New Delhi: The Committee on Tribal Unity, a Kuki organisation, has rejected Union home minister Amit Shah’s order to security forces to ensure free movement of across Manipur for all communities from March 8.
While reviewing the security situation in Manipur a fortnight after the imposition of President’s rule in the state, Shah had said last week that “strict action should be taken against anyone attempting to create obstructions”.
Ethnic violence had divided the state sharply since May 2023, resulting in Meiteis and Kuki-Zos claiming territory for themselves.
Deccan Herald has reported on a meeting held by the Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU), on March 4, in which the group adopted at least eight resolutions that included its resolve against free movement in the Kuki-Zo areas until a resolution “that respects the community’s aspirations is reached.”
The organisation also said that the Kuki-Zo people do not wish to compromise on their demand for a separate administration comprising Kuki-majority areas in order to end the conflict involving the Meiteis.
COTU said that the fight for a separate territory will continue “through mobilisation, protests, and democratic resistance.”
“Any individual prioritizing personal interests over the collective cause or aligning with the government will be deemed a traitor,” ot said, according to the Deccan Herald report.
Governor Ajay Bhalla, whose comments against separate territory COTU also criticised, held a meeting on the matter on March 4.
The Coordination Committee on Manipur Unity (COCOMI), a forum of several influential Meitei organisations, called COTU’s statement “provocative and inflammatory.”
Amit Shah’s directive to complete “fencing work on both sides of the designated entry points along Manipur’s international border” with Myanmar has also invited renewed protests from the Mizo, Naga and Kuki-Zo communities who populate the areas along the 1,643-kilometre-long international border with Myanmar.
