Bodies demand action against Kuki militants
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, May 21 2023: Maintaining that the act of terror by armed Kuki militants and their instigation to youths led to the present crisis in the state, ACOAM Lup Kangleipak and Chanura Lamchinglel Kangleipak (CLK) demanded the gov-ernment to terminate the Suspension of Operation (So0) agreement with the Kuki militants and process legal actions against them.

In a statement, ACOAM Lup main-tained that the May 3 violence was a pre- planned and well-coordinated terror act by the Kuki armed groups taking advantage of the ST demand of Meetei/Meitei.

The ST demand was used as an excuse to carry out their hidden agenda of Kuki homeland or separate administration, and the arson act on Meetei houses in Chu-rachandpur district orchestrated part of the plan, the statement said.

It also charged Kuki militants and illegal immigrants of the community of indulging in large scale poppy plantation by destroying reserved and protected forest area to fund their homeland movement.

Stating that the Kuki militants are violating ground rules of So0 by attacking innocent civilians in the foothill areas, ACOAM Lup de-manded the government to take up appropriate actions against the Kuki militants and 10 Kuki MLAs, who endorsed the separate administra-tion demand of the Kuki UG groups.

Further demanding the government to resolve the crisis at the earliest, the statement warned of launching movement to safeguard the lives, properties of the public and most importantly, the unity, integrity and identity of the state.

On the other hand, decrying the attacks on civilians by armed Kuki militants, Chanura Lamchinglen Kangleipak (CLK) questioned motive behind the government's inaction against the unlawful activities of the Kuki militants under So0.The public are well aware that controlling the Kuki militants will bring peace and normalcy in the state.

Unfortunate-ly, the government is ignoring this simple fact and allowing the Kuki militants to carry out their nefarious activities, CLK said while demanding termination of So0 agreement.

Highlighting the hardships faced by the displaced people, especially women and children, CLK stressed the need for concerted efforts from all communities to restore peace and normalcy by defusing the current tension.

It also demanded the 50 MLAs to stand united and take firm resolve for the unity and integrity of the state.

Meanwhile, CLK said, the state government should not take lightly the series of meet-ing between nine Kuki MLAs and CSOs in Mizoram, and give timely response to prevent external interference in the state's affairs.

The Kuki MLAs might also be facing public pressure but they should understand their responsibility and play their part in restoring peace, CLK added.

Meanwhile, Peoples' Action for National Democratic Movement (PANDM) criticised the central and state governments over alleged inaction to contain the prevailing tension.

Speaking to newspersons at Manipur Press Club here Sunday, PANDM secretary general Brojen Soirasam remarked that although the centre had deployed large number of army and paramilitary forces to safeguard the peo-ple, many in the affected areas have reported absence of the forces in their respective areas.

People are now asking issuance of firearms to defend themselves instead of provision of relief materials.

Amid this, the silence of the central and state governments with regard to Kuki militants under So0 violating the ground rules and attacking civilians and burning houses is disappointing.

In addition, non-local traders/businesses are arbitrarily hiking prices of essential items amid the stressful situation.

It is not that the government has no department to look into this matter but the Manipur police is "guarding the shops and allowing the shop-keepers/shop owners to charge whatever rates they want.

As such, it is time for all of us to take up the responsibility ourselves instead of waiting for the government to do something, he said.

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