57 Mountain Division Initiates Surrenders Of 64 SPLO/SPLA Cadres
PR from Press Information Bureau (Defence Wing)

PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU (DEFENCE WING)
GOVT OF INDIA

IMPHAL
17 July, 2009

In a surrender ceremony held at Aizwal on 17 July 2009, 64 cadres of SPLA (Sinlung Peoples Liberation Army) laid down their arms and formally surrendered to the State Government of Mizoram. The cadres formally handed over their weapons to the Chief Minister, Mr Lal Than Hawla at Vanapa Hall and Mr Zir Liana, Home Minister of Mizoram and Major General Shakti Gurung, VSM, GOC 57 Mountain Division, under whose jurisdiction the cadres had initially surrendered in the last week of May at churachandpur. Among the surrenderees, 53 cadres belong to Mizoram and 11 are from Manipur. The ceremony was conducted under the aegis of HQ 23 Sector Assam Rifles.

Speaking on the occasion Maj Gen Shakti Gurung, VSM said “ our Division insignia is a shield of a Mizo warrior and it was raised on 10 Dec 1969 primarily to tackle the then ongoing insurgency in Mizoram. After it’s raising, the division moved to Mizoram in Jan 1970 for operations. Today the home coming of the SPLA cadres all the way from Manipur makes this whole cycle complete. They are indeed returning home.

Two years ago, in May 2007, 54 year old L Z Hrangchal founded the Sinlung Tiger Force, recruiting young men between 18-25 years from the Mizo tribes of Pachhuau, Hmar, Chhakchhuak, Palol, Ralte and Sailou. The ideology was that the cadre would take up the struggle of the indigenous Sinlung people affected by hydel projects of Tuirial and Tipaimukh based in Manipur. The ultimate aim of the founder Hrangchal was his new underground outfit could join Sinlung Hill District Council, SHDC in Barak Valley and work towards the creation of Greater Mizoram.

A group photo

None of the youth recruited amongst the employment starved tribes were ever told they would form an underground organization. The lure instead was they would be part of the Mizoram Police. Often behind such recruitments are untold stories of vulnerable youth steeped in poverty, with limited basic education, few avenues and economic opportunities of bettering their lives. With mistaken dreams of improving their lot to be able to climb out of endemic poverty the young volunteers, roughly 100 of them, were taken by bus from Aizwal to Imphal and on to Moreh from where they were transported to training camps in Myanmar.

Intelligence sources believe that the training of these young men was undertaken by the United People’s Party of Kangleipak (UPPK). It was in an isolated training camp in Myanmar that this group took on a new avatar and began calling themselves the Sinlung People Liberation Army (SPLA). The last known strength of their cadres was put at 93.

For the UPPK, the fledgling SPLA was a perfect front that could operate in the ethnically similar Hmar area of Tipaimukh where they would face no opposition from the local community. Through the SPLA the UPPK hoped to be able to siphon money from the estimated Rs 542.16 crores Tipaimukh Dam Project. However after the training, rift occurred between the two as the SPLA was unable to pay UPPK for the training. This resulted in the UPPK withdrawing the weapons given to the cadre during the training period. The rift resulted in SPLA cadres defecting in groups of 5-10 and crossing the border to Manipur.

The defecting cadres who had been cut off in remote training camps in Myanmar also found themselves rudderless as the issue of operating in Tipaimukh dam area had come under a cloud. Various agencies were wrestling amongst themselves on the viability of the project. The forest clearance from Mizoram government is still pending so is the growing concern shown by the Bangladesh government on possible ecological imbalance the dam could create in their area.

Unsure of their future and unwilling to be entrenched in the role of underground, the hapless 64 cadres of the SPLA felt surrendering was the only way they can regain their lives back. .The difference would mean a world for the young men who were enticed into a possible world of crime for no fault of their own. They could have become hardened UGs, killing and dying barren unsung lives in encounters, ending up as mere numbers in the police records that already contain so many desolate and bleak scroll of names.

While welcoming the surrendered cadres, the Chief Minister thanked the Army for showing compassion and helping the misguided youth to shun the path of violence. As the GOC stated, the Army is planning to run a rehabilitation courses for all volunteers under their aegis to help them secure a better future.

See a picture gallery on this event here.

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This information is sent to e-pao.net by PRO Def Wing Imphal
The sender can be contacted at pibdw_imphal(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)in
This PR was webcasted on July 17, 2009 .

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