False propaganda, says UNLF
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, April 10 2018:
Reacting to a news report that a minor girl recruited by the UNLF had been rescued by Assam Rifles and reunited with her family, the outfit has asserted that it was a false propaganda of the Assam Rifles aimed at tarnishing the image of the revolutionary movement.
A press release issued by the outfit's department of publicity director M Sak-hen alleged that the Indian military forces have been committing all kinds of atrocities upon the people of Manipur.
In the name of counter insurgency operations, Indian military forces raped a number of women, shot dead many others and they were also instrumental for involuntary disappearance of a number of men, it alleged.
As per the rules of UNLF/MPA, any individual who has attained 16 years of age may join the outfit on his/her own volition but the outfit never forced or coaxed anyone to join it.
However, sometimes individuals who come to the party to join the revolutionary movement at their own will are taken into the party under compelling circumstances even if they have not yet reached 16 and they are given education until they become fully mature, it said.
Immature children are never sent to battles nor are they entrusted any hard task, it added.