Incidents and Statements involving PULF: 2013

Date

Nature of incident

January 30

Thoubal District

A 'commander' of PULF, identified as Abbas Khan, was arrested from Shakarpur area (East Delhi District) in Delhi for committing robbery and theft, Police said on February 14. He was earlier arrested by Delhi Police in June 2010 for alleged involvement in vehicle theft in the city and forgery of documents of the stolen vehicles, said an officer. He remained in Tihar Jail till March 2012. Thereafter, he was presented in a court in Manipur but he later managed to flee from there, Police said.

At least six militant cadres belonging to different outfits surrendered with arms to BSF authorities at the paramilitary force's 116 battalion complex near Loktak Lake in Bishnupur District. Four cadres of the UNLF and one each of the PULF and PLA surrendered along with five pistols, one carbine and two grenades to the BSF inspector general (frontier headquarters) Manohar Lal Batham, a BSF official said.

Unidentified militants set ablaze a private truck at Yairipok area. The truck owner P Jiban Singh (32) said militant outfit PULF had demanded money from them some months back. The militants hijacked the truck which was en route to Machi village from Yairipok area on March 22 and the driver was let off.

Bishnupur District in Manipur

Five militants, three from the UNLF and one each from the PULF and the KCP-MC, surrendered before the BSF Inspector-General Sh. Anup Chand Thapliyal at 116 BSF battalion.

SFs arrested two Over Ground Worker of PULF, identified as Altaf Hussian (32), and Nur Zamal (26), from Jiribam in Imphal East District. SFs recovered one extortion note (Quantity 80), one mobile handset Nokia, driving license and cash INR 330 were recovered from their possessions.

Imphal East / Manipur

A combined team of Imphal East commandos and 30 Assam Rifles arrested one PULF cadre, identified as Muhammad Nasir Khan alias Ithem, from the eastern side of Irilbung Bridge in Imphal East District.

A cadre belonging to PULF-Azad identified as 2nd Lieutenant Samar Khan alias Sheikh (34) surrendered to troops of Red Shield Division, said a PIB-DW release adding that Samar surrendered with a 9 mm pistol, magazine and two rounds. He joined the banned outfit in January 2006 at Mandu, Tamenglong District where he was trained for three months from January to March 2009 along with 32 recruits.

SFs detected an IED planted on a passenger vehicle in the Gambhira Ghat locality of Karimganj District. The vehicle coming from Nivia was on its way to Gambhira Colony. SFs arrested three persons, including the driver, the cleaner and a passenger of the vehicle.

IMF, an offshoot of the Manipur based organisation PULF-Ghani-Bashir, militants are suspected to be involved in the planting of the IED recovered by a patrol unit of the Army in the Karimganj District on July 21. Sources in Masimpur cantonment [based in Cachar District] on July 23 said the outfit might have been planning a blast in any of the three Barak valley Districts of Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi during the run-up to Independence Day (August 15).

Seven persons, including two engineers from Kolkata, were abducted by militants from Manipur's Imphal East District. The other five are two senior engineers of Manipur IFCD, two drivers of the department and a local contractor. The abducted have been identified as Abhijeet Sinha and Devjit Sinha of Calcutta-based R.M. Sinha & Company, superintending engineer N. Karnacharya and executive engineer N. Surchandra of the IFCD, the department's drivers, Sarat Singh and Sanayaima Singh, both from Imphal, and local contractor Sanayaima Sharma.

The PULF, meanwhile, has claimed responsibility for the abduction. A statement signed by its 'finance and information secretary' Ayub Ansari said the team were abducted after Surchandra refused to turn up despite being summoned repeatedly for discussions.

Out of seven persons abducted by unidentified gunmen from an Imphal East District area on August 1, two persons identified as Abhijit Sinha (53) and his nephew Devjit Sinha (25), of Kolkata based R.M. Sinha & Company, were released by the abductors.

Not ruling out involvement of Kuki armed group(s), who are signatories to the SoO agreement with the State and Central Governments, in the abduction of the seven persons, Deputy CM Gaikhangam said investigation is on to ascertain all possibilities in the abduction case