TTC, AKTC clarify FCO5 remark on date with MHA
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, April 01 2025: Thadou Tribe Council (TTC)-GHQ and Any Kuki Tribes Council (AKTC), on Tuesday, issued a clarification regarding a statement released in the name of the Federal Council of Five (FCO5) on Monday.

The two councils emphasised that the decisions made during the Joint Consultative Meeting held on Monday were not final and were meant to be presented at a broader consultative meeting of the Kuki-Zo Council, scheduled for Tuesday at Zou Veng, Churachandpur.

The two bodies urged all parties concerned to await the conclusions of this meeting before interpreting any statements as definitive.

In the joint statement, both councils clarified that there was never a formal discussion or agreement to form the so-called Federal Council of Five.

Expressing concern over the confusion caused, they stated that their views and positions must be accurately represented to avoid misunderstandings.

The clarification came in response to a statement purportedly issued by the Federal Council of Five on Monday, which declared that five councils and forums, including TTC-GHQ, AKTC, Kuki Reformation Forum (KReF), World Kuki-Zo Intellectual Council (WKZIC), and Lomlhang Som (LS), an ethnic Kuki traditional youths forum, had convened a meeting to deliberate on an invitation from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The statement denounced the alleged "telephonic verbal invitation" extended by the MHA to the Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM), Hmar Inpui (HI), and the Zorni Council (ZC) through the president of the Kuki-Zo Council, claiming that such an approach would fragment the Kuki-Zo people.

"The Kuki-Zo Council be officially invited instead to ensure the community 's collective voice is represented," it added.

"The FCO5 statement also asserted that any individual or organisation engaging with the MHA without the mandate of the Kuki-Zo people would not be considered representative of their political struggle," it said and argued that political issues should be resolved politically rather than through traditional Kuki customary practices such as "Hemkham" (cessation of violence), which they deemed inapplicable to political matters.

The statement further rejected any meeting related to ex-gratia, relief, or rehabilitation funds without prior public consultation and insisted that the Government of India must bring a "political solution" under the provisions of the Indian Constitution.

Additionally, the FCO5 statement accused the state government of sponsoring violence against the minority Kuki-Zo people and urged the MHA not to apply any "divisive policy" on the Kuki-Zo community.

It referenced "Declaration No 3" of the "Political Discourse & Public Consultation 2025," held on February 15 at M Songgel community hall, as the guiding principle for the community's political stance.

However, TTC and AKTC distanced themselves from the FCO5 statement, stating that there was never a formal discussion or agreement to form the so-called Federal Council of Five and no final decisions have been made in the Monday's meeting.

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