Major causes of Kuki & Meetei conflict

T Biren Singh *

Mr PS Haokip is a influential person in Kuki society and he had/has an influential group. He went around many times to cover Chin in Myanmar, Mizoram and Chhitagong hills tract in Bangladesh, where he and his friends zealously talked about the establishment of a Kuki land which shall include parts of these three countries. His head quarter is located at Churcahandpur which he calls Lamka.

"The Zale'n Gam" and "The Zo Land" are some of the important books of Mr PS Haokip and his party. He is now President of Kuki National Organisation (KNO). He says Kuki is just like an eagle which is the top carnivorous animal in food chain in an ecosystem. Eagle is the strongest carnivorous bird, no bird can fight with eagle and all birds run away from eagle. In the same manner, he opined that Kuki is like eagle, they are not afraid of any ethnic group or the Government of India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.

He said the word "Zale'n" means free flight of an eagle which is equivalent to the meaning of Freedom and Sovereignty. He did not mention the meaning of "Gam". The meaning of Gam is not found the English dictionary. The meaning of gam which no English Dictionary explains, is meant the " Manipur Hill Areas (Acquisition of Chiefs Right) Act- 1966".

The Act very nicely defines "Gam" as a tract of land in hill area held by a chief. Then what is the meaning of "Chief" and how many Chiefs are there in Manipur, who and when Chiefs are elected or nominated, many questions arise now. Kuki can establish any village anywhere in Manipur covering any number of Gam(s) thereby appointing Chiefs and Deputy Chiefs at any time under this Act.

This very Act of 1966 is now become a favorite tool/weapons for Kuki to occupy land in Manipur. With this very Act, Kukis are encroaching on forest lands in Manipur forming Gam(s) and Chiefs. This process had been going on continuously on the soil of Manipur.

The Act originates from the Chin hill of Myanmar (erstwhile Burma). A similar Act in Myanmar and Chieftainship in chin hill of Myanmar was abolished by Myanmar Government long back. The Assam Government had also abolished "Assam Lushai Hill District (Acquisition of Chiefs' Right) Act – 1954". Hence, this draconian Act is removed and abolished in the place of its origin, but it is still in practise in Manipur. Now, there is need of cancellation/abolishing of this Act in Manipur also.

92% of Manipur's land is classified as Hill area and 8% of it is classified as valley area. Again 2% of valley area is water bodies and wetland ecosystem and the inhabitable area in the valley region is only 6%. Again 80% of State population thrive in valley region, it is congested.

This congested fertile land is targeted by the Kuki chiefs to occupy by any means. Their dream of occupying this fertile congested area was already initiated by the Kuki Chiefs since 1980, at their meeting convened with an agenda on the Penetration to Imphal valley. Hence, the violence which started on the 03rd May, 2023 was not immediate start on that day only, but it was explosion of conspiracy bomb which was seeded / planted in the mind of the Kuki Chiefs, intellectuals since 1980, it was a spontaneous and continuous process for formation of Zale'n Gam (the Kuki Nation/Zo Nation ) since then.

Manipur has got a land law under and name and style of "Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms Act– 1960". The land law is operational in only 8% of the State valley land and 92% of the hill land has got no land law. People living in the 8% of the valley land are given ownership of the land by giving land documents like Dag-chitha and Patta. When there is land dispute the Revenue Department settles the dispute by referring to the land records.

People living in the 92% of State's hill land is the "Manipur Hill Areas (Acquisition of Chiefs Right) Act- 1966". There is no demarcation of land under this Act and hence there are no Dag-chitha and patta. Demarcations of land in Hill are lump sum. There is a term "gam" under this Chiefs' Right Act -1966 which has no geographical size of the land. The word gam is not found in any English Dictionary.

But, the very Act defined that the Gam means a tract of land in hill area held by a Chief. There can be unlimited gam(s) in hill area of Manipur. There is another term "Chief" who is the head of the gam. The Chief has the supreme power of the Gam area which has no limitation in geographical size. The Chief has the supreme power of bringing in anybody into the gam or expel out anybody from the gam. The poor Kuki individuals/families are at the mercy of the chiefs. This Act is very much liked by the Kuki Chiefs and favorable Act of the Kuki chiefs.

The Kuki Chiefs can establish any gam(s) anywhere in fertile forest land of Manipur and they can bring any number of immigrant new Kuki from Myammer (erstwhile Burma) and Bangladesh into the their gam(s). The old Kuki chiefs who are already in Manipur to control the politics of Manipur and land of Manipur, so they started planning since many years to bring in immigrant Kukis to Manipur.

