New Delhi:

Representatives of a Kuki-Zo body from Manipur met Union Home Ministry officials in Delhi and sought a separate administration carved out of the violence-hit state. The members of the Kuki-Zo Council (KZC) also requested the Centre to start a political dialogue to resolve the Manipur crisis.

The Kuki-Zo delegation led by KZC chairman Henlianthang Thanglet met a two-member central team headed by adviser to the home ministry in the northeast, AK Mishra. The other was Intelligence Bureau Joint Director for the northeast, Rajesh Kamble.

“We placed our demand for a separate administration for the Kuki-Zo people of Manipur and the initiation of a political dialogue,” KZC spokesperson Ginza Vualzong said.

Mr Vualzong has also been associated with the Churachandpur-based Kuki civil group Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) as its spokesperson.

The meeting took place days after the KZC representatives met Manipur’s new Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla in Kuki-dominated Churachandpur district. The Governor had sought their cooperation in maintaining peace in Manipur and finding a solution.

The KZC in the meeting with the Centre’s officials in Delhi requested to ensure the “buffer zones” – which the Manipur government calls “sensitive areas” – in the foothills are not violated by the valley-dominant Meitei community.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, have killed over 250 people and internally displaced nearly 60,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

Both sides have accused each other of attacking villages in the foothills.

The Manipur government on December 19, 2024, in a statement said there was no organisation called “Kuki-Zo Council”. The KZC, formed in October 2024, had objected to Chief Minister N Biren Singh passing through Kangpokpi district in order to reach Senapati district, where Mr Singh participated in a local festival.

The Kuki tribes hold Mr Singh, who belongs to the Meitei community, responsible for starting the ethnic violence. They have also submitted to a commission of inquiry under the MHA purported audio clips in which the chief minister was allegedly heard admitting he was responsible for the spark that lit the fuse.

Separate Administration Deadlock

Kuki-Zo groups, including insurgent organisations that represent their tribes and that signed the controversial suspension of operations (SoO) agreement with the Centre and the state government, have pointed at the ethnic clashes that began in May 2023 as the reason why they escalated their demand from an autonomous council to a separate administration, or a Union Territory with an assembly.

The World Kuki-Zo Intellectual Council (WKZIC), however, in a memorandum to Manipur’s new Governor on January 15 said the Kuki tribes have been demanding a state “since 1946-47.”

“We have been demanding Constitutional Kukiland state under Article 3 of the Indian Constitution, since 1946-47 to the first Prime Minister of India PM Jawaharlal Nehru in the name of Kuki National Assembly (KNA), resurged by Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM), Kuki State Demand Committee (KSDC) and KNO-UPF who were under SoO with GoI since 2008, to safeguard and in recognition of our community’s rights, including our right to self-determination, cultural identity, and linguistic heritage,” the WKZIC said in the memorandum, which also detailed hardships of the Kuki tribes since India’s Independence.

The internally displaced people from both communities are yet to return home.

Kuki leaders have said a “political solution” in the form of a separate administration should be discussed first before any other issues, including the return of thousands of people living in relief camps.

Meitei leaders have, however, cited this condition placed by the Kuki leaders as a deceitful attempt to set up a narrative for an ethnocentric homeland demand; the Meitei leaders’ argument is that talks can go on while at the same time people living in difficult conditions in the camps can also return home since no territory is ethnic exclusive.

The demand for an ethnocentric homeland is untenable and obsolete in Manipur, where at least 35 communities co-exist, a group of activists and academics from the violence-hit state bordering Myanmar had said at a side event of the 57th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva in October.

Suspension of Operations (SoO) Agreement

Under the SoO agreement, Kuki-Zo insurgents are to stay at designated camps and their weapons kept in locked, monitored storage.

The Manipur government has been asking the joint monitoring group, which reviews the SoO agreement every year, to scrap it for good, over allegations that the SoO groups have been involved in the Manipur violence from the beginning. The SoO agreement lapsed in February this year.

Meitei leaders have alleged the SoO groups have been working to strengthen themselves over the years by taking advantage of the ceasefire, until a time came to engineer a violent attack for a separate land. Geopolitical analysts have speculated the Kuki armed groups were used as mercenaries to fight Meitei and Naga militants operating in the India-Myanmar border.

The ITLF and the Kangpokpi-based Kuki group Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), their 10 MLAs, and the nearly two dozen insurgent groups that have signed the SoO agreement have come on the same stage in demanding a separate administration carved out of Manipur.

Imphal:

A village chief from the Kuki tribes has termed as “baseless” an allegation by a woman that Kuki villagers assaulted her when she tried to build a house in Manipur’s K Lungwiram Naga village in Kangpokpi district.

Haopu Vaiphei, the chief of Leilon Khunou village, in a statement said no assault or misunderstanding happened as alleged by the woman to reporters. The Vaiphei tribe is part of the umbrella term Kuki.

“… Team of Leimakhong police station led by the OC [officer in charge] timely reached the spot and prevented all possible misunderstandings between the two parties,” the village chief said in the statement.

