In an operation carried out by the Loktak Battalion of Assam Rifles arrested an insurgent of Manipur-based People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
About the apprehension:
According to sources, based on specific information, Assam Rifles and Manipur police conducted a joint operation that resulted in the apprehension.
On Twitter:
The aegis of Assam Rifles took this incident to its official Twitter handle where they wrote, “ASSAM RIFLES APPREHENDS PLA ASSOCIATE IN MANIPUR Loktak Battalion of #AssamRifles, on 19 Jan, apprehended one active OGW of terrorist group PLA in Moirang Lamkai, Bishnupur District, Manipur.”
The apprehended OGW was handed to Moirang Police Station for further investigation.
PLA, Manipur:
The People’s Liberation Army, often shortened to just People’s Liberation Army (PLA-MP or PLAM), founded by N. Bisheshwar Singh on 25 September 1978, is a separatist armed revolutionary group fighting for a separate independent socialist, a state in northeastern India.
Though it claims to fight for the entire state, the Nagas, Kukis and the tribals in the state are not part of the group. The cadres are drawn from the Meitei people and the Pangal people. Since its founding, it has been waging guerrilla warfare as part of the Insurgency in Manipur against the Indian Armed Forces, and has targeted the Indian Army, Indian Paramilitary Forces and the State Police Force. However, during the late nineties, it declared a unilateral decision not to target the MP.
The death of some top leaders in combat (like President Thoudam Kunjabehari in 1982), and the arrest of others (like N. Bisheshwar, arrested in 1981) decreased its military activity in the eighties. In 1989, a political wing called the Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) was formed.
PLA-MP is also a member of the MPLF, an umbrella organisation of several Manipur separatist groups; namely, the UNLF and PREPAK. On 29 July 2020, three jawans in the Assam Rifles were killed and six injured in an ambush in Chandel district near the Indo-Myanmar border.