All Kuki chiefs dreamed to eliminate the valley dwellers from Manipur and it was a long strategic plan. Mr. RK Rajendro Singh, President, International Meetei Forum had presented a paper tiled "The Kuki State Demand by KSDC".

As per his (Rajendro's) report a joint meeting of Kuki chiefs was held at Imphal on the 04th May, 1980 on the agendum "Penetrate into Imphal valley". At the meeting, Kuki chiefs decided to penetrate in Imphal valley very carefully and tactically by eliminating and slaughtering the valley dwellers. From this date, they (Kuki chiefs) had sown the seed of the Kuki land (i.e Zo Land) in Manipur since 1980.

From this date, they (the Kuki chiefs) had hijacked majority of Govt. fund for development of Kuki area. They taken fund from World Bank to make road in foothills of Imphal valley and occupied the foothills by initiating the idea of S.A.D.A.R. Hill district. For mobilizing the fund for Kukis economic development, both State Govt., Central Govt. and world Bank were persuaded persistently.

We do not know how many Chief(s) can be appointed and how many Gam(s) can be established in Hill area. What the rules are for appointing a person as a chief for a gam. Because of these lacunae & week reasons in the "Manipur Hill Areas (Acquisition of Chiefs Right) Act- 1966", I propose to cancel/repeal this very Act from the soil of Manipur to abolish the concept of Chieftainships in Forest land of Manipur. The Chieftainships in Manipur and Kuki desirous of occupying more and more land in Manipur Forest land had created the present conflict between Kuki and Meetei. The Kuki wants to establish a Kuki Land (Zale'n Gam) under this Act.

Their (Kuki Chiefs') obsession for land can be understood from the following examples in Kanglatongbi Zilla Parisad area. There were four Panchayats in Kangpokpi when it was under Senapati District. The four Panchayats are (1) Koubru Leikha Gram panchayat, (2) Santolabari-Parsian Gram Panchayat, (3) Kalapahar Gram Panchayat and (4) Toribari Gram Panchayat. These four panchayats cover all those revenue villages which are covered under MLR & LR Act - 1960.

The Kuki chiefs wanted to occupy to these revenue lands which fall under four Panchayats, so they (Kuki Chiefs) want to end the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) including Kanglatongbi Zilla Parisad. They wanted to bring these land under Manipur Hill Areas (Acquisition of Chiefs Right) Act- 1966". So they (Kuki Chiefs) lobbied the Government to abolish 4 panchayats and one Zilla Parisad vide Chief Secretary deletion order No. 6/2/2012-RD & PR, dated 23rd March, 2015. Their idea is that these areas are under the Hill of Manipur, so there should not be any PRI institutions in Kangpokpi region. Many times, the Kuki chiefs attempted to burn down the land documents at SDC office located at Sekmai Bazar.

Kuki Chiefs wanted all land record be deposited at Kangpokpi District Head-quarters so that they can burn the documents. Now, Kuki chiefs are threatening the Nepali not pay land taxes and they (Kuki chiefs) said to Nepali the land belong to Kuki chiefs and hence, Nepali should pay land taxes (House tax) to Kuki Chiefs, but not to Government. Due to this indigenous Nepali are not happy with the Kuki Chiefs. The Kuki Chiefs were trying very hard for this since 1975-76.

They (Kuki Chiefs) are attacking the land under the Makeng Dolaithabi Gram Panchayat area also. Some of villages of this panchayat are Hangoipat, Matakhong, Aishem, Maken Ngourou etc. They (Kuki Chiefs) are occupying the area forcibly and pressurising the land owner (Meetei and Nepali) to sell the land to Kuki at low price. Such pressure are also witnessed in the Serou and Phabakchou Ikai/Torong, Bangala areas also.

Burning of so many Forest Offices and forest documents before the 03rd May, 2023 was the result of removing the encroached land of Kuki by Govt. The bulldozing and levelling of the Meetei land in Churchanpur town is also example. So far Meetei had not bulldozed and levelled any Kuki's land located at Sangaiprou, Leirikyeng-bam, New Lambulane, Koi- rengei etc in Imphal valley.

Hence the main cause of Kuki Meetei clash/conflict is due the over jealousy of land by Kuki to own land in Manipur to establish a Zale'n Gam (i.e Zo Land) for which their plan to penetrate into Imphal valley by wrongful means.

The Kuki Chiefs from various locations from India, Bangladesh and Myanmar (erstwhile Burma) conducted many interaction meetings with cultural dances/programmes at various location at Saikul, Lamka, Kangpokpi, Galnga Lentol, Moreh, Chandel of Manipur, Nongleh and Aizawl in Mizoram at different dates for formation of Zale'n Gam (i.e. Zo- Land).