The woman and her brother had said when they went to build a house on a plot in K Lungwiram Naga village, some men from the Kuki tribes came and allegedly assaulted her. K Lungwiram village falls under Kangchup Geljang subdivision in Kangpokpi district.

In the statement, the Leilon Khunou village chief said the woman’s unfounded allegation has flared up emotions, and appealed to the public not to be misled by such baseless claims.

“… The fact was that, on seeing the levelling of the ground with JCB [bulldozer], some village elders including some women approached her and cordially asked her to stop the work as it was not appropriate to take up such activities during this time due to the prevailing unrest in the state.

“To avoid further misunderstanding and complications, each party agreed not to take any video dips of the incident at the site. The team of Leimakhong police station led by the OC timely reached the spot and prevented all possible misunderstandings between the two parties.

“Further, the sub-divisional officer of Kangchup-Geljang visited the site on the same day, met both the parties and verbally requested not to take up any further issue as he would call for a hearing within a few days. Accordingly, the hearing at the office of Deputy Commissioner, Kangpokpi is scheduled on January 10,” the village chief, Haopu Vaiphei, said.

“It was unfortunate that the said lady, later in the evening, made a video clip alleging physical assault which was totally baseless. Further, such unfounded allegation has flared up emotions from our Eastern Liangmai Women Union to block the road at Makhan village, causing immense misery to commuters including the sick, children and the elderly…” Mr Vaiphei said.

“Our Side Of Story”

Rufina Chindeiniang from the village chief’s family in a nearly eight-minute video statement said the woman does not live in the village, and she came from the state capital Imphal.

“Let us all remember that every coin has two sides. You all have heard their story. Now please listen to our side of the story. She does not live in Lungwiram. She came from Imphal. The incident is not linked to Lungwiram village. She bought the land in her individual capacity from another person, Amson, who is the chief of Konsakhul, meaning he is the king there, and he sold land from our Leilon Khunou village. We never knew about it,” Ms Chindeiniang said.

“For example, if somebody comes suddenly to your land without any prior notice to build a house, what would you think… In brief, on January 6, we requested earnestly, very humbly, that till there is some clarity, please stop the work since it was Leilon Khunou village land. Once clarity comes, they can continue their work. They came the next day with workers. Despite requesting them again, they continued working on the land…” Ms Chindeiniang said, adding the woman must instead question how did Amson sell the land that did not belong to him.

Ms Chindeiniang said they have all relevant documents to prove land and village ownership, and asked the woman to bring her papers if she wishes to put up a challenge. She also asked the woman, who wanted to build a house, not to drag in the entire Naga tribes at a sensitive time in Manipur just to solve her individual issue.

The civil society group World Kuki-Zo Intellectual Council (WKZIC) has already condemned a “quit notice” served to Kukis by the Konsakhul Village Authority, “based on invalid British India 2 anna revenue stamp of 1893 (manipulated and forged land lease agreement written in ballpoint ball ink), appropriated for 12th October 1920 when ballpoint pen was invented only in 1938…”

WKZIC appeal to the villagers of Khonsakhul pic.twitter.com/gtBf2JETnY

— WORLD KUKI-ZO INTELLECTUAL COUNCIL (WKZIC) (@wkzic) January 9, 2025

The Konsakhul (Konsaram) Village Authority in a memorandum on Wednesday said the “Leilon Vaiphei were allowed to settle as tenants on land of the Konsaram Naga,” and they must vacate the village land in 15 days.

The WKZIC in a statement posted on X said, “Leilon Vaiphei Kuki village and its hamlet villages are located within the British Jampi Area 1907 of Khongjai Hills (1741-42) and Kuki Hills (1852-1949), respectively.”

Naga Organisation’s Claims

The Foothill Naga Joint Action Committee in a statement questioned claims by the Kangpokpi-based Kuki organisation Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU) that the Konsakhul-Leilon boundary dispute was a village-level issue.

“… Why did CoTU representatives arrive at our gate late at night on January 8, seeking to apologise? Besides, how can you explain the involvement of your so-called ‘tiger party/refugee militants’ outraging modesty of a Naga woman on January 7 K Lungwiram. Your actions contradict your words, and now your modus operandi has already been exposed,” the joint action committee said.

“Our commitment to neutrality in the conflict between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei communities remains steadfast. This neutrality does not grant you the right to mock or challenge our position. We have consistently demonstrated our dedication to peace and neutrality, yet you continue to test our patience with your immature provocations…” it said.

Imphal/New Delhi:

A village authority and civil society organisations of the Naga tribes in Manipur have condemned an alleged attack by members of the Kuki tribes on a woman over her attempt to build a house on a plot of land in the village, which the village authority says is exclusively a Liangmai Naga village.

The Konsakhul (Konsaram) Village Authority in a memorandum on Wednesday said the “Leilon Vaiphei were allowed to settle as tenants on land of the Konsaram Naga,” and now they must vacate the village land in 15 days.

The woman’s brother told reporters they went to build a house on a plot in K Lungwiram Naga village when some 30 men from the Kuki tribes came and assaulted her.

