The Rebel, Who Was Sentenced for ‘Waging War’ Against India,

Is Released for His Exceptionally Good Behaviour

The UNLF chairperson, RK Meghan alias Sana Yaima, who was charged for "waging war" against India by the NIA, but the UNLF leader, who voiced that the UNLF does not view India or its army as enemies, and the UNLF only resist the Indian armed forces stationed in Manipur and to resist those people who engaged in colonial repression, set up a Rock Garden, a Music School for the inmates and Coffee Plantations inside the jail's premises, during his period in jail, and thus was freed on last Saturday for his exceptionally good behavior.

By Onkareshwar Pandey with Sanjoo Thangjam, Spl Correspondent, Imphal

Imphal, Nov 12, 2019: Considering his exceptionally good behavior, the Govt of India has released Rajkumar Meghen aka Sana Yaima, the Chairman of the Manipur-based extremist group United National Liberation Front (UNLF) from the Guwahati Central Jail on Saturday evening, nearly 10 months before the end of his 10-year jail term.

RK Meghen @ Sana Yaima, who was convicted in June 2016 to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment for various offences, including terrorist acts and waging war against the nation, has been kept  in a government guesthouse in Guwahati for now by the NIA for security reasons.

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Jail authorities of Guwahati Central Jail, Kahilipara said that RK Meghen alias Sana Yaima, the 75 year old leader; the Chairman of UNLF got a remission of his jail term for his good behaviour.

The Jail's superintendent Ranjit Baishya said, "RK Meghen alais Sana Yaima's conduct has been exceptionally good. He has set up a Rock Garden, a Music School for the inmates and Coffee Plantations inside the jail's premises."

WHERE IS HE NOW?

A reliable source said that the Govt. did not want the UNLF Chairman RK Meghen alias Sana Yaima to return to Imphal at this point of time apropos the current situation in Manipur and Nagaland.

The source further stated that RK Meghen is presently safe and secure and that he has not been re-arrested however, the condition that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officials took him is more like detention. M Gunedhor Singh, RK Meghen's lawyer said that there are no pending cases against the UNLF founder anymore.

POLITICAL ANGLE OF HIS ARREST

It is believed that RK Meghan is a Meitei, one of Manipur's largest ethnic groups which is opposed to the Naga peace talks between the demands of the NSCN (IM) to integrate Naga inhabited areas of the neighbouring States into Greater Nagaland. Manipur has areas inhabited by Nagas.

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The authorities had reportedly requested Meghen not to travel to Manipur after his release as the Naga peace talks are not yet over and the situation in the state is volatile. The peace talks have led to concern in Manipur, whose residents fear that a solution to the Naga concerns would come at the cost of the state’s integrity.

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WHEN HE BECAME CHAIRMAN OF UNLF?

Rajkumar Meghen aka Sana Yaima was declared chairman of the UNLF in 2003 after a general assembly of the group. The UNLF of Manipur was formed under the leadership of Arambam Samarendra Singh on 24 September 1964. The UNLF is supposed to be the oldest Meitei militant group that was formed with an aim to achieve “independence” and to establish a socialist society in Manipur.

OTHER LEADERS OF UNLF

The other members of the highest decision-making body of the UNLF, the central committee (CC), includes: chairman, Rajkumar Meghen; general secretary, Kh. Pambei; secretary of defence, A. Wangpa; secretary of organisation, M. Nongyai; secretary of publicity, N. Thabal; and associate member, N.C. Koireng, according to a report published by Institute For Defence Studies & Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi.

HOW HE PICKED UP THE GUN?

Drawing inspiration from the "charged political atmosphere during the "Naxalbari uprising", he had dropped out of the higher studies at the Jadavpur University in Kolkata, and "picked up a gun and vanished into the forest" about 4 decades ago; and had remained underground since then, before his arrest.

WHEN HE WAS ARRESTED?

On December 4, 2010, Sana Yaima was arrested from Motihari in Bihar by the NIA while trying to cross over to India from Bangladesh; while, Sana Yaima proclaimed that he was abducted by the Bangladeshi agencies on September 29, 2010 and "handed over" to the agencies of India. Sana Yaima was booked by the NIA for "waging war against the Indian Union under section 120 (B) IPC, 121, 121 (A), 122 IPC and 16, 17, 18, 18 (A), 18 (B) & 20 Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967 as amended in 2008.

RK Meghen was amongst 18 UNLF operatives convicted by a special NIA Court in Guwahati in June 2016. He was then found guilty under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including those dealing with criminal conspiracy and waging war against the State and awarded a 10 - year sentence.

ABOUT HIS FAMILY

On March 14, 2016, after the sentence to United National Liberation Front (UNLF) leader R.K. Meghen alias Sana Yaima, his daughter-in-law had resigned from the Manipur police service. Thounaojam Brinda, Deputy Superintendent of Police, posted at the 9 India Reserve Battalion, an all-women battalion, resigned in protest against what she described a "faulty" system.

"I have tendered my resignation because the organisation (police department) does not trust me because I am Sana Yaima's daughter-in-law. I cannot continue to work in the department in this environment," Brinda had then said, according to a story in The Telegraph.

Sana Yaima revealed about his family in an exclusive Interview with Nitin A. Gokhale, who wrote about his meeting with the legendary rebel deep in the jungles on the India-Myanmar border a couple of years ago, and again in Hong Kong in Tehelka Magazine.

“Sana Yaima’s wife and their two sons have taken his absence in their stride. “My wife keeps herself busy teaching in a mission school. My elder son is doing his phd in remote sensing from Manipur University, and the younger one is a graduate in computer science,” the UNLF leader says with pride. The distance hurts — he can only meet them in hiding - but “if this is my calling, so be it,” he says. In his early underground days, security forces used to routinely harass his family, barging into the house every night looking for him. “By now they seem to have given up,” he says, according to Gokhale.

MORE ABOUT UNLF

Going back to the evolution of the UNLF as a militant group, one would find that it remained as a pressure group spreading the ideas of free and independent Manipur. Simultaneously, the group, in the 1970s and the 1980s, concentrated on recruiting cadres, according to South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP).

In 1990, the UNLF formed its armed wing called the Manipur People’s Army (MPA), and it was in the same year that it decided to launch an armed struggle against the “illegal occupation” of Manipur by India and to make it free. The first major attack by the UNLF after the formation of the MPA was on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at Loktak Hydel Project area in December 1991. In this violent attack, five security force personnel were killed by the UNLF.

FACTIONS OF UNLF

There have been factions within the UNLF and the major one was the faction led by Namoijam Oken. Oken left UNLF and formed the UNLF (Oken group). Later, UNLF (Oken group) merged with splinter groups of the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) and the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) and formed the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL). Image courtesy - Kangla Online / Epao Dot Net / Scroll 

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(Onkareshwar Pandey is Founder, Editor in Chief & CEO, Indian Observer Pos,  and former Senior Group Editor- Rashtriya Sahara (Hindi & Urdu) and also former Editor, (News), ANI. http://bit.ly/2mh7hih)