"No negotiation, talks with narco-terror groups"
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, August 17 2023:
Deeply concerned over another round of talks between Kuki militant groups and the Government of India on Thursday, Thoubal Amasung Kakching District Apunba Lup (TAKDAL) has said that no negotiations or talks should be held with the narco-terror groups.
Instead of holding talks, the Government of India must act tough on terror groups led by people from across the border like self-styled president of Zomi Revolutionary Army Thanglianpau Guite, who is from Tonjang Township of Chin state, Myanmar, TAKDAL said in a statement.
According to TAKDAL, the tripartite Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement signed in 2008 between the Kuki narco-terrorists clubbed under United People's Front (UPF) and Kuki National Organization (KNO), Government of India and Government of Manipur with clauses on ceasing hostility and respecting the integrity of Manipur, among others, have been violated many times by the gun-wielding Kuki narco-terrorists under the garb of UPF/KNO.
Unbeknownst to the whole world, the Meitei population has been subjected to unimaginable scale of violence orchestrated by the Kuki narco-terrorists since May 3.Many Meitei villages have been completely wiped out by the Kuki narco-terrorists with an ulterior motive to create a Kuki lebensraum.
Today, no Meitei villages stand in places like Churachandpur, Kangpokpi and Moreh areas as all of them have been reduced to dust by the marauding Kuki mobs supported by the Kuki narco-terrorists with their sinister design to bring about forced division in the land.
Under such circumstances and realities, it would be a travesty of justice if talks are held with narco-terror groups like UPF and KNO, whose hands are awashed with the blood of the innocent Meeteis, TAKDAL said, adding that initiating talks with entrepreneurs of violence like UPF and KNO is like give legitimacy to their acts of killing and uprooting Meiteis from their own homeland.
While all Indian citizens enjoy unhindered fundamental rights of freedom of movement and residence within the territory of India as guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution of India, Meeteis have been denied these fundamental rights in their own homeland for far too long and more so since May 3.Today, no Meeteis can take the National Highways that connect Manipur with rest of the country.
These highways have been blocked by Kuki mobs with support from their narco-terror groups UPF/KNO.
As such, this begs the question if Meeteis are Indian citizens at all? If Meeteis are Indians, what has the government done to secure the fundamental rights guaranteed to all the Meitei Indians? Even when Meeteis travelled along the National Highways before May 3, 2023, Meiteis were subjected to frequent harassments and obscurantism form of taxation, sometimes costing the lives of Meeteis, the TAKDAL said.
According to TAKDAL, the Kukis and their narco-terror groups have a history of shifting their goalposts.
Initially, it was a demand to upgrade their inhabited areas into a full-fledged district.
Once it was achieved, the demand shifted to 'Kuki Territorial Council' within the State of Manipur.
Now, they want to renege on their commitment to SoO agreement and break the territorial integrity of Manipur by demanding the creation of a UT or State for the Kukis.
Next, they would go on to demand the creation of a sovereign Kuki homeland by balkanizing India.
The Government of India must act tough on such terror groups led by people from across the border, TAKDAL cautioned.