He alleged they also threatened to burn the equipment including a bulldozer if his sister insisted on building her house.

K Lungwiram village falls under Kangchup Geljang subdivision in Kangpokpi district, 45 km from the state capital Imphal. The Vaiphei tribe is part of the umbrella term Kuki.

“… You have blatantly ignored the fact that on humanitarian grounds Leilon Vaiphei were allowed to settle as tenants on the land of Konsaram Naga. Of late, you have been indulging in anti-social activities, targeting innocent Naga villagers in the Konsaram area, showing scant regard to our generosity and kindness,” the Konsakhul (Konsaram) Village Authority said in the memorandum.

“… As the lease agreement signed between the landlord (Konsaram) and the tenant (Leilon) have already expired, therefore you are hereby asked to vacate your village from the land of Konsaram within 15 days from the date of issuing this order. Failing which you will be forcefully evicted from our soil…” the village authority said.

The village authority sent the memorandum to the Manipur chief secretary, security adviser Kuldiep Singh, the state police chief and other officials.

The woman who alleged she was assaulted by men from the Kuki tribe appealed to Naga civil society organisations for help. She alleged the attackers broke her phone, and pushed and hit her. Her brother shared a video in which a group of men were seen charging towards a bulldozer in an open field.

“I am the person who was assaulted,” the woman told reporters, flanked by her brother. “I came to my village, wanted to build a house. The Kukis said I can’t build a house there. Some 10-20 of them came, attacked me. They broke my phone and pushed me down on the ground.”

Her brother alleged the men used “very bad language on her.”

No Kuki organisation in the district has given a statement on the matter yet.

Liangmai Naga Women Announce Blockade

A large number of women from the Liangmai Naga tribe announced an “indefinite blockade” of Makhan Gate, a key thoroughfare in the area.

Indigenous People’s Forum president Ashang Kasar sought immediate action from the district administration and law enforcement agencies, and assurance of safety and protection for the Naga villagers of K Lungwiram.

The civil society organisation said the “woman was physically assaulted and thrown to the ground while overseeing land levelling work using an excavator.”

“Video evidence has surfaced, clearly depicting Kuki individuals verbally harassing the villagers, threatening their safety, and using profanities. The victim, along with other witnesses, reported the mob’s unruly behaviour and their deliberate obstruction. This heinous act highlights a blatant disregard for peace and mutual respect. Such actions cannot and must not be tolerated,” the Indigenous People’s Forum, a civil society organisation, said. “The Kukis, who reside as tenants on Naga ancestral lands, must acknowledge and respect the rights and dignity of the landowners.”

In December, several civil society organisations of the Naga tribes in Manipur condemned alleged assault by Kuki “volunteers” on members of a student’ body of their tribes in Manipur’s Senapati district. The Senapati District Students’ Association (SDSA) alleged their members were “brutally assaulted and harassed” by Kuki volunteers in Gamgiphai in the district.

The matter was solved after members of the Kangpokpi-based Kuki group Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), the Kuki Students Organisation (KSO), and the Senapati Action Committee (SAC) met on December 26 to defuse tension. As part of the agreement, CoTU had to offer a written apology.

Imphal/New Delhi:

The police chief of Manipur’s Kangpokpi district who was injured in protests by members of the Kuki tribes on Friday had been fighting extortionists and pushing back against a call for a meeting “with all police personnel” by a civil society group, intelligence sources told NDTV.

They cited two flash messages sent by Kangpokpi district Superintendent of Police (SP) Manoj Prabhakar – a month apart – to all officers in charge of police stations and outposts in the district, asking them not to give in to demands for money by “unlawful groups” and not to attend a meeting of “all police personnel of Kangpokpi district” called by a Kangpokpi-based Kuki group.

Mr Prabhakar, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer who suffered a gash on his forehead amid the protest by members of the Kuki tribes on Friday, sent the first flash message on November 19, ordering all police personnel in Kangpokpi district to guard against extortion attempts by “unlawful groups”, sources who have access to the message told NDTV.

“It is learnt from sources that some unlawful groups are demanding money from Kpi [Kangpokpi] district police. In this regard, it is ordered to instruct your police personnel not to give money to such groups. Any police personnel found partying to such groups will face disciplinary action,” the message sent on November 19 to all officers in charge of police stations and outposts in the district 45 km from the state capital Imphal said.

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Police personnel, especially the junior ranks who live with their families in Kangpokpi, are vulnerable to demand for money by unlawful groups, the sources said, adding the SP was aware of this.

The IPS officer sent the second flash message to all police stations in Kangpokpi on December 19 – a day before a meeting called by a Kuki group – cautioning police personnel against attending the meeting without permission, sources said.

“It is learnt from a msg. being circulated across social media platforms that CoTU (Committee on Tribal Unity) has called all police personnel of Kpi [Kangpokpi] dist. for a meeting on 20th Dec. 2024 at 2:00 PM in Keithelmanbi community hall. In this regard, officers and personnel of all ranks are instructed to not attend the meeting without prior permission. Anyone attending the meeting without prior permission will face disciplinary action,” the SP said in the message, referring to the Kangpokpi-based Kuki group CoTU.

