Desperate bid to shield Kuki militants
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: November 26, 2024 -

KUKI civil societies may continue to cry foul over non-release of the post-mortem reports of the 10 individuals slain in retaliatory firing by CRPF troopers in Jiribam district after groups of heavily armed Kuki militants attacked a police station housing internally displaced persons belonging to the Meetei community, use expletives against chief minister N Biren and brand the Meetei people as the aggressors in the on-going communal conflict, but the fact remains that the six Jiribam denizens, including minors and women, were kept in custody, subjected to brutal torture, bludgeoned or shot dead, and their bodies dumped into Barak and Jiri rivers by Kuki militants.

Ever since the violence broke out in-May, 2023, Kuki organisations and legislators have been alleging that reports published by Imphal-based dailies related to shootouts or firing attacks are biased and false and seem to have the adopted the same mechanism and resolve to counter reports by the national media that affect the Kuki community.

In what could be yet another exercise to play the victim card, the Kuki-Zo Council expressed dissent against a recent news report by the Hindustan Times on November 22 suggesting that Muolvaiphei, Valpakot, Ngurte, Thenmol, and Khawpuibung in Churachandpur district were at the epicentre of the ethnic conflict in Manipur, and urged the media to exercise caution and verify facts before disseminating what it termed as misleading information. In a statement, the Council emphasised its role as a responsible body representing the interests of the Kuki-Zo community and called for accuracy and fairness in reporting sensitive issues like ethnic conflicts.

While it is natural for the Kuki organisations to feel extremely hurt and demoralised as and when media reports expose foreign hands involved in the conflict or brutalities committed against non-combatants, it is hard to digest that apex Kuki-Zo bodies continue to insist that the 10 gunned down in a Jiribam village were 'village volunteers', and got killed trying to defend their community.

As per the Council, genesis of the recent flare-up in Jiribam was the attack by Meetei militants on Zairawn village on November 7, which resulted in burning of the village and murder of Zosangkim, a mother of three.

Accepted that the Hmar woman got killed in the attack, but post-mortem report of the victim issued by a medical college in Assam's Silchar mentioned her cause of death as burnt injuries with the autopsy report also ruling out sexual assault, as alleged by Kuki organisations and legislators. From the context of the communal violence, it is considered fair for the Kuki organisations to put the blame on the state government and its forces whenever there are casualties on their side.

Lack of trust in the state's forces is also the primary reason for the Kuki and its kindred tribes demanding deployment of central forces in and around Kuki settlements.

Nevertheless, remarks by central security officers that the 10 armed men slain in Jiribam were from Churachandpur, some 250 km from the village they got killed cannot be dismissed as concocted or speculative.

Thus, it is suggested that Kuki organisations come up with a better explanation than continue to make dry argument that the victims were village volunteers.