RK Meghen alias Sana Yaima, the former chairman of the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) and the man who once led one of Manipur’s longest-running armed insurgencies, is now appealing for peace to solve the ongoing Meitei-Kukis and the Kuki-Naga clashes in the state.
Meghen, 82, returned to New Delhi after nearly 16 years and has begun meeting Meitei and Naga civil society groups, urging dialogue to end the cycle of ethnic violence that has gripped the state.
He led the UNLF—one of Manipur’s oldest and most influential insurgent groups—before he was brought back from Dhaka in 2010 and later convicted for waging war against the country.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, he said he is no longer associated with either the UNLF-Pambei faction, which is under a ceasefire agreement with the government, or the Koirang faction, which is not part of any peace pact.
He said his outreach is entirely in his personal capacity. In his years of hiding, when he was one of the country’s most wanted, Meghen had operated the proscribed outfit from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
“I am also willing to talk to my Kuki brothers and am trying to reach out to them. Over the last three days, since reaching Delhi on July 3, I have held meetings with civil society members from Meitei and Naga groups. The violence in Manipur has led to a lot of bloodshed. The future looks bleak for our next generation. I want to tell everyone that violence is not the solution. This crisis is not going to help anyone,” Meghen, who was once one of the most wanted insurgents of the north east, said.
{{/usCountry}}“I am also willing to talk to my Kuki brothers and am trying to reach out to them. Over the last three days, since reaching Delhi on July 3, I have held meetings with civil society members from Meitei and Naga groups. The violence in Manipur has led to a lot of bloodshed. The future looks bleak for our next generation. I want to tell everyone that violence is not the solution. This crisis is not going to help anyone,” Meghen, who was once one of the most wanted insurgents of the north east, said.
{{/usCountry}}His appeal from New Delhi came on a day when two Assam Rifles personnel were killed in an ambush by militants in Manipur’s Ukhrul district and just a day ago, several houses were burnt in Manipur in the Naga-Kuki clashes. Even as the Kuki-Meitei clashes in Manipur that started over 3 years ago remain unresolved and have led to nearly 300 deaths, the state is engulfed in Naga-Kuki clashes that started in February this year. At least two dozen people have died in the Naga-Kuki clashes in these last 6 months.
With large parts of the state divided along ethnic lines between Kukis, Nagas and Meiteis, Meghen warned that allowing the present situation to continue would jeopardise the future of generations.
The UNLF is still considered the most influential insurgent group in Manipur. To be sure, Meghen clarified that neither he is linked to any group nor has he been approached by government agencies.
Meghen served behind bars for nearly 10 years after his formal arrest(from Bihar) by the NIA in 2010 before being released in 2019 and remaining away from public life or the banned outfit.
“The communities must learn to coexist and live together. The buffer zones created must be removed for the state’s future. What’s happening in Manipur is not just a law and order problem and can’t be solved by the security forces of the army. Foreign non state actors too are fanning the tension. People have to come forward and talk. I am beginning to take these baby steps towards restoring peace by bringing together all communities,” he said.