“Suspected” Arambai Tenggol Members Attack Meitei Insurgents Who Signed Ceasefire: Manipur Police

4 members of a Meitei rebel group that signed a ceasefire settlement with the Centre and the Manipur authorities in November 2023 have been injured in an assault by a bunch of 15-20 suspected members of the Arambai Tenggol (AT), the police mentioned in a publish on X on Sunday.

There have been reviews of firing from either side on the incident that occurred on Saturday, the police mentioned.

The suspected AT members got here to the home of alleged United Nationwide Liberation Entrance (Pambei), or UNLF (P) functionary Irengbam Nandakumar Singh alias Tonsana, 56, the police mentioned, including a battle broke out between them through which 4 UNLF members acquired blunt accidents.

“Instantly, groups of safety forces rushed to the spot. The 4 UNLF (P) cadres have been detained and brought to hospital for therapy. They’re reported to be free from any hazard and have solely blunt accidents (not gunshot), they’re secure,” the police mentioned within the publish on X.

The safety forces additionally raided the premises of AT Unit-17 below Imphal East district’s Porompat police station, and recovered incriminating materials together with roughly 15 gram of a substance suspected to be heroin, INSAS assault rifle bayonet and many others, the police mentioned.

On 22.03.2025, some unknown individuals suspected to be from Arambai Tenggol (AT) numbering about 15/20 entered the residence of alleged functionary of UNLF(P), specifically, Irengbam Nandakumar Singh @ Tonsana (56) Kongpal Chingangbam Leikai close to Kongpal Thong and a battle came about… pic.twitter.com/sUe0V64Dri

— Manipur Police (@manipur_police) March 23, 2025

An AT delegation met Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on February 25 and mentioned the best way ahead for bringing peace within the border state. The AT delegation sought assurance from the Governor that there could be no assaults on civilians after the give up of firearms, and the central forces and the police would fill any safety hole, which in any other case might drive civilians to arm themselves once more.

The valley-dominant Meitei group and over a dozen distinct tribes collectively referred to as Kuki, who’re dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, have been combating since Might 2023 over a spread of points comparable to land rights and political illustration.

Kuki civil society teams have alleged the AT launched assaults on their villages alongside the inter-district borders after the primary wave of clashes in Might 2023, which pressured the Kuki tribes to take up arms and type village defence forces. Many AT members have been named in instances of police armoury lootings.

The AT, nonetheless, says it was a cultural organisation that was compelled to take up arms as “village volunteers” as a consequence of ineffective regulation enforcement within the early days of the ethnic violence; it says lack of regulation enforcement led to Meitei villages within the foothills coming below assaults from Kuki militants.

Insurgents From Each Communities Concerned In Manipur Violence: Police

The involvement of overground insurgents from each communities within the Manipur clashes was confirmed in September 2024 by the police after a gunfight in Jiribam district, neighbouring Assam.

Banned Meitei militant teams such because the PLA, KYKL and KCP that had change into practically extinct in Manipur for the final 10 years additionally returned from Myanmar after Might 2023 and because of the junta’s diminishing maintain in areas the place the few remaining Meitei militants camped.

The UNLF (P) is the one Meitei rebel group that signed a ceasefire with the Centre and the state authorities.

The Kuki and Zomi tribes have practically two dozen rebel teams that come below two umbrella organisations referred to as the Kuki Nationwide Organisation (KNO) and the United Folks’s Entrance (UPF). The KNO and UPF have signed the controversial suspension of operations (SoO) settlement whose phrases embrace the insurgents staying at designated camps and their weapons saved in locked storage, to be monitored repeatedly. A lot of them face allegations of participating within the Manipur violence.

The Manipur violence has claimed over 250 lives and displaced practically 50,000 individuals.