The killing of an Indian Army Commanding Officer (CO) of the Assam Rifles and his family, along with three other soldiers of the Quick Response Team (QRT), in a militant attack in Manipur has brought back focus on the People’s Liberation Army, one of the largest and most dangerous terror outfits suspected to be behind the ambush.
The PLA was established by N Bisheshwar Singh on September 25, 1978, to “liberate” Manipur and demand “separation” from India. He had split from United National Liberation Front (UNLF) to form this group.
The group, which seeks “cessation from India”, is led by principles of Marxism- Leninism and Mao’s thoughts. It also enjoins Naga revolutionaries to join in its fight for Independence.
The outfit further looks for “War of Independence” with Chinese support, provoking the Naga and Mizo ‘revolutionaries’ to jointly fight against the common enemy.
According to information provided by the Indian Army, he “formulated a two-fold objection, to liberate the Eastern Region of India comprising the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura and the Union Territories of Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh through a carefully planned revolutionary uprising and to use this as a base for `liberating’ the rest of India”.
The PLA in 1989 formed a political body called the Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF) to prop up an alternative to mainstream parties. The RPF runs a government-in-exile in Bangladesh, as per the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), which maintains a comprehensive list of insurgent outfits operating in India.
It now has four divisions, namely 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, equipped with arms.
PLA is also a member of the Manipur People’s Liberation Front, an umbrella organisation of three separatist organisation of Manipur.
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