World Kuki Zo Intellectual Council urges Centre to review and transform SoO agreement as bilateral

The World Kuki-Zo Intellectual Council(WKZIC) has urged the Centre to review and transform the SoO agreement as bilateral.

WKZIC issued a release on Sunday urging the Centre to discard the phrase "to uphold the territorial integrity of Manipur State" and the same should be effective in the Hill areas or outside the boundary of the Valley districts in the state, for the good of both the Meitei and the Kuki community who have been absolutely divided since 3 May, 2023.

In a release issued on Sunday, WKZIC stated that they are shocked to know how the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement signed between the Government and the conglomerate of UPF-KNO has been resented so much by the Meitei Centric communal Government of Manipur which led the government to taking a decision to abrogate the SoO agreements signed in 2008. WKZIC mentioned that the State cabinet meeting on 10th March 2023 took a decision to abrogate the tripartite talk and ceased as a party to the talk a few days before the current Kuki genocide in the state began which is allegedly sponsored by the state government.

WZKIC stated that the Central government has been strictly maintaining SoO ground rules to check the involvement of the UPF- KNO cadres in the appalling Meitei war against the Kuki Community which is against the expectation of the concerned public.

In fact, the Kuki people wanted them to be involved in the current civil war to protect their people but it has been restricted and prohibited by the agreed 500 ground rules. Besides, the Arm Forces Special Powers Act of 1958 in the Hill areas has also been enforced in hill areas alone as such the Central Paramilitary forces and State Police are operative in the hills to oversee the execution in parallel with the SoO ground rules simultaneously, stated the release.

WKZIC stated that the state government which is deathly opposed to the SoO in the hill areas ironically brought back the banned outfit UNLF (P) faction and other splinter VBI groups and signed a Ceasefire agreement only to be used in the state crusade of extermination of the Kuki people living across the state.

Whereas, the anti-social, arrogant and snobbish nature of the Meitei centric state government towards the Kuki community is like adding salt to their wounded hearts, it added.

Further the release stated that the beleaguered Kuki people have long been waiting for a positive outcome of the political dialogue between the Indian government and KNO-UPF since 15 June, 2016. However, it is yet to yield a concrete result to date and the cadres are used deceptively in vested political interest of Union Government much to the disenchantment of the concerned public, it added.