ZORO demands release of Dr Mark Haokip
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, May 31 2022: Zo Re-unification Organisation (ZORO) said that it "has taken serious note of the Manipur government's encroachment on tribals' lands" while demanding immediate and unconditional release of Dr Mark Thangmang Haokip.

In a statement, ZORO said, "A sizeable number of Chin-Kuki-Mizo tribes have been living in the hill areas of present day Manipur since the pre-British era.

They are the indigenous people of the land.

"Before and after they inhabited, the land was never part of the Meitei kingdom.

Both the plains and the hills of what later came to be Manipur came under the single administration unit of the British.

Just because the hill areas continue to remain under Manipur after the British left, it does not mean that the hill areas are historically part of the Meitei kingdom.

No one has the right to claim their ancestral land.

Matter-of-factly, these Chin-Kuki-Mizo tribes are living in their ancestral land that incidentally came under Manipur state" .

"The Manipur government's declaration of tribal inhabited areas as reserved forests, which is the state government's tactic to grab their lands, is unconstitutional.

It is a violation of Article 10 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN-DRIP), it added.

As ZORO stands for the Chin-Kuki-Mizo tribes across the globe, it would never allow its people being deprived of their liberty, the statement affirmed, adding that ZORO will continue to fight for the rights of Chin-Kuki-Mizo tribes.

"Therefore, ZORO is proud of Manipur-based human rights activist Dr Mark Thangmang Haokip for courageously opposing the Manipur government's land-grabbing move and published historical facts on social media.

ZORO vehemently condemns his arrest and detention by the Manipur government and demands immediate and unconditional release", it concluded.

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