Indian police arrest top north-eastern militant

Wed, 01 Dec 2010

New Delhi - Indian police have arrested a top militant leader from India's north-eastern state of Manipur, officials said Wednesday.

Rajkumar Meghen, chairman of the banned United National Liberation Front (UNLF), was arrested Tuesday in Bihar near the Nepalese border and was produced in a local court, Bihar's East Champaran district police superintendent Paras Nath said.

"Meghen is now in the custody of the National Investigation Agency, which was given a three-day transit remand by the court," Nath said, referring to the order to produce him in court within 72 hours. Nath added he had no information on where the UNLF leader was taken.

Meghen, a member of Manipur's royal family, has been on the run for 35 years.

The UNLF is one of the oldest of the estimated 50 militant groups operating in India's north-eastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and Meghalaya.

It was formed in 1964 with the aim of achieving independence for Manipur from India. The group has estimated 3,000 to 5,000 fighters.

Meghen's relatives had earlier claimed he had been arrested in Bangladesh in September and was in the custody of Indian police.

His wife Ibengmungshi Devi had filed a petition in court seeking information on her husband's whereabouts and also approached the National Human Rights Commission.

The insurgencies in north-eastern India stems from the poverty and the political alienation of the largely tribal populations in the area.

Over 3,000 people have died in insurgency-related incidents in the region over the past decade, including clashes between militant groups, according to the website South Asia Terrorism Portal.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/356036,arrest-top-north-eastern-militant.html.