AZO ridicules Kuki separate administration demand
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, May 17 2023:
All Zeliangrong Organ-isation (AZO) Manipur Valley said that a community which has no land of its own cannot demand separate administra-tion or autonomy.
Addressing a press meet here on Wednesday, AZO president Meibon Phaomei said that one should understand which com-munity can demand separate administration.
Separate state or autonomy can only be de-manded by those communities, who have their own land and clarified that the Zeliangrong community is neither inter-ested in pursuing demand for separate administration nor support any such demand.
While observing that the present humanitarian crisis in the state might have occurred due to certain misunderstand-ing, he stressed the need for restoring peace, normalcy and strengthening fraternal bond by authorities of both the communities in conflict.
Raising unreasonable demand is something unachievable, he cautioned and added that any community pursuing such de-mands should have roots in the history of the land.
Meibon Phaomei further said that the Ze-liangrong community does subscribe to the statement of the 10 Kuki MLAs, who claimed to union home minister Amit Shah that there are no tribals in the valley area of the state.
Indigenous tribal communities, who share blood relationship for millennia are still living peacefully without any threat or grudge in the valley area, he clarified while questioning the meaning of 'tribal' as referred to in the memorandum of the 10 MLAs.
He also said that Zeliangrong community, which is also a tribal community, does not see the present crisis as an issue of tribal.
Zeliangrong community strongly condemns attempt made by the 10 MLAs to drag in all the tribal communities in the state.
Zehangrong, Kabui and Rongmei tribal communities inhabit mostly in the valley area and bringing in the collective term tribal in their issue has the potential to falsify the whole situation, he said.
So far, indigenous tribal communities are not part of the separate administration de-mand and the organisation thinks it necessary to make clarification so that the memoran-dum of the 10 MLAs does not create further misunderstanding or spread misleading in-formation, the president added.