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Protesters from the Kuki tribes had clashed with central security forces in Kangpokpi on Friday night, days after they tried to stop the security forces from dismantling bunkers on the hills. The protesters had been looking to stop transport as part of their economic blockade enforced to demand the withdrawal of central forces from the hills in the district.

When the security forces asked them to fall back, they moved towards the office of the Kangpokpi deputy commissioner and the SP. The security forces responded with tear gas and blank firing. Individuals armed with automatic weapons were also seen out in the roads amid the protesters. The militant organisation Kuki National Front (KNF), which signed the suspension of operations (SoO) agreement with the Centre and the state government, is a dominant group in Kangpokpi.

The SP was hit by some projectile thrown by the mob. Visuals showed blood trickling down his forehead, above the right eyelash.

CoTU on Sunday called off the blockade, marking a temporary pause in over a week of unrest in Kangpokpi district.

Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Saturday ordered the Director General of Police Rajiv Singh to prioritise the safety and security of people. The Governor also told army and paramilitary officers to fully cooperate with the administration in maintaining law and order, officials said.

Extortion In Manipur

The Kangpokpi SP’s message to police personnel to guard against demand for money by “unlawful groups”, however, is symptomatic of a wider problem that has been spreading in recent months.

There has been numerous extortion threats by groups of armed people in Manipur, especially in urban areas such as Imphal city and the district headquarters in Churachandpur and Kangpokpi, sources have said, adding these groups have been taking advantage of the Manipur crisis that have kept the police and the security forces occupied on maintaining peace.

Many shop owners in Imphal, for example, have complained of being forced to pay up by armed people, despite failing businesses due to no economic activity for over a year since ethnic violence began in May 2023 between the valley-dominant Meitei community and the Kuki tribes, who are dominant in the hill areas of southern Manipur bordering Myanmar and some areas in the north.

The news website The Print reported that the Meitei insurgent group United National Liberation Front (UNLF) “reportedly collected lakhs as ‘donations’ from several politicians, according to documents recovered as ‘digital evidence’, now part of a chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate.”

The Manipur Police frequently post updates on X with arrested members of the Arambai Tenggol and Kangleipak Communist Party (People’s War Group), or KCP(PWG), for alleged extortion and threats.

The KCP(PWG) is likely being used as “hired guns” to attack civilians and carry out extortion in the valley areas in order to keep tension simmering, top intelligence sources told NDTV on December 16 based on initial investigation.

They declined to say who hired these insurgents to create terror in the valley areas, citing the investigation is in an early stage.

Manipur Deadlock

Kuki civil society groups such as the Churachandpur-based Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) and the CoTU, and their 10 MLAs have joined the call for a separate administration carved out of Manipur, a demand also made by the nearly two dozen militant groups that have signed the SoO agreement.

This single demand has brought the Kuki militant groups, the 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs, and the civil society groups on the same page.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meitei community and the Kuki tribes have killed over 250 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

Imphal/Guwahati/New Delhi:

Protesters from the Kuki tribes clashed with central security forces in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district this evening, days after the protesters tried to stop the security forces from dismantling bunkers on the hills.

The protesters had been looking to stop transport as part of their economic blockade enforced to demand the withdrawal of central forces from the hills in Kangpokpi, 45 km from the state capital Imphal.

When the security forces asked them to fall back, the protesters moved towards the Kangpokpi deputy commissioner’s office and threw stones at the building, sources said. The security forces responded with tear gas and blanks, they said.

Several protesters were injured in the attempt by the security forces to disperse the protesters, sources said.

Some security personnel including the Kangpokpi Superintendent of Police (SP) and Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Manoj Prabhakar were injured, sources said.

Gunfire could be heard amid the thick blanket of tear gas, eyewitnesses told NDTV.

People Armed With Automatic Weapons

Individuals armed with automatic weapons were seen out in the roads in Kangpokpi, sources said. In unprecedented scenes, along with protesters some armed men were seen carrying automatic weapons and taking charge of the highway in Kangpokpi, sources said, adding security forces were trying to retaliate.

When ethnic violence broke out on May 3, 2023, some men in battle camouflage were also seen carrying AK series assault rifles among a mob in Kuki-dominant Churachandpur district.

The SP office remains a flashpoint with protesters refusing to return home, they said, adding reinforcements have been sent to Kangpokpi.

Earlier today, a Kuki organisation extended a shutdown in all areas in Manipur where the Kuki tribes are settled. The Kuki-Zo Council said the economic blockade – stopping essential transport on major roads and National Highways – has been extended till 2 am on Saturday.

The Kuki group’s announcement came on a day former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Ajay Kumar Bhalla took charge as Manipur’s new Governor.

Kangpokpi Superintendent of Police (SP) and Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Manoj Prabhakar was injured on the forehead

The Manipur government said on December 20 there is no organisation called “Kuki-Zo Council”. This group had objected to Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh passing through Kangpokpi district in order to reach Senapati district, where Mr Singh participated in a local festival.