Such meetings / gatherings are arranged in the within state since 2001- 2002. What the intelligence officers of the State and Center are doing for such long warning by Kuki Chiefs. So, it were long dream and plan of Kuki Chiefs to form Zale'n Gam since 1980. The conflict did not started on 03rd May, 2023, it was already started from May, 1980. The notorious Kuki SoO agreement was signed only in 2008 to get lot of fund for their cadres.

"Penetrate into Imphal valley" and to control over all Manipur Govt were their (Kuki Chiefs) main target and to fulfill this target, Kuki Chiefs had adopted the following systematic steps for the past 40 to 50 years.

Maximization of the Kuki Bureaucrat Officers in Manipur Secretariat, all Govt. Departments, Banks & other establishments :

At present situation, 90% of Bureaucrat Officers in Manipur Secretariat (starting from Deputy Secretaries to Joint & Addl. Secretaries level) are occupied by Chin-Kuki people. The Meitei Bureaucrat officers occupy only 8% and 2% by Naga Bureaucrat officers. In Home Department also Kuki occupy 95% in all cadres (rank and files).

In all offices (Government establishment, Banks, Manipur University and companies) in Manipur, maximum number of Kukis are found employed. This is due to the fact that immigrant Chin-Kuki when they become Indian, they are tagged as Scheduled Tribe and got all facilities of ST.

Because of ST status, these immigrant Chin-Kuki get through jobs in all Departments under Union of India and companies and bank. There so many Kuki soldiers in Assam Rifles, because of this Assam Rifles not reacting to the Kuki militants when the militants attack the Meetei villages, rather they are keeping silent and watching Kuki militant to carry out arson, burning Meetei houses.

Due to non-action of Assam Rifles, CSO of Meetei is demanding withdrawal of Assam Rifles from Manipur. Kuki Chiefs are giving more emphasis to induct/introduce into in the employment in administrative Services, but less emphasis is given into induct into medical and Engineering services in Manipur.

Pooling and Collection of Fund :

To achieve establishment of Zale'n Gam (The Kuki Nation, Zo land ), the Kuki Chiefs launched fund drive from drug business, cultivation of Poppy plants and selling of weapons. They bought valley homesteads land from Meetei as soon as message (the sale of land) were heard. They give handsome money to informers land deal as a reward. Their drug business had spread wide and large. Drugs from Golden Triangle and Chin region of Myanmar are smuggled by Kuki Chiefs via Manipur to Indian main Land, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives and Nepal.

Spreading of Gams in SADAR Foothills :

The foot hill of periphery of Imphal valley are the catchment area of Loktak Lake. These forest land, they coined as SADAR hill district and occupied slowly these area and they lobby and established many Gam(s), welcome the immigrant Chin-Kuki and expand their population and make vote bank.

Suggestion to end the Conflict :

"The Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms – 1960" should be extended to whole of Manipur state to have a uniform land law. If this law is extended in Hill of Manipur, the hill people can take loan from Bank as the land record / Patta can be mortgage / collateral with the Bank, hence livelihood activities in hill people can developed with bank financial facilities. This will be good development for the Kuki as well as Naga people.

National Registration of Citizens (NRC) should be implemented at war footing with 1950 as base year so that immigrant foreigners are identified.

Plantation of trees should be taken up in those area in war footing where Kuki cleaned the for poppy cultivation. This will help in the water stocking capacity in the catchment area of Manipur ecosystem. Encroachment and destruction by Kuki in catchment area/ forest areas should be stopped.

Abortion of SoO with immigrant Kuki / Foreigner Kuki should be initiated. SoO carder should not accumulate more weapons and they should strictly follow the ground rule as per agreement Quick completion of International Border fencing be done.

Assam Rifle Officers and their carders posted in Manipur be replaced by Assam Rifles officer and carders now posting in North east states like Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. Assam Rifle Officers and their carders posted in Manipur have got all 3Ws

References Book :

Mr. R. K. Rajendro Singh, President, International Meetei Forum : "The Kuki State Demand by KSDC 1982., Manipur Hill Areas (Acquisition of Chiefs Right) Act- 1966,
P.S. Haokip, President, Kuki National Organization :"The Zale'n Gam, The Kuki Nation", "Zo Nation : The Convergence of Kuki, Chin, Mizo, Kachin People",
Mr. R. K. Rajendro Singh, Convener, Federation of Haomee : " Manipur after coming of Kuki"
Bimol Laishram, Captain (Retd), Indian Navy, " The one invisible root causes of Meetei-Kuki ethenic Clash" , The Sangai Express, The 5th June, page :4
Mayengbam Pramot, Leader, Meetei Leepun " They (Kuki) have no history nor Roots", The Sangai Express, 27th June, page :1 and 9