SF inaction alleged, locals demand firearms
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, May 20 2023:
Affected Meetei vil-lagers in the foothill areas strongly decried alleged failure of security forces to protect the villages from the constant attacks of armed Kuki militants under Sus-pension of Operation (Soo) and demanded provision of firearm to them if the security forces could not shield them.
Residents of affected Meetei villages under the aegis of Committee on Protection and Restoration of Affected Vil-lages by Communal Conflict under Khundrakpam Assem-bly Constituency organised a sit-in protest at Pukhao Ahallup community hall on Saturday.
Interacting with the media at the protest venue, Com-mittee convenor Okram Saratchandra said that all the residents of Meetei villages in foothill areas adjacent to Kuki settlements are daily wages.
They welcome the initiative of the government to restore peace and normalcy.
Howev-er, stopping violence by both sides is imperative for peace to return.
El date, the central securi-ty forces deployed in the state have not been able to contain the armed Kuki militants un-der SoO.
The displacement in Pukhao side is due to the constant attacks by armed Kuki militants.
So far, the government has not been able to confine Kuki militants under So0 in their respective designated camps and the displaced people do not see the situation as an attempt to restore peace, he remarked.
He said that the govern-ment should abrogate the So0 agreement considering in-volvement of Kuki militants in the ongoing violence.
He also strongly condemned the 10 Kuki MLAs for their separate administration demand and added that the remaining 50 MIAs should not remain as silent spectators.
Appropri-ate actions must be taken up against the 10 MLAs.
At the same time, the government should take up immediate steps to put an end to the at-tacks on Meetei villages by armed Kuki militants so that the displaced people could resettle, he added.
Unless the security forces protect the Meetei villages from the constant attack of armed Kuki militants, the government should arm the civilians so that they could defend themselves from these relentless attacks.
Leitanpokpi resident Th Bi-pin said that the armed Kuki militants not only burned and vandalised several houses of Leitanpokpi but also occu-pied the remaining houses.
At least 250 houses in lkou and Yengumang Meetei villages have been reduced to cinders by armed Kuki militants, and they are also occupying more than 150 acres of farmland that belong to the Meetei people, he said.
Moreover, the armed Kuki militants are also occupying Meetei and Nepali villages in Dolaithabi area, and the cen-tral and state security forces have not been able to drive out the Kuki militants.
On Friday, the Kuki militants burned a 'Sangoi' (outhouse) and a granary of a Meetei family at Dolaithabi under the nose of security forces.
Letting loose the Kuki mil-itants to carry out genocidal activities against the Meetei villages in the foothills cannot bring peace as any initiative to restore peace should be bilat-eral.
Unless the government protects the villages in the peripheral areas, the govern-ment should induct a village defence force with a mini-mum strength of 500 per-sonnel to protect the Meetei villages in lkou, Yengumang and Dolaithabi, he demanded.