New Delhi: Barely three months after a ‘historic’ peace agreement was signed by the Narendra Modi government with a Meitei armed group, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has picked three of its top leaders from the state, and brought them to New Delhi most likely for further interrogation.
Among those arrested by the central agency is Thokchom Thoiba, the army chief of the United National Liberation Front’s (UNLF) Pambei group.
Though the reason for the arrests has not been made public, it could be related to the recent ethnic violence between the Kuki and the Meitei groups in the state. The NIA, as per the Manipur governor’s speech in the last assembly session, is investigating five cases related to the ethnic violence.
The group is often seen close to chief minister N. Biren Singh in Manipur.
Even while the state was under violence, the Ministry of Home Affairs had signed a peace agreement with the Pambei faction of UNLF, which other factions of the outfit were not supportive of. In November 2023, soon after the signing of the agreement in Delhi, Union home minister Amit Shah took to X (formerly Twitter) to call it a “historic” moment.
The NIA’s apprehension of the top leaders of the Pambei faction on March 13 has been perceived as an unusual move by the Union government, given that no top leadership of any armed outfit in the Northeast, with which the government has a peace agreement, has been apprehended before.
Meanwhile, the arrests, carried out at the Imphal West district in an early morning operation, along with Assam Rifles and state police commandos, before they were rushed to the Imphal airport to be flown to Delhi in a special flight, have kicked up a massive protest from several Meitei civil society groups, triggering a 48-hour shutdown of the valley districts starting Friday morning. No sooner did the news spread about their arrest, Meira Paibi women’s groups came out against it and blocked roads in the Imphal east district, said local reports.
“In response to the incident, security has been heightened in Imphal City, with state and central forces deploying personnel armed with heavy weaponry at key locations,” said The Ukhrul Times.
An Imphal Free Press report said the shutdown has been jointly called by 12 civil society organisations along with a student’s body.
On March 14, the chief minister urged the Union government to release the top leaders of the group. He told reporters that no prior information was shared with the state government by the central agency about the arrest.
