Kuki militants accused of slaying peasants, spilling oil
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, January 13 2024:
The Meitei Alliance has accused Kuki terrorists of perpetrating acts of barbarism against innocent peasants in the state.
The association, in a press release issued Friday, also contended that as per verified reports, four peasants from Kumbi assembly constituency were rounded up, looted, and brutally murdered as they were collecting firewood in a nearby hill range on Wednesday.
The statement said that emerging aerial video footage suggests that state-of-the-art drones were used to track and target these peasants, indicating a premeditated and cold-blooded nature of the murders.
The Meitei Alliance expressed shock and horror at these heinous crimes.
Simultaneously, on the same day, an incident of water contamination occurred in the hilly area of Saitu assembly constituency, primarily inhabited by the Kuki community.
An FIR has been filed against unknown individuals, with suspicion pointing towards the Kuki terrorists operating in the region.
News reports indicate a defunct heavy-oil power station in Leimakhong area as the likely source of the contaminant released into the stream.
The rivers and lakes of Manipur, including the Ramsar wetland - Loktak Lake, rely on these streams as the source of water.
The Meitei Alliance connects these crimes to the broader context of the Kuki offensive terrorism that began on May 3, 2023 .
The terrorism is alleged to aim at discouraging efforts to prevent illegal immigration, detect foreigners, eradicate illicit poppy plantations and drug businesses, evict land encroachers, and protect forests and the environment, the statement added.
Over the past eight months, armed Kuki terrorists, funded from profits from illicit drug businesses, have targeted indigenous Meetei communities.
Ihe terrorists have caused deaths, injuries, displacements, and plundered vulnerable peasants, the Alliance claimed while expressing that the Kuki terrorists' actions are reminiscent of their past crimes against various communities, and repetition of their tactics.
The Alliance also alleged that Kuki armed groups, despite being signatories to the Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with the Government of India since 2008, continue to unleash terror on the indigenous people.
The terrorists are taking undue advantage of the agreement, including protection and monthly pay, it maintained and condemned alleged cover-up of Kuki terrorists' modus operandi, gravity of their crimes, and impacts on the indigenous people and the ecosystem by some sections of the media.
The alliance called upon the national media to expose the atrocities committed by the Kuki terrorists to the wider public.
It also emphasised the urgent need for comprehensive action against the perpetrators and protection of the people of the state and environment from further harm.