The Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday extended a ban on eight insurgent groups in Manipur by five years. In a notification, the ministry said the ban was being extended as the organisations had indulged in unlawful activities.

The groups named in the notification are the Peoples’ Liberation Army, the Revolutionary Peoples’ Front, the United National Liberation Front, the Manipur Peoples’ Army, the Peoples’ Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak, and its armed wing the “Red Army”, the Kangleipak Communist Party and its armed wing, also called the “Red Army”, the Kanglei Yaol Kanba Lup, the Coordination Committee and the Alliance for Socialist Unity Kangleipak.

The ministry said that the banned groups, which it called “Meitei extremist organisations”, had been attacking security forces, the police, government employees and “law-abiding citizens” in Manipur. “[They have] been indulging in acts of intimidation, extortion and looting of civilian population for collection of funds for their organisations,” the notification added.

The Centre also claimed that the groups received arms from abroad for their activities, and maintained camps in neighbouring countries for the purpose of training and receiving arms and ammunition. The Ministry of Home Affairs said the outlawed groups were involved in 756 violent incidents from January 1, 2013 to July 31, 2018, in which 86 people were killed, including 35 security personnel.