IMPHAL, July 17 NNN : The United Tribal Liberation Army (UTLA) is learnt to have signed Suspension of Operation (SoO) pact with Manipur and Central Governments at Jiribam on Wednesday to pave the way for tripartite talks.
In all, 45 UTLA insurgents attended the agreement signing ceremony held at Jiribam Kadamtala Electricity IB at 11 am. They also brought huge quantity of arms and ammunition during the ceremony.
UTLA’s chairman SK Thadou represented the outfit while Joint Secretary North East, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Shambu Singh and the state Principal Secretary (Home), Dr J Suresh Babu represented the Government of India and Government of Manipur respectively in signing the agreement.
Altogether 42 weapons including AK rifles, M-16s, carbines, 9 mm pistols and 2.2 rifles with ammunition were brought by the 45 cadres during the pact signing event.
They have been lodged at 22 Assam Rifles camp, Kadamtala after the SoO agreement.
Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence), top officials of IGAR (South) and other state police officials were also present at the occasion.
However, the outfit’s general secretary Seinio Guite was absent from the ceremony as he is now in the Jiribam Police Station in connection with an extortion case.
Guite was produced before the court of Jiribam District Magistrate which sent him to police custody till July 27 for further interrogation.
UTLA which is active in and around Jiribam was formed in 2002 with around 150 cadres. The tribal insurgent group faced a split in 2011 on ideological grounds that led to fratricidal killings.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/utla-signs-soo-with-government/
