with the State recording 23 fatalities, (8 civilians, 2 SFs and 13
militants), till April 26, out of which 16 (69.5 per cent) are accounted for by the Hill Districts. The lone
incident of SF killing in 2015 was recorded in Ukhrul. Further, there have already been seven
incidents of encounters between SFs and militants in the Hill Districts (four in Tamenglong, and one
each in Ukhrul, Senapati and Chandel).
In 2015, according to SATP data, 12 incidents of abduction have already been reported across the
State till April 26, in which 21 people were abducted. Of these, one civilian and two militants who were
abducted have been killed, six were released and two escaped unhurt. The current status of the
others is not known. Of the 12 incidents of abduction, 10 are confirmed to have occurred in the Hill
Districts (four in Tamenglong, four in Senapati, and one each in Ukhrul and Churachandpur).
Internecine clashes [LINK SAIR11.49] among militant groups have always been a significant aspect of
violence in Manipur. According to partial data collected by SATP, all the nine internecine clashes in
2015 occurred in the Hill Districts (two in Churachandpur, five in Tamenglong and one in Ukhrul and
Senapati). In a major incident Kuki factions clashed on February 10, 2015, after which the bodies of
three Kuki Independence Army (KIA) militants, identified as Jongkholun, Manglensei and Sotinpai,
were recovered near Vaison Cemetery in Churachandpur District. They were killed by a splinter
faction of KIA. The original KIA was formed during the Naga-Kuki conflict in the 1990s.
Likewise, Naga factional clashes have continued between the NSCN-IM and the Zeliangrong United
Front (ZUF), the militant group that broke away [LINK: SAIR 10.41] from NSCIN-IM in 2011, with the
proclaimed objective of protecting the interests of the Zeliangrong tribe. In a Press Release, ZUF
stated that, on March 30, 2015, a gun fight erupted between militants of NSCN-IM and ZUF at
Taosang Khunou in Tamenglong. They claimed that they killed an NSCN-IM militant identified as
Joshua Thangal. This particular incident has not been independently verified.
The five Hill Districts, account for just 38 per cent of the Manipur’s population, but occupy 90 per cent
of the State’s total area, and dominate the National Highways, where Naga and Kuki militant groups
regularly extort huge amounts of money along the highways [SAIR:4.45]. Three of the Hill Districts –

2. Ukhrul, Churachandpur and Chandel – share a porous 398 kilometre-long border with Myanmar, and
this has had an encouraging influence on militant tactics, with the rebels crossing over into safe
havens in Myanmar after engaging in violence.
Thus while the internal security situation in the Hill Districts remains precarious, it is infinitely
compounded by the porous Myanmar border. On April 23, 2013, reports indicated that as many as
nine Northeast militant groups – including the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) and the
Coordination Committee (CorCom), an umbrella group of six militant groups – had formed a joint
front, the United National Liberation Front of West South East Asia (UNLFW) in the Sagaing Division
of Myanmar, with S.S. Khaplang of NSCN-K as its ‘chief’.
On March 29, 2015, (CorCom) issued a Press statement supporting the abrogation of the cease fire
between NSCN-K and the Government of India (GoI). NSCN-K had withdrawn from the ceasefire on
March 27. NSCN-K has provided shelter in Myanmar to various active militant groups, including PLA,
which is a part of CorCom. PLA also has camps located in Mintha in Myanmar.
Earlier this year, a Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) official had stated that the Government of
Myanmar was yet to take strong action to evict the militants from its territory, adding that there were
about 2,000 Indian rebels sheltering in Myanmar. Significantly, on November 29, 2014, the then
Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) Syed Asif Ibrahim had observed that safe sanctuaries of the
militants in neighbouring countries, particularly Myanmar, was compounding to the security situation
in North East situation, which he described as “fragile”.
India has failed to effectively patrol the border with Myanmar, and among the reasons of this lapse is
the fact that the bases of Assam Rifles (AR), the Force that has been guarding the Indo-Myanmar
border since 2002, are located deep inside Indian Territory. AR troops have not been able to check
the movement of militants and other anti-national elements along the border, and the Force has now
sought to increase its strength, for dedicated deployment along the border. There have also been
discussions of entrusting the Border Security Force (BSF) with the responsibility of guarding the Indo-
Myanmar border, although no final decision has yet been taken. Earlier, a Union Ministry of Home
Affairs (UMHA) official had stated that, although it may not be possible to fence the entire border with
Myanmar due to the terrain, the border may be fenced where such construction is possible.
Recent revelation by NDFB-IKS militant during interrogations by the National Intelligence Agency
(NIA) have confirmed that Chinese-made weapons were being smuggled into India through Manipur,
via Myanmar, further underlining the necessity of secure borders and a revamp of law enforcement
agencies of the State. The Union Government, well aware of the situation, is planning to improve
border infrastructure and enforcement capabilities. During a visit to Manipur on April 6, 2015, Joint
Secretary for the Northeast Shambu Singh emphasised further that increasing cases of bomb
explosions and ambushes on Assam Rifles personnel in the remote areas of Manipur were due to the
lack of coordination between the State Police and AR.
Although SFs have been able to keep a lid on the violence in Manipur, with fatalities dropping
significantly from 485 in 2008 to 54 in 2014, poor political management, porous borders and India’s
inability to get Myanmar’s cooperation to smother the militancy, continue to be major obstacles to a
restoration of peace. NSCN-K’s withdrawal from the ceasefire is likely to worsen the situation, and
could escalate factional clashes among Naga groups, once again deepening problems in the Hill
Districts, reversing the declining trends in violence across the entire State.