The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) on Wednesday dared the centre government that the Kuki-Zo community would be setting-up their “self-governed separate administration” if the government fails to heard their voices they are raising since the alleged ethnic cleansing began on May 3.
“If our voice is not heard within a couple of weeks, we will create a ‘self-governed separate administration’ in the regions where Kuki-Zos predominate in Manipur, said Muan Tombing, Secretary of the ITLF on the sideline of today’s rally.
“It has been over six months and nothing has been done regarding our demand for a separate administration from the Manipur government. So if our voice is not heard within a couple of weeks, we will set up our self-government. Irrespective of whether the centre recognises it or not, we will go ahead,” Tombing added.
He also said: “As in a state or a Union Territory, we will set up a self-government that will look into all matters in the Kuki-Zo areas. We have to do this since our voice has not been heard”.
Thousands of Kuki-Zo tribal demonstrators held a rally on Wednesday in Lamka (Churachandpur) district headquarters to protest the atrocities against the Kuki-Zo tribal people in the state. Organised by the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), demonstrators gathered at Kawnpui playground and two other points – Pearsonmun and Rengkai, and covered a distance of more than 3 km to converge at the “Wall of Remembrance” site at Tuibong where more than 150 tribal Kuki-Zo killed during the violence are honoured.
Participating rallyists shouted slogans against the killings of tribal civilians during more than six months of violence and demanded for the central investigating agencies to immediately investigate atleast 22 cases of murders during the violence.
The rally was held to protest the barbaric nature of the majority Meitei mobs in murdering innocent Kuki-Zo civilians. “We are also protesting against the cherry-picking of cases by police and central investigating agencies like the CBI and NIA to appease the majority Meitei community at the expense of minority tribals,” ITLF rued in a statement released today.
“Cases blamed on Kuki-Zo tribals are taken up swiftly and arrests are promptly made whereas, cases involving Kuki Zo tribal victims are either not taken up or stalled indefinitely” the statement added.
