48 hours shutdown underway at Kpi
Source: The Sangai Express

Kangpokpi, December 04 2024: The 48-hour total shutdown in Kangpokpi is still underway across the district since midnight of December 3 .

All shops and markets remained completely closed throughout the day today, disrupting normal life in the district.

However, schools and vehicular movement were exempted from the purview of the shutdown.

The total shutdown was imposed following the issuance of a public appeal by the State Government to resume public transport services along Imphal-Kangpokpi-Senapati and Imphal-Bishnupur-Churachandpur routes.

Hundreds of Kuki-Zo women were seen congregating at Gamgiphai - a village in the area bordering Kangpokpi and Imphal West to block public transport services.

Addressing the media, Ng Lun Kipgen, spokesperson of Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU) said that the Manipur Government's order, issued from Imphal, mandates free vehicular movement from Imphal to Dimapur which the Kuki-Zo community never obstructed.

Lambasting the directive as a deliberate attempt to vilify the Kuki-Zo community and undermine their struggle for separate administration, he emphasized that the order is not only unwarranted but preposterous.

Meanwhile, the Kuki Inpi Sadar Hills has strongly opposed the Manipur Government's recent directive to deploy Manipur State Transport (MST) buses in violence-affected areas amidst the ongoing conflict.

The Kuki Inpi criticized the move, calling it a reckless and insensitive attempt to restore public services without addressing the underlying political tensions.

The Kuki Inpi argued that deploying MST buses under heavy security in such volatile regions ignores the ground realities and could escalate an already precarious situation.

Instead of enforcing transportation services in conflict zones, the Kuki Inpi proposed alternative routes for MST operations, including Moirang-Imphal-Sekmai; Gamgiphai-Kangpokpi-Tamenglong; Gamgiphai-Kangpokpi-Mao; Churachandpur-Saungdoh-Churachandpur; Kakching-Imphal-Moirang and Pallel-Moreh-Pallel.

"Deploying buses without resolving the root cause of the conflict will only worsen communal tensions," it stated.

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