DIMAPUR, DEC 4 (MExN): The Chief of Army Staff Gen J.J Singh has reportedly presented two receipts acknowledging a total amount of Rs 1.5 Crore which had been paid by Manipur’s Congress Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh to the coffers of the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) and the Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF)—both banned Meitei separatist groups. The two receipts, accessed by Outlook magazine, and presented by chief of army staff Gen J.J. Singh to home minister Shivraj Patil and the PMO has put Ibobi Singh in the dock for parting with funds.
The receipts, one issued by the KYKL and the other by the RPF have placed serious questions marks on Ibobi’s bipartisan role in the state, according to the news article in the magazine. The receipt issued by the KYKL (No. D219) dated March 2005 “thanks” Ibobi Singh for a donation for Rs 50 lakh. The receipt dated June 2005 issued by the RPF “acknowledges” a donation of Rs 1 crore and “expresses gratitude” for Ibobi Singh’s “contribution to the genuine cause of the national movement of Manipur”.
“There are hardly any politicians in Manipur of any stature who do not have links with insurgent groups. At times, we have had good evidence to indicate politicians in Manipur paying off insurgent groups and also enlisting their help to win elections,” former Manipur governor Ved Marwah says who is obviously not surprised by the receipts. Marwah also points out that unlike insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, there is very little foreign funding for these separatists. “Extortion is the only way these groups can fund their activities. Therefore, most politicians have to pay for these private armies.”
Both the KYKL and the RPF have been banned by the Centre for over a decade now. While the KYKL emerged out of the United National Front in 1994, the RPF was the political wing of the militant People’s Liberation Army. Both groups have been known to use extortion as their chief source of funding. They also enjoy political patronage for their activities.
The Outlook article mentions that, in order to weaken the NSCN (IM) in parts of Manipur ahead of peace talks with the Centre this month, the army has struck a ceasefire deal with nine Kuki groups allied to the Naga separatist group. The Ibobi government in Imphal isn’t too happy with this development. It wants to promote the interests, say sources, of the Manipuri Meitei groups which also advocate a separate homeland.
For now, the Centre will have to do a delicate balancing act. It is caught between the crucial talks with the NSCN(IM) slated for December this year and a Congress-led Ibobi Singh government in Manipur which has continued to raise the stakes in the peace process. It is virulently opposed to any territorial compromise with either the NSCN (IM) or the Kuki groups. Added to that is the politician-separatist nexus which makes for a dangerous cocktail in a state already bearing the scars of violence.
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