IndiaPost.com - Menace in Manipur: Regrouping Islamic militant outfits

Two Muslim (Pangal) outfits, People's United Lib-eration Front (PULF) and the lesser-known Islamic National Front (INF) have formed a coalition in Manipur to emphasize the unity of Islamic outfits in the region and revamp their strength. Perhaps, this amalgamation of the two outfits would lead other small Pangal militant groups to combine later.

The regrouping may intensify their activities, making them more dynamic, which would later pose a threat to the state and the Center. On April 30, at an unspecified location in Imphal East District, about 20 INF cadres with its chairman Mohammed Raffisuddin joined hands with the PULF leader Umar Farooq and promised to function under the PULF. Raffisuddin was appointed the party's home secretary by the PULF's general secretary Kaji Ibrahim.

The INF Chairman disclosed that their objective was to raise the indigenous minority Muslim communities - over seven per cent of the total population of Manipur - to a status where the world would recognize their distinct culture and identity, which has been suppressed by the Indian establishment for many years.

He argued there was no point in the various revolutionary organizations struggling separately to pursue their common goal. The INF claimed that the group was established in the late 1980s and had been operating mostly in Churachandpur district where its cadres are being trained by the Kuki National Front (KNF), an active outfit of the Kuki tribes in Manipur.

Muslim groups like the PULF, Islamic Revolutionary Front (IRF), INF, United Islamic Revolutionary Army (UIRA) and United Islamic Liberation Army (UILA) came into existence in Manipur to protect their communities after the Meitei-Pangal clash that took 150 Muslim lives in 1993. Among all the Islamic militant outfits in the region, the PULF is the most active and has garnered support from Bangladeshi and Pakistani elements.

Though the outfit has less than 100 cadres, it is vibrant. Apart from its linkages with other outfits in the Northeast, PULF has been maintaining a close connection with external elements over the last few years. Since its purported objective includes securing an Islamic country in India's northeast through an armed struggle in collaboration with other Islamist fundamentalist groups, PULF has been garnering support, and allegedly receiving sophisticated weapons from the Directorate General Field Intelligence (DGFI) of Bangladesh and Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). Since 2001, the outfit has been trying to establish a safe corridor through Karimganj for their agents.

To undergo arms training and join the Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT), Muslim youths were allegedly selected from various madrassas in Manipur and sent to Pakistan via Karimganj and Bangladesh. In fact, the arrest of three Manipuri LeT cadres with armaments from the Red Fort area in New Delhi, on December 19 indicates the links of Muslim elements with the LeT, signifying that the minority Muslims in Manipur are a target for fresh recruitment by the LeT. Regrouping and revamping of the Pangal outfits would pose a serious challenge to the state and the nation.

In fact, Manipuri Pangals are known for their unity and affinity to the region; the amalgamation of the PULF and INF is one of its results. Over a period of time, the Pangal militant groups are likely to become more dangerous with the help of external elements.

And the Pangal outfits could become the fulcrum of external efforts to destabilize not just Manipur, but also the Northeast, which would constitute a significant threat to the nation. The writer is Research Assistant, Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses (IDSA)