Tribal physique warns Kuki MLAs to not attend particular session of Manipur Assembly

By Express News Service

GUWAHATI: The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) in Manipur warned all 10 Kuki-Zo legislators within the state to not attend the particular session of the Assembly, more likely to be held on August 21.

“…it is strictly mandated that no #Kuki-Zo tribal MLA participate in any manner or form in the Manipur Special Assembly, scheduled for Aug 21, 2023,” the ITLF wrote on X, beforehand Twitter.

Seven of those MLAs are from the ruling BJP, two from the Kuki People’s Alliance, which withdrew its help to the federal government not too long ago, and one is an impartial. None of them is within the Meitei-majority Imphal valley now.

Earlier, a few of them had stated it could not be potential for them to attend a session of the Assembly given the unstable state of affairs.

Meanwhile, the Kuki-Zo MLAs took exception to Union dwelling minister Amit Shah’s remark in Parliament linking the ethnic violence to the inflow of Chin-Kuki individuals from Myanmar.

ALSO READ | ‘I used to be forcefully pinned down,’ says Manipuri girl alleging gang-rape on May 3; recordsdata ‘Zero FIR’

“While our people are still reeling under relentless attacks on our villages by Meitei militia led by Manipur Police, it is disheartening that the Union Home Minister should state in parliament that the ethnic cleansing on Kuki-Zomi-Hmar people is a disturbance caused by infiltration from Myanmar post the 2021 (Myanmar) Junta takeover,” the MLAs stated in a press release.

They stated the narratives of Meitei “fundamental organisations like Haomee Federation, Meitei Leepun and Kangleipak Kanba Lup” that Kuki-Zomi-Hmar individuals within the state are foreigners and the branding of the group as poppy planters which fueled animosity between the 2 communities have been ignored by Shah in his assertion.

“We, as elected representatives of the Kuki Zomi-Hmar people of Manipur, hereby once again reiterate that the ethnic cleansing on our people is a pre-planned attack aimed at grabbing tribal land against constitutional provisions. Our people have been violently cleansed from the valley, and our colonies have been razed to the ground,” the legislators stated.

They reiterated that the Centre should give recognition to this demographic segregation within the type of a separate administration by means of a political settlement.

“We urge the Union Home Ministry to furnish details of illegal infiltrators from Myanmar and proof of their participation in the village defence efforts of Kuki -Zo-Hmar villages. We urge the Solicitor General to furnish proof of the dead bodies in Imphal mortuaries belonging to illegal infiltrators, failing which due apology to the court and the nation would be in order,” they added.

GUWAHATI: The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) in Manipur warned all 10 Kuki-Zo legislators within the state to not attend the particular session of the Assembly, more likely to be held on August 21.

“…it is strictly mandated that no #Kuki-Zo tribal MLA participate in any manner or form in the Manipur Special Assembly, scheduled for Aug 21, 2023,” the ITLF wrote on X, beforehand Twitter.

Seven of those MLAs are from the ruling BJP, two from the Kuki People’s Alliance, which withdrew its help to the federal government not too long ago, and one is an impartial. None of them is within the Meitei-majority Imphal valley now.googletag.cmd.push(operate() googletag.show(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );

Earlier, a few of them had stated it could not be potential for them to attend a session of the Assembly given the unstable state of affairs.

Meanwhile, the Kuki-Zo MLAs took exception to Union dwelling minister Amit Shah’s remark in Parliament linking the ethnic violence to the inflow of Chin-Kuki individuals from Myanmar.

ALSO READ | ‘I used to be forcefully pinned down,’ says Manipuri girl alleging gang-rape on May 3; recordsdata ‘Zero FIR’

“While our people are still reeling under relentless attacks on our villages by Meitei militia led by Manipur Police, it is disheartening that the Union Home Minister should state in parliament that the ethnic cleansing on Kuki-Zomi-Hmar people is a disturbance caused by infiltration from Myanmar post the 2021 (Myanmar) Junta takeover,” the MLAs stated in a press release.

They stated the narratives of Meitei “fundamental organisations like Haomee Federation, Meitei Leepun and Kangleipak Kanba Lup” that Kuki-Zomi-Hmar individuals within the state are foreigners and the branding of the group as poppy planters which fueled animosity between the 2 communities have been ignored by Shah in his assertion.

“We, as elected representatives of the Kuki Zomi-Hmar people of Manipur, hereby once again reiterate that the ethnic cleansing on our people is a pre-planned attack aimed at grabbing tribal land against constitutional provisions. Our people have been violently cleansed from the valley, and our colonies have been razed to the ground,” the legislators stated.

They reiterated that the Centre should give recognition to this demographic segregation within the type of a separate administration by means of a political settlement.

“We urge the Union Home Ministry to furnish details of illegal infiltrators from Myanmar and proof of their participation in the village defence efforts of Kuki -Zo-Hmar villages. We urge the Solicitor General to furnish proof of the dead bodies in Imphal mortuaries belonging to illegal infiltrators, failing which due apology to the court and the nation would be in order,” they added.