Ten MLAs from the Kuki-Hmar-Zomi tribal communities have said that the resolution passed by the legislators of the ruling National Democratic Alliance in Manipur demanding that the Centre initiate “mass operations” against suspected Kuki militants was “divisive, one sided and communal”.
In a statement on Tuesday, the 10 MLAs, seven of whom are from the Bharatiya Janata Pary, one an Independent and two from the Kuki People’s Alliance, said that to start mass operations against only one community would amount to bias.
“Mass operations must be conducted all over the state to recover all illegal arms from all militia groups,” the group said.
A day earlier, on November 18, 28 National Democratic Alliance MLAs led by Chief Minister N Biren Singh passed the resolution seeking action against the suspected Kuki militants responsible for the November 11 abduction and killing of six Meitei women and children from Jiribam.
The resolution urged the Centre to declare the suspected militants “an unlawful organisation” within seven days. The MLAs also demanded a review of the imposition of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in five valley districts amid an escalation in violence in the state.
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, or AFSPA, gives Army personnel sweeping powers in disturbed areas to search, arrest and open fire if deemed necessary for “the maintenance of public order”.
“If the above resolutions taken are not implemented within the specified period, the NDA [National Democratic Alliance] legislators will decide the future course of action in consultation with the people of the state,” the National Democratic Alliance MLAs said.
In their statement, the Kuki-Hmar-Zomi MLAs accused “the one-sided state government” of taking “undue advantage of the [November 11] Jiribam incident in suppressing and curtailing the rights of the disadvantaged tribal community”.
The state government had become “emboldened even to the point of threatening” the Centre, the Kuki-Hmar-Zomi MLAs said.
The statement also noted that the imposition of AFSPA was “long overdue” in all 13 police station areas in the Meitei-majority valley, which continue to be exempted.
Noting that the resolution called for the handing over of three recent cases to the National Investigation Agency, the Kuki-Hmar-Zomi MLAs demanded that all cases of civilian killings since clashes broke out between the Meiteis and Kuki-Zo-Hmars in May 2023 be handed over to the agency.
The cases taken over by the National Investigation Agency included the murder of a woman in Jiribram by armed militants, an attack on a Central Reserve Police Force post located at Jakuradhor Karong and Borobekra police stations, and the burning of houses and the killing of a civilian at Borobekra in Jiribam.
“The resolution for declaration by the Government of India, of ‘Kuki Militants’ responsible for the killing of six innocents [in Jiribam], must be preceded by the declaration of the Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun as Unlawful Organisations under relevant laws,” the Kuki-Hmar-Zomi MLAs added.
Arambai Tenggol is an armed Meitei outfit, while Meitei Leepun is a radical Meitei group.
At least 255 persons have died and more than 59,000 persons displaced since the clashes began between the Meiteis and Kuki-Zo-Hmars in May 2023.
On November 14, AFSPA was reimposed in the areas of six police stations – Sekmai and Lamsang in Imphal West district, Lamlai in Imphal East district, Jiribam in Jiribam district, Leimakhong in Kangpokpi district and Moirang in Bishnupur district – following a surge in ethnic violence that has reportedly left at least 22 persons dead since November 7.
The notification came after the state police said that 10 suspected Kuki militants were killed on November 11 in a gunfight with security forces in Jiribam district.
However, Kuki-Zo-Hmar organisations claimed that the persons killed in the gunfight were village volunteers. The term “village volunteers” has been used for armed civilians guarding villages since the ethnic clashes broke out between the two communities in 2023.
After the gunfight, three women and three children, including an infant, were abducted allegedly by Kuki militants. The bodies of five of those abducted were found floating on the Barak river last week. The sixth body was found on Monday.
The abduction led to protests over the weekend, with mobs storming and vandalising the homes of MLAs, including of chief minister’s son-in-law Rajkumar Imo Singh. Mobs also ransacked the offices of the BJP and the Congress.
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