KIM negates 'Narco-Terrorism' tag
Source: The Sangai Express
Kpi/Imphal, July 08 2023:
Strongly negating the alleged incessant mention of 'War against Narco-Terrorism' that took shape in the open declaration of war against narco-terrorists by COCOMI, the Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) has vehemently confronted the same.
KIM information and publicity secretary, Janghaolun Haokip alleged that the present wide-scale violence in Manipur is not a war against narco-terrorism, neither a war against SoO militants nor a war against illegal Immigrants as desperately described by the Meiteis and their leaders in the media, it is rather a targeted, pre-planned ethnic cleansing against the minority Kuki community.
He maintained that the ongoing crisis in Manipur is orchestrated and perpetrated under the nose of the incumbent Chief Minister N Biren Singh.
He continued that if the ongoing crisis is a war against narco-terrorism as brazenly declared, COCOMI and its support groups must be called to answer why the Kuki settlements in the Imphal region were ruthlessly attacked on the night of May 3, with almost a hundred people killed overnight, and a hundred houses torched to the ground.
"COCOMI must, to that matter, justify the 'narco-terrorists' charge it laid against all the Kukis that ultimately led to the attacking of the Kukis and their properties in the valley and as well as in the peripheral regions", he added.
He said that the KIM is compelled to reiterate its firm stance that the ongoing crisis in Manipur is an ethnic strife, a pre-planned ethnic cleansing of the minority Kuki community perpetrated by the majority Meiteis as strictly opposed to changing narratives as a war between Manipur Government and SoO groups or a war between Manipur Government and illegal im migrants.
KIM will stand tooth and nail against any false and fabricated narrative that attempts to hide the hand behind this unprecedented scale of violence and unrest in the region, and therefore also the deliberate attempt to paint the oppressed Kuki community as the oppressors through the use of power and influence, he said.
Meanwhile, a press release issued by KIM general secretary Khaikhohauh Gangte has expressed strong reservations against making N Biren, the head of the Unified Command.
There will be no respite and peace is doomed to be elusive as long as Biren Singh is at the helm of the affairs of the State.
Not only had he masterminded the killings against the Kukis, N Biren Singh incited hate campaign against the Kukis and is still using provocative and incendiary comments against the Kukis via social media platforms, KIM alleged.
Biren is a double standard personality who preaches peace on one hand and encourages his people to attack the Kukis at-the peripheral areas or elsewhere on the other hand, Khaikhohauh Gangte alleged.
He spat venom at Kukis and SoO groups by terming them 'terrorist' while never uttering a word against those outlawed VBIGs, KIM said.
As such, Biren Singh should not be allowed in any manner to remain at the helm of affairs if all concerned are serious about peace to be restored, it said.
It then urged the Government of India to remove Biren from the Unified Command in order to bring trust and confidence.
Side by side with the 'situation is improving' rhetoric by people at the helm of affairs, Kuki villages in Kangvai area in Churachandpur district came under constant attacks from the Meitei militants since a couple of days back claiming the lives of three villagers, it added.