JAC-SH tears apart Gaidon Kamei's contention Refer to history, advises JAC
Source: The Sangai Express

Sadar Hills, November 15 2016: The Joint Action Committee for Sadar Hills has today come out strongly against the alleged controversial statement of United Naga Council on the Sadar Hills issue.

Condemning the statement of Gaidon Kamei, president of the UNC in terming all non-Nagas and non-Meiteis as 'immigrants,' JAC Sadar Hills said that this very statement is audacious as Kukis are the second largest community after the Meiteis in Manipur.

Can Gaidon Kamei say the same thing at Kangpokpi, Keithelmanbi, Motbung or Saikul in Senapati district or Churachandpur, asked the JAC.

It is clear that Gaidon Kamei is totally ignorant of the history of Manipur or he may have been misled by his tutors, added the JAC.

What or who has given the UNC and the Nagas the exclusive right to claim ownership over the entire hills of Manipur ? Does this come from the ridiculous claim of being the only begotten son of the soil or being born from the bark of a tree or a cave ? asked the JAC and added that only Gaidon Kamei and the UNC can explain this.

JAC-SH tears apart Gaidon Kamei's contention Refer to history, advises JAC

The JAC also pointed out that renowned historians had broadly classified the racial groups of India into Negritos, Dravidians, Proto-Australoids, Mongoloids and Aryans with different wave of migration categorizing the racial composition of the entire North Eastern States as belonging to the Tibeto-Mongoloids and if historians' account is anything to go by, both the Kukis and the Nagas among others belonged to this racial group and had migrated to their present settlement at one point of time.

The term Naga, like Kuki is a generic term, coined by foreigners to categorize the different tribes of a particular region while the present Nagas of Manipur, often referred to as Kachcha Nagas, are composed of different tribes like Tangkhul, Mao, Paomai, the Zeliangrong to name a few, asserted the JAC.

To claim the Kachcha Nagas as one entity, with one history, one wave of migration, with complete ownership rights over the entire hills of Manipur is a blatant lie and negation of history.

To make things easier for Gaidon Kamei, he and his set of advisers may refer to Majumdar and Bhattasali (History of India, Dacca 1930 pp 6-7) where reference is made of the Kukis as the earliest people known to have lived in prehistoric India preceding the Dravidians, the JAC Sadar Hills said.

In the traditional literature of the Meitei people of Manipur, the Puyas, two Kuki Chiefs named Kuki Ahongba and Kuki Achouba were mentioned as allies of Nongda Lairen Pakhangba, the first historically recorded king of the Meithis (Meiteis), in the latter's mobilization for the throne in 33 AD.

The Royal Chronicles of the Meitei Kings (Cheitharol Kumbaba) records that in the year 186 Sakabda (AD 264) Meidungu Taothingmang, a Kuki, became king.

There are some Kukis still living in Burma but this separation is only due to artificial political boundaries, demarcated only with the advent of the British akin to the same political problem faced by the Nagas in their endeavour to integrate the Burmese Nagas.

Professor Gangmumei Kamei (the country cousin of Gaidon Kamei) once remarked, some Kukis migrated to Manipur hills in the pre-historic times along with or after the Meitei advent in Manipur valley (History of Manipur p 24), it stated.

JAC Sadar Hills further stated that history should not be distorted to suit one's own whims and Gaidon Kamei and the UNC should refrain from making such childish and ridiculous claims that all the hills of Manipur belong to the Nagas alone thereby insinuating that all others including the Kukis are immigrants.

History has proven that a particular race could not be simply annihilated from the face of the earth just to suit one's own selfish political interest, said the JAC and cited the Jewish holocaust perpetrated by Hitler and closer home the 1993-97 ethnic cleansing of the Kukis perpetrated by the Nagas.

In most cases such a heinous policy backfired and history should therefore serve as an eye opener for the UNC and the Nagas that Kukis are not children of a lesser God.

Now, that the history of the Kukis in Manipur being narrated in brief, it is in no way meant to lay counter claim to the purported theory of "First come : Land owners" which is time and again propagated by UNC and the Nagas.

What the UNC need to learn in this modern civilized world is the spirit of sharing and peaceful co-existence in tune with the Biblical teachings and stop foolishly subscribing to the brutal medieval mindset of 'might is right', it asserted.

The JAC Sadar Hills also said that holding the State to ransom by gagging the lifeline of the people in the name 'Indefinite Economic Blockade" is nothing short of goondaism before adding that the UNC is notorious for making contradictory political statements with their repeated declarations (the most recent being the October declaration at Yaikongpao) like 'severing all ties' with Govt of Manipur (GoM) while endorsing the NPF to fight the State Assembly elections to represent the Nagas in the Manipur State Assembly.

'Severing ties' should mean refusing State Govt jobs, funds and aids, boycotting the State Assembly, district administration, the State police, to name a few in the strict sense of the term, but surprisingly, the Naga areas seem to be enjoying the full benefits of the handouts from the State Govt it severed ties with, added the JAC.

"It is also vague, what the UNC president was trying to get at by saying, 'Many Indian soldiers who did not go back after wars fought in Manipur were settled in small pockets at Kangpokpi and Kanglatongbi,'" it said.

It also asked the UNC what interest they have in Sadar Hills while Kuki Inpi Manipur, the apex body of the Kukis, the second majority community living in Manipur, and other community apex body never said a word, so far as the Sadar Hills issue is concerned, but left it to the residents of Sadar Hills and asked the UNC not to forget that the people of Sadar Hills have lived long enough on the scraps of Senapati district.

"It is a great wonder that such a seemingly boastful organization does not complete its home work but unfailingly try to stand rank 1 in the class", it added.

Recalling how the State Government went back on its promise to deliver Sadar Hills district on November 1, the JAC said this has left many questions unanswered.

While terming the State Government as 'truly a very weak Government' the JAC Sadar Hills said that nothing good can be expected from such a Government that lives in fear of diktats and threats from a mere civil society organization that has no stake in the matter.

Reiterating its stand, the JAC Sadar Hills said that the proposed Sadar Hills district is for administrative convenience which would cater to the need of not only the majority Kukis but also the Nagas, Nepalis, Meiteis.

Sadar Hills is not Kuki homeland nor a prelude to it.

Gaidon Kamei or UNC is definitely not the owner but under delusion he had commented, "No new district can be created if the owner says no," recalled the JAC.

While asking the UNC to understand that districts had not been created on ethnic lines to cater to a particular tribe or tribes, the JAC Sadar Hills said that UNC must eschew the wrongful thought or notion that Ukhrul district belongs to the Tangkhuls, Tamenglong to the Zeliangrongs et al.

It would be wise on the part of Okram Ibobi Singh led Congress Government to go ahead with the inauguration plan and not to be cowed down under mindless pressure from the UNC and the likes as more often than not their barks are worse than their bites, said the JAC Sadar Hills and added that the people of Sadar Hills need an explanation from its Government, the Govt of Manipur.

Meanwhile, JAC Sadar Hills said that it is laudable that there are still some unbiased right-thinking valley based civil bodies like UCM and AMUCO, which justify the declaration of Sadar Hills as a full-fledged district purely on grounds of administrative prudence.