Introspect clamour for total separation: CoTU to Biren
Source: Chronicle News Service

Kangpokpi, July 28 2023: Reacting to outburst of chief minister N Biren during the observance of Kargil Diwas, Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU) Sa-dar Hills advised the Chief Minister to stop with his sabre-rattling remarks and rather do some introspection as to why the Kuki-Zo community had to be forced to clamour for total political and geographical separation from Manipur.

"It is he (Biren Singh) who is entirely to be blamed for the separation and none else," CoTU stated, adding that CM Biren's outburst during the Kargil Diwas observance clearly testifies that he has gone schizophrenic and senile, and is no longer fit to be at the helm of the state's affairs.

CoTU continued that Biren should have known better that it was not the Kuki-Zo community who were demanding political separation but the situation has forced upon us.

"It became impossible for us to live together with the Meitei as he (Biren) and his cronies had unleashed one of the most savage and brutal attacks on us with innocent people being butchered in broad daylight, women raped and molested, with Meira Pai-bis inciting the menfolk to commit such horrendous crimes, and thousands of houses raged down and vandalised," it added.

It further said that innocent students in Imphal were pulled out of their rental houses and brutally murdered under the watchful eyes of him (Biren) and his Meitei police forces.

Rubbing salt into our already festering wounds Meitei communities in droves looted the houses that were left behind by the fleeing Kuki-Zo communities and took everything from valuable assets to amenities, utensils.

Patients in both private and government hospitals were hunted and it was heart-rending that many patients in critical conditions were forced to shift to military camps where few have yielded their lives to god due to lack of treatment facilities.

What was even more disturbing was the open involvement of Meitei police personnel and officers in the burning and ravaging of Kuki-Zo localities in Imphal and villages located in the periphery of Imphal, CoTU said.

"When even Ministers, MLAs and top bureaucrats including top-ranking police officers with full-proof security are no longer safe in Imphal valley, what im-ressed Biren that the Ku-ki-Zo communities will ever return to Imphal valley?" CoTU wondered.

It then questioned that how can the Kuki-Zo communities live with a community whose intent is the total annihilation of our people which can be substantiated by the fact that armed militias, viz., Arambai Teng-gol and Meitei Leepun, were formed to annihilate Kuki-Zo communities.

It also alleged that to accomplish their sinister designs thousands and thousands of sophisticated weapons and ammunition were gifted to both these militias with the full complicity of Meitei police officers and Biren Singh.

Chief Minister N Biren Singh should have been grateful to the Kuki-Zo communities who had significantly contributed in his first innings as the CM as when there was an attempt to unseat him in 2019, it was the three Kuki-Zo MLAs, namely Ngamthang Haokip, Ginsuanhau, andYamthong Haokip, who came to salvage his chair.

"In the 2022 election, it was the same community who voted overwhelmingly for the Biren-led BJP govern ment with 10 out of 10, while it should also be noted that Letpao Haokip, who was the sitting minister elected from Chandel AC, had to vacate his assembly constituency in favour of BJP candidate SS Olish, who got elected with an overwhelming majority, because the Kuki-Zo communities voted for her en masse.

However, instead of being grateful he chose to annihilate us," CoTU stated.

CoTU asserted that CM Biren should be made to face a trial for all his crimes against humanity, and punished as per the laws of the land.

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