Manipur: Meitei, Kuki Groups Hold Protests, Seek Parliament ‘Intervention’ To End Strife In State

The protests witnessed both Meitei and Kuki-Zo outfits seeking parliamentary intervention to put an end to the year-long ethnic strife in Manipur.

Widespread protests were held in several districts of Manipur. ( Image Source :PTI )

Manipur News: As the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha commenced on Monday, widespread protests were held in several districts of Manipur. The protests witnessed both Meitei and Kuki-Zo outfits seeking parliamentary intervention to put an end to the year-long ethnic strife in the northeastern state.

In Imphal, Meitei women vendors converged under the Khwairamband Ima Keithel Coordinating Committee for Peace at Khwairamband Bazar and started marching towards Chief Minister N. Biren Singh’s bungalow and Manipur Raj Bhavan to push for their demands, as reported by The Indian Express.

The outfit launched a protest against the demand for a separate Union Territory by Kuki-Zo and also pressed its concerns over a possible security crackdown in the state. The protesters returned to the market and held a sit-in after they were intercepted near Kangla Fort.

Meanwhile, thousands of people from the Kuki-Zo community in Manipur’s Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, and Tengnoupal districts on Monday organised rallies to press for a solution in the violence-hit state and a separate administration for them, as reported by news agency PTI. They also protested against the cancellation of the Free Movement Regime with neighbouring Myanmar.

In February, the Central government decided to fence the over 1,600 km stretch of the Indo-Myanmar border falling in the North East and scrapped the Free Movement Regime. Four northeastern states—Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, and Nagaland—share a border with Myanmar.

Following the rally, a memorandum seeking a political solution for the Kuki-Zo community was submitted to Union Home Minister Amit Shah via Churachandpur Deputy Commissioner Dharun Kumar.

The rally, which was organised by the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF), witnessed the participants chanting slogans such as "no political solution, no peace" as they marched from the Public Ground to the Peace Ground, a distance of about 3 km, in Churachandpur district. In the hill districts, the umbrella Kuki-Zo outfit, the ITLF, led the protest for a “quick political solution.”

“Keeping in mind the realities on the ground and safeguarding the rights of all citizens to live a safe and dignified life, Suspension of Operation (SoO) groups from Kuki-Zo tribes have already submitted political demands, asking for a Union Territory with a legislature under Article 239(A) of the Indian Constitution,” the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) said in a statement, as quoted by The Indian Express.

On its demand for a separate UT, the ITLF stated that if the Kuki-Zo were to return to a state dispensation “controlled by the Majority (read Meitei),"  they would be “subjected to open hostility and discrimination—a new-age Apartheid,” as per the IE report. 

Simultaneously, in Kangpokpi district, the Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU) organised a rally at Thomas Ground, where participants from across the district displayed banners advocating for a "political solution" for the Kuki-Zo people.

Security measures were heightened in both districts as central and state forces were deployed at key points to prevent any untoward incidents during the rally. Additionally, a similar rally was conducted in Tengnoupal district by the Kuki Inpi Tengnoupal.