Time to probe Zale'n-gam, Khalistani link as well
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: October 02, 2023 -

IT may be a breaking news for many of the news channels, but the revelation made by National Investigation Agency (NIA) of a transnational conspiracy by Myanmar and Bangladesh based leadership of terror outfits to wage war against the Govt of India by exploiting the ongoing current ethnic unrest in the northeastern state of Manipur is only a validation of what the people of Manipur, with exception to those Kuki-Chin community, have been saying right from the beginning.

Since the outbreak of the unprecedented ethnic clashes between the Meitei/Meetei and Kuki-Chin communities on May 3 last, many of the news outlets in India and other parts of the globe have been lapping up the one-sided narrative of minority Christian Kuki people living in the undeveloped hill areas being allegedly prosecuted by the majority Hindu Meiteis living in the comparatively developed valley districts, without ever raising question on the glaring gaps in the false narrative being peddled by some leaders and organisations of Kuki-Chin community.

These news channels never try to find out the root cause of the conflict or even ask question on why the Tribal Solidarity March taken out in the hill districts against a court order directing the Government of Manipur to send recommendation to the Government of India for inclusion of Meitei/Meetei in the list of Scheduled Tribe, turned violent only in Kuki-Chin dominated areas while it ended peacefully in other places.

They never thought it essential to raise question on the presence of people armed with sophisticated weapons in the rally taken out in Churachandpur district from where the first spark of the now almost five months long violent conflict was lit, before it spread to other Kuki-Chin dominated areas and forced the Meitei/Meetei people in the valley to retaliate.

So, when the news report of NIA arresting a key leader of a Kuki militant group from Churachandpur district on the charge of transnational conspiracy to wage war against India by stoking the current ethnic unrest in Manipur emerged, not many people in Manipur were really taken back other than taking a sigh of relief that the world is finally coming to see and understand the truth behind the conflict, which is now short of two days to complete five months.

Leaders and organisations of Kuki-Chin community succeeded in peddling the false narrative of minority Christian Kukis being prosecuted by the majority Hindu Meiteis/Meeteis and played with the victim card so well that they even succeeded in influencing the European Parliament to adopt a resolution and the UK's House of Commons to discuss the Manipur violence which it described as "silent attack on Christians in India".

However, if the news outlets in India and abroad had taken the trouble of scratching the surface little deeper, they would not have failed to see that every single despatch sent out by leaders and organisations of Kuki-Chin community to the world leaders and petition made to international forum like United Nations was a red-flag pointing to a deeper conspiracy at play for advancing their cause for "Zale'n-gam," a homeland encompassing areas from India, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

In fact, on sensing the possibility of a crackdown, some of the organisations like Zomi Council Steering Committee (ZCSC) has already distanced itself from several civil society organizations (CSOs) in India and abroad that are supposedly advocating the plight of Kuki-Chin people by disowning them, saying that these CSOs do not always necessarily aligned with the policies and approaches of ZCSC, or other similar Zo CSOs back home.

A case in point is that of North American Manipur Tribal Association (NAMTA), which has courted controversy after a video of its Canada chapter chief Lien Gangte was seen speaking in a Gurudwara in Surrey headed by the now slain Khalistani terrorist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar seeking assistance, surfaced on social media.

Perhaps, it's time for the NIA to start a probe into the possible link between the "Zale'n-gam" conspiracy and Khalistani movement as well.