They have been demanding the Centre withdraw its forces from a village in Kangpokpi’s Uyok Ching area. Several women from the Kuki tribes were injured on December 31 during action by the security forces to disperse them while they were protesting against a move to dismantle bunkers on the hills.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes collectively known as Kukis, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, have killed over 250 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

Guwahati/New Delhi:

A Kuki organisation has extended a shutdown in all areas in Manipur where the Kuki tribes are settled, days after protesters tried to stop central security forces from dismantling bunkers in the hills. Several protesters were injured.

The Kuki-Zo Council said the economic blockade – stopping essential transport on major roads and National Highways – has been extended till 2 am on Saturday.

The Kuki group’s announcement came on a day former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Ajay Kumar Bhalla took charge as Manipur’s new Governor.

The Manipur government said on December 20 there is no organisation called “Kuki-Zo Council”. This group had objected to Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh passing through Kangpokpi district in order to reach Senapati district, where Mr Singh participated in a local festival.

The Kuki body said the shutdown is a protest against “blatant disregard for tribal rights and dignity.”

The Kuki-Zo Council said it also endorsed the economic blockade and protests called by the Kangpokpi district-based Kuki civil group Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU).

They have been demanding the Centre withdraw its forces from a village in Kangpokpi’s Uyok Ching area. Several women from the Kuki tribes were injured on December 31 during action by the security forces to disperse them while they were protesting against a move to dismantle bunkers on the hills.

Mr Bhalla, a 1984-batch IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, served as the Union Home Secretary from August 2019 to August 2024. He has extensive experience in dealing with crisis situations in the northeast region.

He was the Union Home Secretary when ethnic violence between the valley-dominant Meitei community and over a dozen distinct tribes collectively known as Kuki, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, broke out in May 2023.

Over 250 have been killed and more than 60,000 have been internally displaced in the ethnic conflict.

New Delhi:

Nothing is more important than ensuring the rule of law and disarming all armed groups in violence-hit Manipur to bring peace, former Chief Justice of the Manipur High Court Siddharth Mridul said at an event in Delhi on Tuesday.

To a question by NDTV over reports that some civil society organisations are threatening internally displaced people, or IDPs, from returning to whatever is left of their homes to rebuild them with government support and security, Justice Mridul said, “The IDPs are not their [some organisations’] hostages. Let’s be clear.”

“They can return home provided we create an environment conducive to their returning home, which brings us back to the rule of law. Once law and order are restored and there is a rule of law, and groups have been disarmed of all the illegal weapons that they possess, either looted or smuggled, and there are talks under the auspices of the government, that’s the only way forward, external factors apart because I am keen on Manipur. I am sure there are external factors, but I am not an expert on that,” said Justice Mridul, who served as Manipur High Court Chief Justice from October 2023 till his retirement last month.

At least 50,000 people from both the valley-dominant Meitei community and over a dozen distinct tribes collectively known as Kuki, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, have been displaced since ethnic clashes began between the two in May 2023.

The Kuki tribes also include ‘Any Kuki Tribes’, which was added to the Scheduled Tribes’ (ST) list in 2003 when the Congress was in power in the state, led by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh.

Justice Mridul repeated what the Supreme Court said in November 2023 about “keeping the pot boiling”, while hearing a court-appointed committee’s report that flagged troubling actions by civil society organisations that contributed to keeping ethnic tensions simmering in Manipur.

“… The reason why I believe that there is somebody interested in keeping the pot boiling is that every time the situation seems to be normalising, there is a fresh injection of violence, which leads me to believe that there are forces – and if I were to believe the General, the forces are external, not internal. Even if the forces are external, they do have collaborators locally who ensure that the agenda of keeping Manipur burning is pursued vigorously,” Justice Mridul said, referring to a presentation by Major General Rajan Kochhar (retired) at the Delhi event.

“I am beginning to subscribe to the idea that there does seem to be an invisible hand. Whose hand is it is not clear to me yet. There could be a number of factors at play,” he said.

Justice Mridul had worked closely with the state authorities while he was in Manipur. He said though there have been periods of absence of violence, at no stage since May last year has normalcy ever been restored in Manipur.

“… You must understand the separation of powers. My interaction with the executive was purely to ensure that the judiciary was able to discharge its function. These are not political discussions, they can never be political discussions. But the impression I gathered was that – I may be wrong, I may be terribly wrong – nobody seems to be in command of the vessel,” he said.

“The point is that till such time there is disarmament, till the time that the weapons that were looted, snatched, whatever, are recovered, and till the time people with arms smuggled from across the border are intercepted and the weapons are taken from them, there is no possibility of peace returning to Manipur,” Justice Mridul said. “Armed people are not going to permit you either to return to your homes or live peacefully.”

“Trust Is Important”: Major General Rajan Kochhar (Retired)

Major General Kochhar said trust is the most important factor to normalise Manipur.

