By IANS,
Shillong: Indian border guards have detained three separatist rebels, including a woman, of the Manipur-based outlawed People’s Liberation Army (PLA) along the India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya, officials said Wednesday.
“(Self-styled) Corporal Nupamcha Nanda Singh, Ananta Singh and Shanti Devi of the banned Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF), the political wing of the PLA, were Tuesday detained by our patrol party from a village near Dawki after crossing over to India from Bangladesh,” Border Security Force spokesman Ravi Gandhi told IANS.
The PLA, an influential rebel group, is fighting for an independent homeland for the majority Metei community in Manipur.
There are some 20-odd militant groups active in Manipur with demands ranging from secession to greater autonomy.
During questioning, the militants said they had come from Chittagong Hills Tracts of Bangladesh, the official said.
The PLA had set up its bases in Chittagong Hill Tracts and Sylhet districts in Bangladesh bordering India’s Tripura, Mizoram and Meghalaya states.
Meghalaya shares a 443-km border with Bangladesh, part of which is porous, hilly and unfenced and prone to frequent infiltration.