COCOMI cries foul ahead of Aug 17 SoO talk
What is the secret agenda poser raised
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 16 2023: The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) has raised strong objection to the proposed talk between the Government of India (GoI) and the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and United People's Front (UPF) tomorrow at Delhi.

COCOMI in a statement issued today, said that the proposed talk amidst the present situation is wrong and the committee will never accept such a talk.

This will be the second round of talk between the GoI and the insurgent groups after the July 26 talk where they raised the call for a separate administration.

Notably, 10 Chin-Kuki MLAs had also urged the Centre for the same administration on May 12 after the outbreak of the ethnic crisis on May 3 afternoon with well-armed Kukis from Churachandpur side attacking and burning down Meitei settlements at Torbung, a village bordering Churachandpur and Bishnupur.

Recalling the genesis of the SoO agreement, COCOMI said that Assam Rifles inked the SoO agreement with KNO and UPF in 2005 .

Usually, warring sides enter into such an agreement following numerous conflicts and innumerable casualties on both sides and when there is call for peace from various quarters.

However, the SoO between Assam Rifles and the Kuki insurgent groups was signed without almost any conflict and that too without the knowledge and approval of the State Government, it said.

Such a signing clearly suggests many hidden agenda at play, it said.

Three years after the pact with the 'foreign militants', Assam Rifles managed to convince the Centre that the move could be a game changer in the geopolitics of the region and eventually roped in the State Government and made the SoO agreement a tripartite pact in 2008, it observed.

The agreement was just a ploy to turn Manipur into a new 'Golden Triangle' with foreign militants pumping in huge investments to carry out narcotics business without any hassle, it said.

Installation of designated camps of these narco-terrorists was the worst step the Government of India had taken as many of the insurgent groups turned out to be led by foreign narco-terrorists including ZRA chairman Thanglianpao Guite and KNO president PS Haokip.

COCOMI takes such talks with such foreigners very seriously, it said.

What is more surprising is the blatant high-handedness of Assam Rifles by carving out buffer zones deep into Meitei settlements and disallowing not only laymen entering it but also the State security forces into the said zones.

The very step is a way to divide the State, COCOMI observed.

The proposed talk (of August 17) in the face of such a situation can be considered an open challenge to the existence of indigenous population of the entire North East region and endorsement of Chin-Kuki narco terrorism, it said.

The talk is very untimely and will portray an open support to the narco-terrorists who razed many Meitei houses to the ground and killed many.

The talk may also do away with the confidence that COCOMI places on the Government, it said.

COCOMI in no way will accept the talk and considers it as an anti-State step, it continued.

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