He passed away at 10.30 on Friday after a brave battle against Terminal Brain Tumour, said a statement issued by the banned outfit’s Deputy Secretary, Publicity Roben Khuman on Saturday
TFM Desk
Proscribed Revolutionary People’s Front (RPF), one of the most powerful armed political groups in Manipur, is mourning the demise of its president Irengbam Chaoren. He died at 10.30 on Friday after a brave battle against Terminal Brain Tumour, said a statement issued by the outfit’s Deputy Secretary, Publicity Roben Khuman on Saturday.
Irengbam Chaoren led the RPF as its president from 1990 till his last breath. In honour of the departed leader, the outfit decided to fly its flag at half-mast for 15 days from February 10 to February 24 as a mark of honour to the departed leader, it said.
Irengbam Chaoren, who hailed from Khagempalli Huidrom Leikai, was also the convenor of the proscribed CorCom, a conglomerate of seven armed outfits in Manipur since its formation in July 2011. He was 65.
On the occasion of the 44th Raising Day of RPF’s armed wing People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which falls on September 25, Chaoren said that love for freedom, dignity and the desire to live as an independent nation is the most treasured aspiration of every person in the world. It was his last message to the public issued ahead of the PLA’s raising day.
He had asserted that India has misled the international community by wrongfully projecting an independent kingdom of Manipur as its integral part while orchestrating to discredit the ongoing liberation movement of Manipur as ‘separatist’, which indeed is a self-evident wrongful obliterating propaganda of India.
According to reports, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), founded by N. Bisheshwar Singh on September 25, 1978, is a separatist armed revolutionary group fighting for a separate independent Manipur. It was the first organisation from Manipur to have been trained by China’s People’s Liberation Army at Lhasa in the eighties. Additional training was provided by the NSCN in Myanmar during this time.
Since its founding, it has been waging guerrilla warfare against the Indian Armed Forces and has targeted the Indian Army, Indian Paramilitary Forces and the State Police Force. However, during the late nineties, it declared a unilateral decision not to target the Manipur Police, reports said.
RPF took up arms and fought for all the dependent and colonised people of Manipur representing the Meitei and the Nagas, the Kuki-Chins, and smaller nationalities for granting and restoration of independence and de-colonisation of the State of Manipur from the present colonial and hegemonic Administering Power of Indian, which has been allegedly occupying Manipur since 15 October 1949, till today. It also aims to organise a “revolutionary front” covering the entire Northeast. RPF though a Meitei outfit, claims itself to be a trans-tribal organisation seeking to lead the non-Meiteis as well.
Till today, RPF has not shown any interest in holding a dialogue process with the Government of India (GOI). It has firmly committed to the cause of the liberation of Manipur. It has repeatedly ruled out talks with the Indian Government unless its demands are not included in the negotiation.