India government extends ban on Meitei secessionist organizations under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act – JURIST

India’s Home Ministry on Monday extended a ban against seven Meitei extremist groups that advocate the secession of Manipur, a small state in northeastern India. The ministry, through a notification, listed the seven organizations:

• the Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) and its political wing, the Revolutionary Peoples’ Front (RPF);
• the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) and its armed wing, the Manipur Peoples’ Army (MPA);
• the Peoples’ Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) and its armed wing, the “Red Army;”
• the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) and its armed wing, also called the “Red Army;”
• the Kanglei Yaol Kanba Lup (KYKL);
• the Coordination Committee (CorCom); and
• the Alliance for Socialist Unity Kangleipak (ASUK).

All were banned as “unlawful associations” under section 3 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), 1967.

The notification mentioned that the ban will take effect from November 13 and will continue to operate for five more years. The government said that if curbs are not placed on these extremist groups, they will “mobilize their cadres for escalating secessionist, subversive, terrorist and violent activities” and “propagate anti-national activities in collusion with forces inimical to sovereignty and integrity of India.”

Section 3 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act allows the Indian government to declare any association “unlawful” if the government believes that the association aims to carry out actions detrimental to the sovereignty and integrity of the nation. The law mandates that such notification shall specify the grounds on which it is issued and other particulars that the government considers necessary for such an action.

According to the current notification, the government believes that these Meitei groups have been involved in multiple unlawful activities, including engaging in armed means to achieve their objectives. The government says the organizations have been “attacking and killing security forces, police and civilians in Manipur” and “indulging in acts of intimidation, extortion and looting of civilian population for collection of funds for their organisations.”

Since ethnic violence between the dominant Meitei and tribal Kuki groups broke out in the northeastern state of Manipur on May 3, at least 178 people have died and 50,000 have been displaced.