Manipur group rejects idea of India

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UNLF camp (India-Myanmar border): The Manipur People's Army has been resisting Operation All Clear launched by the Indian security forces in October 2003.

CNN-IBN Special Investigation Team traveled to the Manipur People's Army camps in south east Manipur to understand what motivates the guerilla force.

Getting to UNLF is a long, difficult trek, four days into dense forested hills, bamboo jungles, escorted by cadres of the UNLF's armed force.

The operational headquarters of 293rd battalion of the Manipur People's Army demonstrates the extent of territory that the UNLF controls over the south-eastern part of Manipur.

The UNLF controls Ukhrul in the East, Chandel in the south east and Churachandpur in South Manipur.

For the UNLF rebels, war with the Indian army is all about fighting for their cause of freedom

The UNLF contends that the Merger Agreement signed in 1949 between Maharaja Bodh Chandra Singh and the Advisor to the Government V P Menon, was flawed.

“From 1947 to 1948, to be precise 15 October, 1949, the day India annexed Manipur, Manipur was an independent country. That's how it all began - the conflict - the genesis of the Manipur-India conflict,” says UNLF Chairman Sanayaima.

The conflict shows no signs of slowing down, drawing youngsters like Chinjacha - a former national kickboxing champion - into a bloody battle with the Indian army.

“I was a good martial art player. I was a kick boxer and I won three or four medals at the state level and also at national level,” says Chinjacha.

Strangely, the man who leads Manipur's violent secessionist movement once believed in the idea of India.

“I grew up and I thought that I'm an Indian - when I was in school and I thought of myself in that environment. But when I began to grow and reach the level of college & I gradually realized that India is something different from what we are,” says Sanayaima.

Alienation drives these young guerillas.

This unpaid army is high on morale and can fight for years, making it increasingly clear that there can be no military solution to Manipur' s hidden war.

(With Rohit Khanna and Rajesh Bhardwaj)