GUWAHATI: 10 Kuki legislators, including seven from BJP, urged the Centre and state govt Thursday to initiate a political dialogue to restore peace in the violence-hit state. Their call came in response to an eightpoint resolution passed Monday during a meeting of NDA ministers and legislators convened by CM N Biren Singh. The Kuki MLAs boycotted the meeting.
They accused state govt of escalating tensions for political motives. “The misdemeanour also seems emanating from certain quarters to save the shaky chair of the chief minister,” they said in a statement.
Addressing the Centre’s reimposition of AFSPA on Nov 14, the Kuki legislators said it “needs immediate review.” The 1958 law gives special powers to soldiers during counter-insurgency/terrorism operations.
The Kuki MLAs advocated for extending AFSPA to the remaining 13 police jurisdictions in Imphal valley to “facilitate the recovery of more than 6,000 sophisticated weapons looted by Meitei militia since May 3” last year when ethnic violenceerupted in the state. “This is a long overdue action required to contain the violence,” they said.
Monday’s meeting had earlier resolved to request the Centre to review AFSPA’s reimposition in areas under six police stations. The MLAs criticised the resolution to conduct “mass operations against Kuki militants responsible for the killing of six innocent women and children in Jiribam,” calling it “biased” for targeting a single community. “Mass operations must be conducted throughout the state to recoverall illegal arms from all militia groups,” they insisted.
They also opposed the resolution to declare the alleged perpetrators in the Jiribam killings as an unlawful organisation. “This must be preceded by the declaration of the Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun as unlawful organisations under relevant laws,” they said. They also reacted to the killing of 10 Hmar men during a CRPF operation on Nov 11 in Jiribam. While the forces labelled them as militants, the Kuki-Zo community asserted that the menwere village volunteers.
The MLAs described the slain men as “youth defending their villages from murderous attacks by Arambai Tenggol, the so-called G5 (a conglomerate of five underground outfits of the Meitei majority) aided by state police and, in the case of Jiribam, by CRPF.”
They expressed dissatisfaction with the CM-chaired meeting’s resolution to hand over the Jiribam killings to the NIA, calling it cherry-picking by a “communalised state”. They recommended that “all civilian killings from May 3, 2023, both in the valley and hills be handed over to NIA”.Manipur has been grappling with sectarian violence since May last year, claiming more than 250 lives and displacing nearly 60,000 people. The conflict has created a deep divide between the Kuki-Zo tribal communities in the hills and the Meiteis in Imphal valley.
The Kuki MLAs accused state govt of exploiting the Jiribam violence to “suppress and curtail the rights of the disadvantaged tribal community”.
They also condemned the mob attack, looting, and burning of properties belonging to Meitei MLAs and ministers. over to NIA”..