“Without trust, there will be all kinds of forces – you can call them internal, you can call them external – who will increase the divide. After I have listened to everybody here. Everybody agrees that there should be peace there. How this peace has to be brought about is the big question,” said Major General Kochhar, VSM, who retired after 37 years of service.

“A large number of people have come from Myanmar to Manipur… It is very important for the local community to identify militants among the civilians. It is the responsibility of the community. Unless we do that, we are creating buffer zones within our own state. That cannot happen. A buffer zone is created between two countries that are at war to prevent that war from escalating. Golan Heights, Syria, there was a buffer zone. Lebanon, the Blue Line, there was a buffer zone… How can you have a buffer zone within your own state and restrict the movement of people from one place to another? That is the larger question which I think both the communities need to answer,” Major General Kochhar said.

Dr Arambam Noni, an associate professor at Imphal-based DM University and one of the speakers at the Delhi event, further extended his comment on the “untenable and obsolete demand” of an ethnocentric homeland which he made at a side event of the 57th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva in early October.

Ethnocentric Homeland

“Ethnopolitical leaders are playing a dangerous game. They want to end overlapping spaces. When they end overlapping spaces in a state like Manipur inhabited by 35 officially recognised communities, some of which only have a population of 600 or 1,000 people, their existence is under threat. If we allow to end these overlapping spaces, they only aim to increase the demand for ethnocentric political spaces. And that is very, very dangerous. We’d be setting a very dangerous precedence by favouring an ethnocentric homeland because the Constitution does not really acknowledge the possibility of ethnocentric homelands,” Dr Noni said.

He said the question of whether the modern state can afford to allow the incessant movement of population across borders in the name of culture, or can the modern state accommodate them, needs an answer.

“Do you have a mechanism in the modern state system to accommodate these free-flowing movements of population, not only for cultural solidarities but also for territorial solidarity? That’s problematic. I think modern states normally do not have any such mechanism to deal with these continued, territorial trespassing of identities because modern states basically stand on fixed territoriality and sovereignty. What is happening in northeast India is the porousness of the fixed idea of a State.

“I don’t see any problem in the cultural transition of people across borders. But I see a problem in the continual reconciliation of identities for ethnocentric homelands. That of course will create a conflict with overlapping spaces like Manipur, which is a multicultural state. Having said this, I think our problem is very, very complex. The weaponisation of identity is not good because micro-identities are increasingly feeling threatened. That part must be acknowledged. The media or the academic society must not get trapped in binaries that they believe… because there are other aspects of our social world, and we must also acknowledge the resources that can unite people, not divide people.

No Comfortable Life In Relief Camps

“Institutions need to be democratised. There should be fair development and redistribution of resources… The other suggestion that I want to make is – as Justice Mridul has already said – that you must allow IDPs to return home because that’s their fundamental right. You cannot give them a comfortable life in relief camps,” Dr Noni said at the panel discussion ‘Understanding the Barriers of Northeast India and Manipur Violence: The Way Forward’, organised by TMP Manipur, Meitei Alliance, and Manipur International Youth Centre.

This is the second winter the internally displaced people in Manipur are spending in relief camps.

The 10 MLAs of the Kuki tribes and the Zo people and their civil society groups have said talks are not possible unless Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh quits. The Kuki tribes also blame him for allegedly starting the Manipur crisis; they have reinforced this allegation with the leaked tapes controversy.

Kuki leaders have demanded a political solution in the form of a separate administration before any other issues, including the return of thousands of people living in relief camps, can be discussed.

Meitei leaders have cited this condition to allege that Kuki leaders are engineering an ethnocentric homeland demand; the Meitei leaders’ argument is talks can go on while at the same time people living in difficult conditions in the camps can also return home since no territory is ethnic exclusive.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley districts.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram have cited discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis as some of the reasons behind their call for separation.

Imphal/New Delhi:

A social worker in Manipur whose non-profit work was billed as a success story in helping youth and women in the border state affected by gun violence, has run into a huge controversy over his comments in a YouTube interview in which he was heard talking about the “need for escalating the Manipur crisis” in order to keep the demand for a separate administration “alive”.

Jamkhojang Misao (aka Misao Hejang Hangmi aka Hejang Misao), founder director of the Integrated Social And Institutional Development for Empowerment (InSIDE-North East), in an interview on the YouTube channel ‘Nampi Media Jampilal’ said the struggle for a separate land has been going on since his forefathers’ time, and despite having multiple factions of insurgents with numerous different demands, all of them finally managed to agree on one issue – separate administration.

“However, the separate administration movement has reduced now. We will not get this chance anymore, and such an opportunity will not come again. We should use this moment to create an even more chaotic situation, so that anyone who sees us will say we can never live together,” Mr Misao said, referring to the Manipur ethnic violence between the Meitei community and over a dozen distinct tribes collectively known as Kuki, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur.

He spoke in his dialect in the interview, which was translated and corroborated by three sources from the Kuki tribes for NDTV.

