A designated camp of a Kuki-Zo insurgent group that has signed the SoO agreement in Manipur
The leaders of Kuki-Zo insurgent groups in Manipur have been allegedly misappropriating funds meant for rehabilitation of their members after signing a controversial tripartite ceasefire agreement with the Centre and the state government, people with direct knowledge of the matter told NDTV.
The insurgents who have signed this agreement in 2008 get a stipend of Rs 6,000 every month to help in their rehabilitation.
Starting April 1, 2018, these were to be disbursed after linking the Aadhaar biometric details of the insurgents, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) guidelines for reimbursement of security-related expenses.
Now, a report by the CAG which was presented to the Manipur assembly on Friday flagged payments made to the insurgents between April 1, 2018 and March 31, 2021 without taking their biometric details in the form of Aadhaar.
"The payments were made to the representatives of the cadres by cheque. There was no record for unique biometric identification number linking of the cadres. Thus, payment of Rs 27.38 crore to the cadres was irregular payment in terms of the guidelines," the CAG report presented in the state assembly said.
The CAG report termed as "not acceptable" the reply by the authorities who handle the payments that the insurgents have not given their biometric details. "The reply is not acceptable as linking of unique biometric identification number for surrendered militants is mandatory with effect from April 1, 2018 as per SRE (security-related expenses) guidelines," the CAG report said.
A joint monitoring group (JMG) responsible for reviewing the ceasefire agreement in its meeting on December 30, 2016 did discuss the necessity of linking the unique biometric identification numbers of the insurgents with their bank accounts, but the insurgents did not give the details, according to the reply by the authorities to the CAG.
The Manipur government, too, has been seeking to end the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with some 25 Kuki-Zo insurgent groups in the ethnic violence-hit state. The state assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution asking the Centre to scrap the SoO agreement over allegations that the insurgents have been participating in the violence.
Broadly, the SoO agreement says the insurgents are to stay at designated camps and their weapons kept in locked storage, to be monitored regularly. A joint monitoring group (JMG) reviews the SoO agreement every year and decides whether to end or renew it. The deadline for this year's review was February 29.
Why No Direct Transfers To Bank Accounts
Following the submission of the CAG report in the state assembly, people familiar with the matter told NDTV it has been understood from several meetings of the JMG that many of the insurgents under the SoO agreement do not have bank accounts, which are needed to send the funds directly, similar to the highly successful direct-benefit transfer (DBT) system.
This explanation for not following a direct transfer system, however, is "unconvincing" as opening bank accounts for the unbanked public is easy these days, and there is even a central scheme for it, three sources in the state government said, requesting anonymity.
"Each of the 25-odd Kuki-Zo insurgent groups has their own leader, apart from the leaders of the two umbrella groups that represent them and that have actually signed the SoO agreement. These leaders need to be in control of the cadre to ensure they follow the ground rules of the agreement," one of the sources said.
"If the stipend goes to the bank accounts of the insurgent cadre directly, then the role of their leaders may diminish as they will no longer be dependent on the few leaders to distribute the stipend," the source said. "And how can we possibly know how exactly the leaders distribute the stipend? The insurgent leaders who control the stipend disbursal can control the cadre."
The SoO agreement that was signed over 15 years ago - with the aim of bringing peace in Manipur, and finding a political settlement to the demands of the Kuki-Zo armed groups - has come under intense scrutiny after ethnic violence between the hill-majority Kuki-Zo tribes and the valley-majority Meiteis began in May 2023.
Kuki-Zo civil society groups such as the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) and the Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), and their 10 MLAs have joined the call for a separate administration carved out of Manipur, a demand also made by the insurgent groups that have signed the SoO agreement. This single demand has brought the insurgent groups, the 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs, and the civil society groups on the same page.
The Manipur government in March 2023 announced it had withdrawn from the SoO agreement with the Kuki National Army (KNA), and the Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA). However, only the JMG can decide on such matters, which indicates the state government's move was only a request to the JMG, sources told NDTV on February 24.
The over two dozen Kuki-Zo insurgent groups come under two umbrella groups - the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), and the United People's Front (UPF). These two representing the others have signed the SoO agreement.
The ethnic violence in Manipur over disagreements on land, resources, political representation, and affirmative action policies has dragged on for 10 months now. While the Kuki-Zo tribes accuse the Meiteis of razing their vacant buildings and occupying them in and around Imphal valley, the Meiteis have pointed at entire localities of their community flattened and erased in the hill district Churachandpur.
Allegations Against Meitei Insurgents Who Signed Peace Deal
Members of Manipur's oldest valley-based armed group UNLF, which signed a tripartite peace agreement with the centre and the state government in November 2023 - the first Meitei insurgent group to do so - are allegedly engaged in violent activities against both the security forces and the public, news agency PTI reported on February 18.
The recent sightings of insurgents of the Kh Pambei faction of the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) in Manipur's Moirangpurel, Tumukhong, and Itham have raised concerns, with reports indicating they were carrying out reconnaissance to set up camps in these areas, PTI reported.
The gates of houses of Kuki-Zo tribes in parts of Imphal valley including the Games Village in the Langol foothills have the acronym 'UNLF' written on them, sources who have been to the area said, requesting anonymity.
Both sides accuse each other of atrocities. The Kuki-Zo tribes say their "village defence volunteers" have been repelling attacks by armed groups from the valley, especially the Arambai Tenggol which the Manipur Police have also flagged as a huge problem, who come to the hills across the "sensitive zone" with obvious intentions.
Both the Arambai Tenggol and the Kuki-Zo armed groups who are openly fighting near the foothills call themselves "village defence volunteers", a definition of the belligerents in Manipur that has become the most controversial since nothing stops these "volunteers" from killing people under the insurance provided by "in self-defence".
A similarity between the "village defence volunteers" of both sides is that they appear to be well-armed and well-equipped with modern battle gear. The security forces have frequently recovered Russian-origin AK and US-origin M series assault rifles, and gun models commonly used by both the junta's army and pro-democracy insurgents in neighbouring Myanmar.
Over 180 have died in the violence, and thousands have been internally displaced.