Process of signing SoO with the Meitei militant group is highly suspicious says KIM

The Kuki Inpi Manipur, the apex body of the Kuki tribes, is oh-so concerned over the process of signing Suspension of Operation (SoO) with one of the Meitei militant groups with the Government of India as claimed by the Manipur Chief Minister.

"There is a process of signing SoO with one of the Meitei-based proscribed groups with the Government of India. But whether it was inked or not I don’t have any idea. If such a thing happened, they should have informed me. But the process is there, and people would be happy if it is being signed as it would help to bring peace", said N. Biren Singh on October 24 during the foundation stones laying ceremony for various projects at Leitanpekpham playground, Andro in Imphal East.

Rumour had been doing the round before Chief Minister N. Biren Singh's clarification that one of the Meitei militant groups, UNLF-Pambei faction had inked Suspension of Operations agreement and their Designated Camps are likely to be constructed in Saikul, Sugnu, Yaingangpokpi areas.

Vehemently reacting to the claim of N. Biren Singh, the Kuki Inpi Manipur Information and Publicity Secretary, Janghaolun Haokip said that the process of signing of Suspension of Operation (SoO) with one of the Meitei militant groups with the Government of India is "highly suspicious", especially at a time when the Meiteis are unequivocally demanding abrogation of SoO with the Kuki-Zo groups and when the influx of Myanmar-based Meitei terrorists groups into the Imphal valley is critically alarming despite N. Biren Singh Government's tall claimed not to tolerate the influx of illegal immigrants.

The Kuki-Zo people are alleging the involvement of Myanmar-based Meitei militant groups in the attacked, killing, and arsoning of their people and the villages in the ongoing conflict in the state.

KIM also highlighted that even as the state of Manipur is caught in an unprecedented 'Communal Warfare' between the majority Meiteis and the minority Kuki-Zo communities, the rhetorics of the Meitei-led Manipur state leadership; including blatant lies and outrageous propagandas, and of ignorance and arrogance against the plight of the Kuki-Zo community continues to ensnare the state with no end in sight.

It pointed out that as per the 2011 Census, the Meiteis constitute 43.82 percent of the total population of Manipur while the Kuki-Zo community constitutes merely 15.69 percent of the total population of the state and it is therefore evidently conclusive that the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur is a war of the Majority Meiteis against the Minority Kuki-Zo community.

"Although the conflict in Manipur is not triggered by religious differences per se; the presence of a religious undertone is irrefutable in the fact that even Meitei some Meitei churches were attacked by the Meitei radicals", asserted Janghaolun Haokip.

He maintained that the irony and hypocrisy of Biren Singh urging for support and cooperation to maintain the unity and integrity of Manipur is horrendous as it is clear to every fair-minded individual, even from within the Meitei Community, that Biren Singh-led Manipur state government is complicit in the orchestration and perpetration of the ongoing conflict in the region.

He continued that Biren Singh has no moral right to express sorrow for the catastrophe of his own doing.

He also said that at this critical juncture, Biren Singh, the Manipur State government, and the radical Meiteis must realize the futility of the message of "the return of peace and normalcy" and the idea of "undivided Manipur."

"Manipur has collapsed with its law and order and the subsequent persecution of its minorities, and the only way forward for peace and normalcy in the region now is the legitimate constitutional and democratic right for a Separate Administration for the Kuki-Zo community", Haokip asserted.

The Kuki Inpi Manipur, on behalf of the Kuki-Zo people sincerely appeal to all government agencies, media persons, and all concerned groups and individuals of this great country to help the Kuki-Zo people fight for their constitutional right to justice and equality in the face of the ruthless persecution of the radical Meiteis.