KSO slams DESAM statement on Moreh, Kukis
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, June 18 2014:
Reacting to the DESAM's recent statement on Moreh, KSO today said that calling Kuki people as 'migrants' is a despicable statement which if it goes out of hand, can embroil the people in chaos and the land in a state of anarchy.
In a statement issued by General Secretary Seiboi Haokip, KSO General Headquarters asserted that the historical account propagated by DESAM does not hold any waters as it lacks rational explanation.
The claims made by DESAM are a concocted story of the naivet� minds, it said, while adding 'Tagging us as migrants is preposterous' .
There may be some Kuki villagers who have migratory tendency, but they are not encroachers, the KSO statement said and continued that migrations amongst Kukis were confined to short distances only, which is well within their realm or sphere of influence.
Just as the Meiteis who had at one point of time settled in the vastness of Shan state, Kabaw (Kangmang Phaicham), and Cachar, the Kukis were also indigenous people who settled in the vast expanse of land that stretched across the length and breadth of countries, which includes the present northeastern region of India, north and western part of Myanmar, and the Chittagong hills of Bangladesh, the statement reasoned.
The KSO held that the present Manipur just happens to be their ancestral land where their settlements are highly concentrated today.
Claiming that Kukis are the only true defenders of Manipur and other parts in North East India, the statement said the Anglo-Manipuri War lasted for days because of their internal strife and the Anglo-Kuki War (The Kuki Rebellion) lasted 3 years because of 'our love and resolution for freedom and integrity' .
The Kukis fought the British from 1917 up to 1919 to defend their land and freedom, it further recalled, saying 'although they were defeated, their territory was not annexed by the British, while the lands remained with the Kuki chiefs after they accepted the surrender terms' .
'However these lands were given away during Manipur's merger with India.
Whatever land the Kukis are claiming today are those lands where they shed their bloods to protect it but signed away to India by others', it continued.
If not for their land why Kukis should fought a long and protracted war against colonialism and suffered immense hardships, KSO questioned, further noting the Kuki Rebellion or Kuki Rising was one of the longest wars fought in this part of the world.
As Kukis had fought the British to uphold and defend their freedom for 3 long years, the lands they defended with their lives rightfully belongs them, it claimed.
The KSO said, 'DESAM is advised to do their homework to know who forced the king to sign away the independence of Manipur and also the people who had resisted it'.
It added, 'in 1949, it was the Kuki chiefs and soldiers who came out to guard the king in a bid to prevent the signing of the 'merger agreement' .
More than 100 Kuki soldiers were stationed at the Palace to prevent the King's own subjects who were bent on coercing him to sign the merger agreement, recalled the statement, while lamenting that it was the valley people who ironically forced their own king to sign over Manipur's independence to India.
"The Kukis had forsaken vast tract of ancestral lands in Tamenglong district and Ukhrul district in the aftermath of the ethnic clash in the interest of peace and mutual co-existence.
But today the Kukis do not physically claim these lands knowing the futility of it and its implication to peace and communal harmony.
Everybody should see some sense in this and learn to do the same", the KSO statement asserted.
It charged that DESAM's reference is to divide or disintegrate the Kuki people into three political realms- India, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
It also refuted DESAM allegation that Kukis encroached on reserved forests.
Saying Reserved Forests Act is just the handiwork of governments to grab their lands without the knowledge of their illiterate Chiefs, KSO charged that DESAM is trying to sow seed of dissent and enmity between Old Kukis and New Kukis.
The terms 'Old Kuki' and 'New Kuki' are now irrelevant as the term 'Kuki' is the inclusive and the generally accepted term by all, it said.
The statement also asked, "Is DESAM trying to portrait Moreh as belonging to Madrasis? If they accept Madrasis as the first settlers of Moreh rather than the Kukis, then it is so" .
In the statement, the KSO urged every ethnic group to respect each other's territory and sphere of influence, just as Tangkhuls are dominant in Ukhrul; Zeliangrongs in Tamenglong; Meiteis in Imphal Valley; Kukis (Old/New) in Chandel, Churachandpur and Sadar Hills.
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