'Kuki immigrants threatening indigenes'
Source: The Sangai Express
New Delhi, April 16 2025:
In a compelling address held at the Press Club of India, New Delhi on April 11, social activist of Manipur Diphiu Prinmai raised deep concern over the continued marginalization and persecution of the Indigenous Liangmai Naga people, one of the oldest indigenous tribes of Manipur.
Prinmai asserted that the Liangmai have been the original settlers of the sacred Koubru Mountain Range for over 1,500 years.
"The mountain, revered as the abode of Koubo-Ra (Lord Koubru), has remained the spiritual, cultural, and historical epicenter of the Liangmai tribe.
Our forefathers worshipped Koubo-Ra as high priests long before the advent of Christianity," he said, emphasizing the deep rooted indigenous spiritual traditions.
"However, over the decades, this ancestral heritage has come under siege.
Systematic land encroachment, forced displacement and violent conflict have endangered the existence of the Liangmai community.
Well demarcated village boundaries were ignored.
Settlements were renamed to erase history.
Liangmai people have been pushed to the margins of their own land," Prinmai stated.
He further listed several instances of renamed ancestral Liangmai villages now occupied by new settlers, including: Puilong (then) � Chalwa (now), Kasanlong (then) � Gelnal (now), Nbumai (then) � Waichong (now), Nongmai (then) � Kotlen (now), Zailong (then) � Changoubung (now), Aling � Songtun, Ganong (then) � Mouhing (now), Pengjeng (then) � Haipi (now), Karalong (then) � P.Moulding (now) .
These renamed villages today are predominantly occupied by the new settlers Kuki people.
Their return is often met with hostility, threats, and restriction on religious practices, he added.
Highlighting a surge in targeted violence post-May 3, 2023, Prinmai enumerated disturbing incidents of brutality against the Naga indigenous population of Kangpokpi and Senapati Districts:
1.June 18, 2023: A Naga widow's house was burned in Leimakhong by alleged Kuki miscreants.
2.September 5, 2023: An assassination attempt was made on Z.Hotngambou Nemai, a former village chairman, for refusing extortion demands from KRA militants.
3.December 22, 2024: SDSA leaders were brutally assaulted at a Kuki check post in Kanglatongbi.
4.January 7, 2025: A woman was brutally attacked by settlers in Konsakhul Lungwiram.
5.April 3, 2025: Over ten houses were burned in Kazanga village, a Maram Naga revenue village.
6.April 5, 2025: A large scale armed brutal attack on Naga Konsakhul village left the village chief, chairman, and Pastor critically injured.
The attack on Konsakhul villagers has drawn condemnation from apex organizations such as the United Naga Council (UNC), ANSAM, Naga Women's Union, and COCOMI.
Despite President's Rule, both Manipur and Indian Governments have remained shamefully silent.
Their inaction amounts to complicity, Prinmai accused.
The violence, he alleged, is often accompanied by illegal taxation and extortion along NH-2 (Imphal-Dimapur Road), along with rampant poppy plantations that have caused extensive deforestation and ecological damage.
This is not just a law and order issue it is a fight for the survival of a people and their sacred land, he said.
He called for immediate policy intervention, urging the Government of India and the Government of Manipur to put a halt to land grabbing, protect the Constitutional rights of indigenous people, and uphold peace in the region.
"If provocations persist and these issues are ignored, Manipur risks spiraling into further unrest.
The Government must act now," he added.
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