Manipur Govt Shifts Last Of 10 Kuki Families From Imphal To Kangpokpi, Members Allege 'Eviction'

The Kuki families alleged that they were “evicted” from their residences from Manipur's New Lambulane where they had been living for decades.

New Delhi: The Manipur government shifted the last of 10 Kuki families from Imphal’s New Lambulane to Kangpokpi district saying they had become “vulnerable targets”, news agency PTI reported. These families, comprising 24 members, were provided a “safe passage” to Motbung, located around 25km from Imphal. However, the Kuki families alleged that they were “evicted” from their residences where they had been living for decades.

S Prim Vaiphei, one of the volunteers guarding the Kuki locality in Imphal, told PTI, "A team of uniformed armed personnel claiming to be acting under directions from the Home Department came to New Lambulane, Imphal in the intervening night of September 1 and 2 and forcibly evicted the last remaining residents of the Kuki locality in Imphal from their homes."

"Twenty-four of us were not given time to even pack our belongings and we were herded into vehicles with only the clothes we were wearing," he added.

Notably, around 300 tribal families living in the New Lambulane area, had earlier left the place in phases since the ethnic clashes broke out in the northeast state in May.

Reacting to the "eviction", Kuki Inpi Manipur, the apex body of Kuki tribes, in a statement said, they stood "aghast at the dastardly attack against the last of the Kuki Zo volunteers (numbering about 24 men) who have been guarding the houses and properties of the Kukis at New Lambulane. The volunteers were later escorted by security personnel".

"There is now total separation of the Meiteis and Kukis..it is imperative that the central govt should constitutionally recognise this separation at the earliest," the statement added.

Kuki Body Urges Assam Rifles Not To Deploy Its Troops Under Command Of Meitei Officer

A Kuki organisation requested the Assam Rifles not to deploy its personnel under the command of a Meitei officer at Sehlon in Manipur’s Chandel district "in the interest of peace and security," PTI reported.

Kuki Chiefs’ Association of Khengjoi subdivision made the request to the Director General of Assam Rifles saying in the light of law and order state in Manipur, even a slightest miscalculation could aggravate the volatile situation.

"We have no intention to interfere in the routine movement of Assam Rifles battalions, but leaving the charge of a unit to a Meitei officer at this time and place will not serve the interest of the public of the area," the Kuki organisation’s letter read. "We want to maintain cordial relations with the Assam Rifles as usual. We wish our goodwill gesture is reciprocated accordingly,” the letter, signed by the association chief, T Sheithang Haokip, added.