Radical Meitei group Arambai Tenggol puts conditions for weapons’ surrender

Radical Meitei group Arambai Tenggol has said it would give up illegal weapons only when its terms and conditions are accepted, days after governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla asked all communities to voluntarily surrender looted and illegally held arms and ammunition within seven days as part of efforts to end the protracted ethnic violence in Manipur.

“Bhalla also requested us to surrender the illegally possessed weapons. ...we put forward certain terms and conditions and assured him that the weapons would be surrendered if those conditions were met,” said Arambai Tenggol’s public relations officer Robin Mangang Khwairakpam after a delegation of the radical group met Bhalla on Tuesday.

Khwairakpam refused to specify the conditions and a timeline for the weapons surrender, saying Arambai Tenggol would disclose them later. He said Bhalla assured that peace would be restored and all national highways in Manipur reopened after the completion of the surrender process.

The Arambai Tenggol submitted a memorandum to Bhalla demanding fencing of the border with Myanmar, implementation of the National Register of Citizens with 1951 as the cut-off, deportation of “illegal immigrants” abrogation of the agreement for the suspension of operations against Kuki groups, etc. It sought an assurance that no arrests or legal action would be taken against volunteers or armed civilians including those belonging to Arambai Tenggol, and Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the majority Meitei community.

The violence in Manipur was triggered in May 2023 after a solidarity march was taken against a proposal for ST status to the Meiteis.

Arambai Tenggol has been accused of killing Kuki tribals and destroying their homes. A fresh round of violence was triggered in November last year when suspected members of Arambai Tenggol allegedly raped, shot, and set on fire a 31-year-old Kuki woman in Jiribam. Security forces subsequently killed the 10 suspected Kuki militants.

Mobs looted weapons from state armouries, police stations, and outposts after the ethnic violence began. Around 2,500 of the 6,000 looted weapons have been recovered. The violence has claimed at least 260 lives, displaced around 60,000, and forced Meiteis and Kukis to withdraw to their respective strongholds. The Meiteis, mostly Hindu, live largely in the plains of Imphal valley, and the Kukis, predominantly Christian, in the hills. Fortified buffer zones now separate the two communities.

Bhalla appealed to both communities to surrender looted and illegally held weapons within seven days on February 20 assuring no punitive action would be taken against those who comply. Arambai Tenggol commander-in-chief Tyson Ngangbam was among those who met Bhalla on Tuesday two days before the end of the deadline. Khwairakpam said they had a “fruitful discussion” with Bhalla at an hour-long closed-door meeting.

The president’s rule was imposed in Manipur this month as N Biren Singh resigned as the chief minister days after Bhalla was named the governor. The resignation came days after the Supreme Court directed a central forensics lab for a report on leaked audio tapes allegedly featuring Singh purportedly saying the ethnic violence in the state was instigated at his insistence.