With Manipur still tense after weeks of ethnic violence left nearly a 100 people dead, members of the Meitei community Sunday held a rally demanding protection from “Kuki militants” who they claimed were to blame for the situation in the strife-torn state. They also asked the Government to check “illegal immigration” in Manipur and protect the state’s territorial integrity.
The rally was organised by the Manipur Coordination Committee, an umbrella group of civil society organisations and students bodies. Hundreds of Meiteis, most of them living in Delhi, took part in it.
Amid chants of “Save Manipur” and “Kuki terrorists go back”, while some protesters narrated their ordeal of the violence, prominent community members shed light on the reasons behind the ongoing conflict.
The protesters said that despite Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent visit to the state, the community was not feeling safe as the state administration and the security forces were “unable to protect them”. They however said the rally was not targeted at the Kuki community as a whole but against Kuki militant groups who, according to them, had triggered the violence by violating the Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with the government.
“This is not an ethnic conflict. It has been perpetrated by some militant groups that signed the Suspension of Operations (SoO) (ceasefire) agreement with the government. It has now turned into a people-to-people conflict,” said Prof Bhagat Oinam, who teaches at JNU and delivered a speech at the protest site.
“We want the Government to withdraw from talks with these (militant) groups. We also want the India-Myanmar border to be sealed as a lot of terrorist groups from across the border are infiltrating. We also want an NRC on the lines of Assam so that illegal immigrants can be thrown out,” Prof Oinam said.
Kuki insurgent groups have denied violating the SoO agreement.
During his recent visit, Shah had warned “SoO groups” saying any breach will be “strictly monitored” and any violation will be met with “very severely”.
The violence in Manipur, which began on May 3, followed a ‘tribal solidarity march’ against the Meitei community’s demand for ST status in view of an HC order. It came in the backdrop of simmering tension in Kuki-dominated areas against several actions of the Manipur government, including crackdowns on poppy plantations and frequent allegations that the community was sheltering “foreigners” from Myanmar.
Kuki organizations have in the past expressed concern that due to a few instances of poppy cultivation and illegal immigration having been found, the state government had branded the entire community as “drug runners” and “terrorists”.