Manipur: Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum in probe ‘equity’ plea to Amit Shah

Protesters raise slogans against BJP-led state government and demand that investigating agencies 'probe cases of atrocities against tribals by the Meitei community'

Protesters at the ITLF rally in Churachandpur on Wednesday.: The Telegraph

Umanand Jaiswal, TT, Guwahati,16.11.23 : The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) on Wednesday urged Union home minister Amit Shah and CBI director Praveen Sood to “handle” the ongoing ethnic strife between two communities in Manipur “with equity, unprejudiced and equivalently”, and to recommend to the agency to “investigate various atrocities” against Kuki-Zo people in the state.

The ITLF, a conglomerate of recognised Kuki-Zo tribes in Churachandpur district, made its request in a 10-page memorandum submitted to Shah and Sood through the deputy commissioner after a massive rally in Kuki-Zo-majority Churachandpur town to protest the “atrocities” on the community.

The protesters raised slogans against the BJP-led state government and demanded that investigating agencies “probe cases of atrocities against tribals by the Meitei community”.

The ongoing strife, which began on May 3, has left at least 181 people dead.

The ITLF requested Shah and Sood to “retrospect the partisan attitude” of the Manipur government in “handling” the ethnic tension and provided a list of 22 cases it wanted the CBI to investigate, including the beheading of David Thiek on July 2 and the viral video that showed two Kuk-Zo women being paraded naked and assaulted in pubic on May 4.

The ITLF memorandum contested as “highly dubious” the claims of chief minister N. Biren Singh on “stabilising” the ethnic conflict.

It claimed that the “Kuki-Zo community despite being the victim of an ethnic cleansing resulting in an unprecedented loss... is being unfathomably still subjected to inequity, prejudice and partisanship and politically subjugated.... Thus the demand of a separate administration within the ambit of the constitutional provisions is the only solution and stands justified.”

The Kuki-Zos have been demanding a separate administration since the unrest began because they “no longer feel safe” in Meitei-majority Imphal valley. There has been a complete separation of the Kuki-Zo and Meitei populations with the Kuki-Zos shifting to the hills from the valley and the Meiteis to the valley from the hills for their safety.

An ITLF press statement issued after the rally said besides protesting the “atrocities” against the Kuki-Zo people, the rally was also held to protest “cherry-picking of cases” by police and central investigating agencies like the CBI and the NIA “to appease the majority Meitei community at the expense of minority tribals”.

“While cases blamed on Kuki-Zo tribals are swiftly taken up and arrests promptly made, cases involving tribal victims are either not taken up or are stalled indefinitely. The ITLF and the entire Kuki-Zo community demand that the CBI immediately investigate or fast-track” the cases listed by the organisation, the statement said.

The Meiteis, who live mostly in the valley, have blamed the unrest on narco-terrorists, influx from adjoining Myanmar and Kuki-Zo militant groups under suspension of operation (SoO). The Meiteis are against separation of administration.

The Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), a Kuki-Zo organisation based in Kangpokpi, imposed an “indefinite” economic blockade on two critical national highways — NH2 and NH37 — from Wednesday midnight seeking the unconditional release of two Kuki-Zo persons arrested by the police.

The duo were arrested in connection with the case of two Meitei boys, aged 16 and 19, who went missing from Imphal on November 5. Four Kuki-Zo people were also kidnapped on November 7 by a Meitei mob from Kangpokpi.

These incidents have compounded an already complicated situation, triggering fresh protests in the state.