KNO questions TPOM
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, June 23 2013:
Saying that a new organisation in the name of Tribal People's Organisation of Manipur (TPOM) has been floated recently with UPF's support, one of the signatories of the tripartite SoO pact, the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) has questioned if the exclusivist NSCN-IM is in accord with the proposal put up by TPOM.
TPOM had proposed political arrangements within the so-called State of Manipur which presumes political unity between the two tribal groups, Naga and Kuki, it said.
KNO would like to pose this vital political question as to whether the NSCN (IM) propagated, exclusivist and non-compromising, Naga political stance on territorial rights of Nagas in relation to Kukis has been taken cognizance of by the TPOM and Separate Hill Tribal Area Administration Demand Committee (SHTAADC) in putting forth such a mess of a political demand.
The UPF on June 21 sent an invitation to the KNO to participate in the deliberations scheduled to be held yesterday, at YPA hall, New Lamka.
The KNO regretted that such an invitation should come at such short notice, and the fact that it could not, for want of consultation within its fold attend the said meeting, conveyed a press release issued by KNO information and publicity joint secretary Stephen.
All constitutional provisions for protection of tribal rights in Manipur have been meticulously violated by the Government of Manipur since 1972, alleged KNO.
This is the irreparable majoritarian course the Meitei dominated State had chosen to ignite the kind of dissonance in the polity.
Secondly, of the two tribal political alignments in the state, the Naga tribals had allowed themselves to be led in the exclusivist path defined by the NSCN (IM) and had never responded to overtures from Kuki tribals for a coordinated response to the colonial and anti-tribal tendencies of the state of Manipur.
The NSCN (IM) and the UNC, the two political fronts representing Naga political aspirations continue to be exclusivist, it alleged.
The KNO had proffered a politically pragmatic "terms of engagement" to the Naga brothers, despite the NSCN (IM) sponsored Kuki Genocide, for tribal coordination and cooperation, wherein all disputable issues between the two tribal polities would first be settled to create opportunities for political cooperation.
In response, the NSCN (IM) had chosen to issue a press statement, denying having entered into such an agreement or a proposed Memorandum of Agreement.
How can one deny being a signatory to a 'proposed draft terms of cooperation' remains a myth to the KNO till today.
The KNO also appealed to the UPF leadership to confer within to deliberate on Kuki political rights and aspirations without taking resort to political one-upmanship through engaging 'on-sale' Naga individuals to project a united tribal cause with the petty objective of ostensibly outscoring the KNO on the broadness of aspired political settlements.
"The KNO continues to stand by its offer of political settlement of territorial disputes between Kuki and Naga peoples as a pre condition for political coordination and cooperation, and persists in its appeal to the Naga people to take cognizance of the mutually destructive path the NSCN (IM) have led them into in so far as securing our common tribal rights are concerned", it asserted.
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