“After the Manipur violence, the armed groups have come together on one demand. This is a work of God. But the Meiteis don’t want to give us a separate administration. SoO groups also signed that Manipur territorial integrity won’t be harmed. But God’s plan seems to be about giving the Kukis a nation, and I feel it is there. If there was no violence, we would not have got a chance to demand a separate administration,” Mr Misao said, referring to nearly two dozen Kuki-Zo militant groups that have signed the controversial suspension of operations (SoO) agreement, which lapsed in February this year. One of the clauses in the SoO agreement says Manipur’s territorial integrity will not be touched.

Calls to the phone numbers mentioned on InSIDE-North East’s website went unanswered.

He was among a group of people in the social service sector who was selected to meet former President Ram Nath Kovind in January 2020. He highlighted InSIDE-North East’s ‘Gun2Pen’ programme — among many other projects – which the non-profit said helped over 5,000 young people find the right path.

“It’s all God’s work… this indicates God has a plan for us. The buffer zone is the evidence of the separation. Despite all these gains, and God’s help, it seems we are unable to use the opportunity. The Meiteis started it, burnt our houses, killed our people, paraded women naked,” said Mr Misao, who belongs to Any Kuki Tribe (AKT) that was added to the Scheduled Tribes’ list in 2003.

“If they have created the situation, how do we escalate it more and more, and keep it alive, then our demand will be seriously considered? Now, the separate administration demand’s momentum is dying slowly. Even the Prime Minister in parliament says normalcy has come in Manipur. Schools are running, markets are running, government offices are also running, those who are going to grant us separate administration themselves say normalcy has returned,” Mr Misao said in the interview.

“Even if we don’t agree with the claim by the government that normalcy has returned, New Delhi has already declared normalcy. So, in a place where there is normalcy, who is going to take up our issues? When the government in parliament says there is normalcy, we need to do something to show evidence that there is no normalcy. That’s what’s required,” Mr Misao said.

Information on the central government’s non-profit organisation (NPO) database ‘Darpan’ shows Mr Misao registered the Integrated Social And Institutional Development for Empowerment in February 2013 in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district.

The public database contains unique identity numbers of NPOs. This unique ID number is mandatory if an NPO wants to take funds from government departments and ministries. Mr Misao’s NPO has been allotted a unique identity number – MN/2017/0177675 – which it can use to apply for grants from government departments and ministries.

“It is unfortunate that we are unable to take advantage of the situation. Whether armed groups or civil society groups or individuals, we have to introspect, take a look at the situation again as there is no complete normalcy yet. The world should know there will be no peace in Manipur without a solution. For leaders of the world and India to see, we have to do something so that they will know that Manipur needs a solution for peace,” the social worker from Kangpokpi district said.

He blamed leaders for the weakening of the resolve to demand a separate administration.

“… If God has shown us the path, the leaders should have guided the public forward… There was a guy in Nagaland, C Singson, who asked the Indian interlocutor in Bangkok during the Naga talks, why is the Kuki issue never brought up?

“The Indian interlocutor replied Kukis have never been an issue, and there is nothing to discuss about them. However, the Meiteis have with their actions against the Kukis, who never really had any grievances, have created a situation which has made the Indian government realise the Kukis have an issue.

“Not only the Indian government, the whole world has now recognised the Kukis’ problem. That problem has to be escalated more and more. If that problem is not escalated, then the demand we are putting forward is not politically strong and reasonable. The Meiteis have made us politically strong. But today, we don’t know how to take it forward. That’s very unfortunate,” Mr Misao said.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meiteis and the Kuki tribes have killed over 250 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category.

The Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

New Delhi:

Family members of six people from the Meitei community including three children who were kidnapped and killed in Manipur’s Jiribam narrated what they called the “horror” of November 11.

Telem Uttam Singh, who lost his two children and wife; Telem Mongyai Meetei, who lost his elder sister and mother, and Yurembam Sandhiya Begum, who lost her two sisters, told reporters in Delhi they want the government to ensure death penalty is given to the “Kuki militants” who kidnapped and murdered their family members.

The Manipur government in a cabinet resolution has called the perpetrators of the Jiribam massacre “Kuki militants”.

“There must be 30 of them, all of them carrying guns. They surrounded our village. I managed to run, and from a distance saw my mother being dragged away by the Kuki militants in an autorickshaw,” Sandhiya told reporters in Meiteilon, translated into English by a rights activist.

The three family members told reporters they want the government to ensure the death penalty is given to all the Kuki militants involved in the Jiribam massacre. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is probing the case. All the six were internally displaced people who were living in a relief camp in Jiribam’s Borobekra, after their houses in the district bordering Assam were set on fire by Kuki militants earlier this year.

“How much pain do we have to endure? We lost our homes first. Then they came to kill us in the relief camp. Who kills a 10-month-old baby? They are worse than animals,” Telem Uttam Singh told reporters, and broke down and cried.

The six from the same family were Yurembam Rani Devi, 60; Telam Thoibi Devi, 31; Laishram Heitonbi Devi, 25; Laishram Chingkheinganba, 3; Telam Thajamanbi, 8, and Laishram Langamba, 10 months old.

