The question mark on SoO
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: October 19, 2023 -

THE recent arrest of the commander of a Kuki militant outfit, which is under the Suspension of Operation (SoO), for drug trafficking has validated the growing demand for abrogation of the ceasefire agreement signed with various Kuki militant groups and the call for crackdown on narco-terrorism in the wake of an unprecedented ethnic violence that broke out between the Meitei/Meetei and Kuki-Chin communities in the tiny northeastern Indian state of Manipur since May 3 last.

After the Indian army initiated the move of suspending operation against the Kuki militants in 2005, the Suspension of Operation (SoO) was formally signed in August 2008 as a tripartite agreement involving Government of India, Government of Manipur and a bunch of Kuki insurgent outfits, which are grouped under two umbrella bodies, namely Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and United People's Front (UPF).

Under this tripartite SoO agreement, the cadres of Kuki militant groups are supposed to stay confined in designated camps and their arms kept locked in safe rooms under double-locking system.

But there have always been allegations of violation of the agreed ground rules of SoO pact by various Kuki militant groups and their armed cadres all along.

In fact, citing their involvement in poppy cultivation and instigating forest encroachers to revolt against its war on drug campaign, the present BJP-led Government in Manipur had announced on March 10 withdrawal from the tripartite agreement with at least two of the militant outfits, namely, Kuki National Army (KNA) and Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA), But the Government of India is yet to take a call on the decision made by the state government and continuing to hold talks with leaders of Kuki militant groups for finding a solution to their demand, which has also been changed from the initial 'territorial council' to a separate 'Kuki state' now.

The arrest of Lemtinsei Singson (50), who is the commander of United Tribal Liberation Army (UTLA), a group under the banner of Kuki National Organisation (KNO), and recovery of drugs from his possession has proved beyond doubt the involvement of at least some, if not all Kuki militant groups under the SoO pact in perpetrating acts of narco-terrorism to destabilise Manipur by pitting one community against another for advancing their nefarious agenda.

The fact that he was arrested by troopers of 39 Assam Rifles from Phaitol village in Tamenglong district, which is located 175 km away from Churachandpur district, where he is supposed to stay put in a designated camp, has also shown how the leaders and cadres of Kuki militant groups under SoO agreement have been violating the agreed ground rules without any fear or hesitation.

So, the Government of India, particularly the Ministry of Home Affairs, should no longer ignore and brush aside the demand for abrogation of the SoO agreement signed with various Kuki militant groups and the call for crackdown on narco-terrorism.

If not for the direct involvement of Kuki militant groups, the current conflict between the Meitei/Meetei and Kuki-Chin communities would not have continued for so long and the scale of devastation caused so large.

So far, hundreds of precious human lives have beeri lost and thousands of families on both sides of the clash divide rendered homeless, apart from putting the economic activities of the state to a grinding halt.

All these could have been avoided if the Government of India had listened to the successive governments in the state, which have always viewed the SoO pact with the Kuki militant groups, which had/have never engaged in any direct armed confrontation with the Indian security forces as something redundant even long before the outbreak of the current violence.