Manipur to have a New Surrender Policy From April

On February 13, Manipur Chief Minister, N. Biren Singh announced that a new comprehensive surrender policy would be launched in April. The new policy according to him is being finalised with the Union Government. In May 2017, the Manipur Cabinet had decided to increase the monthly stipend to surrendered militants to Rs. 8,000 from Rs. 4,000, of which Rs. 2,000 would be considered ration money. The one-time financial grant was increased to Rs. 4 lakhs from Rs. 2.5 lakhs. This amount would be kept in a fixed deposit for a term of three years.

This increase in the payments to surrendered militants is not a new phenomenon. Surrender packages have existed in Manipur and other parts of the Northeast facing insurgency for a long time. An increase in the amount to be disbursed probably will not have a serious impact on militant activity. In Manipur, the armed groups seek the restoration of Manipur’s sovereignty. They allege that the Merger Agreement signed by the King in 1949 was illegal as the same had to be ratified by the Manipuri Parliament, which it was not. While the Left-leaning groups of Manipuri nationalism advocate a total armed insurrection, the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) has time and again demanded a UN-brokered plebiscite. Considering that the insurgency has not quite waned in around four decades of its existence, surrender packages would be akin to placing a band-aid on a ruptured artery.

The other issue is about staged surrenders. Staged surrenders are essentially a psychological-operation to break an insurgency. If well planned, they can be very effective tools to dishearten and weaken a movement both among the armed cadres as well as among the civilian support base. When they are badly executed, they can have the opposite effect, evoking even ridicule in the minds of the civilian populace. In August 2017, one day ahead of Independence Day, 68 militants from various organisations surrendered in Imphal. However, only 3 Kalashnikov Rifles, 1 M-16 Rifle, 1 Lethode Gun, and 3 pistols with ammunition were handed over, a paltry haul from 68 surrendered militants. In January 2013, a ‘staged’ surrender ceremony was exposed, wherein 60 civilians were lured into an Assam Rifles camp to be presented as surrendered members of the Military Defence Force of the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL).

That resolving the conflict in Manipur requires a political solution should be a no-brainer. The cease-fire agreement between the NSCN(IM) and the Union Government has been successful in creating a relatively stable environment in Nagaland. Using surrender packages and staged surrenders was not a part of the ‘success’ regarding the Nagas, but the dialogue was. In this regard, a serious policy towards the Manipuri insurgency would be a better alternative to yet another ‘surrender package’.