Nine civil society organisations of the Meitei community in a statement on Saturday said the “premeditated, planned cold-blooded murders after taking the six civilian hostages were an act of terror.”

“Jiri massacre was not a fight between two communities or a riot where mob violence affects both sides in the heat of the moment. The Kuki militants travelled 200 km to Manipur’s Jiribam with the sole intention of attacking a relief camp of the Meitei community. Shockingly, instead of condemning the heinous act, Kuki civil society groups played the victim card in front of the national media, and did not even give the basic dignity to the dead by claiming the Kuki militants were ‘village volunteers’,” they said in the statement.

“Who would kill a 10-month-old infant in cold blood, after kidnapping her family? What objective has the Kuki militants achieved by kidnapping and murdering an infant? What is the agenda behind releasing the picture of them in captivity before murdering and dumping the bodies in a river? Is it to cause maximum trauma to the family and incite hatred?” they said.

The civil society groups are Delhi Meitei Coordinating Committee, Meitei Alliance, Meitei Heritage Society, No. 7, Team Meitei Personalities, Manipur Students’ Association Delhi, Manipur Innovative Youth Organisation Delhi, United Kakching Students Delhi, and Ningols United Progressive Initiative.

Ten “Kuki militants” were also shot dead by the security forces in Jiribam district on November 11.

Cycle Of Violence Began With Attack By Suspected Meitei Militants?

On November 7, a Hmar woman was killed and several houses were set on fire in Zairawn village by suspected Meitei militants. Her husband in a police case alleged she was raped before she was killed and their house was set on fire by the suspected Meitei militants.

Kuki civil society organisations have said the recent flare-up in Jiribam began after the “Meitei militants” attacked Zairawn village and killed the woman. They have also accused the Manipur government of keeping silent on that attack.

The Manipur cabinet in a statement on November 16, however, had said “Kuki miscreants” burnt several houses and attacked Borobekra police station in Jiribam district on October 19. This attack, and not the November 7 attack, led to a fresh cycle of violence, government sources have said.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis – a term given by the British in colonial times – who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, has killed over 220 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

Imphal/Guwahati:

Civil society groups of Manipur’s Kuki tribes in Kangpokpi called a shutdown of the district after the Manipur government announced public buses would run from the state capital Imphal till this district, and towards Bishnupur and Churachandpur.

Members of the Kuki tribes gathered at Gamgiphai, a key thoroughfare between Kangpokpi and Imphal West district to block the government’s attempt to restart public transport.

Ng Lun Kipgen, spokesperson of the Kangpokpi-based Kuki civil group Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), said the escalating tension in Manipur has prompted the Kuki tribes to strengthen their unwavering opposition to what they termed as a “partisan and baseless” government directive.

Mr Kipgen alleged Chief Minister N Biren Singh has been constantly trying to derail their “movement”.

“In his fourth desperate attempt, the chief minister has sought to impose vilified and unfounded ideas upon us, further exacerbating the divide,” Mr Kipgen said.

He said the directive was a deliberate attempt to vilify the Kuki tribes and undermine their struggle for a separate administration. “The order is not only unwarranted but preposterous,” he said.

The Kuki Inpi also criticised the government’s decision to let public transport resume between hill and valley areas, calling it a reckless and insensitive attempt to restore public services without addressing the underlying political tensions.

The internally displaced people from both communities in Manipur are yet to return home. The 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs in Manipur who have been spearheading the call for a separate land carved out of the state bordering Myanmar, and Kuki groups such as CoTU have said talks are not possible unless the chief minister quits.

The Kuki tribes also blame him for allegedly starting the Manipur crisis; they have reinforced this allegation with the leaked tapes controversy, which is being heard in the Supreme Court.

Kuki leaders have said a “political solution” in the form of a separate administration should be discussed first before any other issues, including the return of thousands of people living in relief camps.

Meitei leaders have, however, cited this condition placed by the Kuki leaders as a deceitful attempt to set up a narrative for an ethnocentric homeland demand; the Meitei leaders’ argument is that talks can go on while at the same time people living in difficult conditions in the camps can also return home since no territory is ethnic exclusive.

The demand for an ethnocentric homeland is untenable and obsolete in Manipur, where at least 35 communities co-exist, a group of activists and academics from the violence-hit state bordering Myanmar had said at a side event of the 57th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva in October.

Manipur is seeing a growth of divisive forces that play the cards of myopic ethnicity leading to the undermining of historical and legal foundations of the state’s pluralistic demography and territoriality, Dr Arambam Noni, associate professor at Imphal-based DM University, had told the UN gathering.

“Due to the increasing weaponization of ethnicity by a section of elites and academics, as seen in the case of an exclusive narrative for a Kuki Lebensraum in India-Myanmar-Bangladesh region, there is an apparent design to proliferate inter-ethnic tension as an instrument to segregate people exclusively on ethnic lines,” Dr Noni had said.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis – a term given by the British in colonial times – who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, has killed over 250 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want the separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.