Manipur has been wrecked by insurgency for several decades and the state is home to many terrorist organisations which target security forces, government servants and even the common public. The state borders Myanmar and many terrorists groups have their bases deep inside the neighbouring country making it very tough to track and act against them.
One of the largest and most dangerous terror outfits in Manipur is the People's Liberation Army (PLA) which was established by N Bisheswar Singh on September 25, 1978. A proscribed terrorist group, the PLA aims to organise a revolutionary front covering the entire Northeast and unite all ethnic groups, including the Meiteis, Nagas and Kukis, to liberate Manipur.
According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), which maintains a comprehensive list of insurgent outfits operating in the Indian subcontinent, even though the PLA is dominated by the Meiti tribe, its leadership claims that it is a trans-tribal organisation seeking to lead the non-Meiteis as well.
In a bid to provide an alternative to the people, the PLA in 1989 formed a political body called the Revolutionary People's Front (RPF), which runs a government-in-exile in Bangladesh. Irengbam Chaoren is the 'president' of the RPF. It has a vice-president, a general secretary, secretaries in charge of home, finance, foreign affairs, publicity and communication, social welfare, health and education.
After suffering several reverses at the hands of Indian security forces, the PLA leaders reorganised the outfit on the lines of a professional army. The militant wing now comprises four divisions – Sadar Hill West areas of the Valley of Manipur, Sadar Hill areas in the eastern Valley, the entire hill areas in Manipur and the entire Imphal area.
Each division has a commander, lieutenants, sergeant and lance corporals in its ranks. PLA activists are equipped with sophisticated arms, says SATP. The group has also been reportedly involved in widespread extortion operations.
PLA recruits were trained in guerrilla warfare by the then united National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) at its headquarters in Challam, beyond the Somrah Tract, in north Myanmar during the 1980s. PLA is also reported to have contacts with Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
The ISI's nexus with the PLA came to notice through a document recovered in January 1991 from Biren Singh alias German, the Finance Secretary of the RPF (the political wing of the PLA).
It has a government-in-exile in Bangladesh where the PLA has set up a number of bases in the Sylhet district. Two camps in Myanmar and five camps in Bangladesh are currently known to exist, where about 1,000 recruits have received arms training.
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