People’s Liberation Army

Incidents and Statements involving People’s Liberation Army: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2000-2012

Formation

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was established under the leadership of N. Bisheswar Singh on September 25, 1978.

Objectives

The PLA aims to organise a revolutionary front covering the entire Northeast and unite all ethnic groups, including the Meiteis, Nagas and Kukis, to liberate Manipur. PLA, though a Meiti outfit, claims itself to be a trans-tribal organisation seeking to lead the non-Meiteis as well.

Leadership and Structure

In 1989, the PLA formed a political body called the Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF). RPF runs a government-in-exile in Bangladesh. Irengbam Chaoren is the ‘President’ of the RPF. It has a Vice-president, a General Secretary, Secretaries in charge of Home, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Publicity and Communication, Social Welfare, Health and Education.

As part of its revitalisation efforts, the PLA was reorganised on the lines of a disciplined army. The militant wing now comprises four divisions – Sadar Hill West areas of the Valley of Manipur, Sadar Hill areas in the eastern Valley, the entire hill areas in Manipur and the entire Imphal area. Each division has a commander, lieutenants, sergeant and lance corporals in its ranks. PLA activists are equipped with sophisticated arms. The group has also been reportedly involved in widespread extortion operations.

Linkages

PLA recruits were trained in guerrilla warfare by the then united National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) at its headquarters in Challam, beyond the Somrah Tract, in north Myanmar during the eighties. PLA is also reported to have contacts with Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). The ISI’s nexus with the PLA came to notice through a document recovered in January 1991 from Biren Singh alias German, the Finance Secretary of the RPF (the political wing of the PLA).

It has a government-in-exile in Bangladesh where the PLA has set up a number of bases in the Sylhet district. Two camps in Myanmar and five camps in Bangladesh are currently known to exist, where about 1,000 recruits have received arms training.

Incidents and Statements involving People’s Liberation Army: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2000-2012