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NDTV
3 days ago
- Politics
- NDTV
"Primary Instigators Of Violence": Meitei Alliance Asks Centre To Scrap Ceasefire With Kuki Insurgents
Quick Read Summary is AI generated, newsroom reviewed. The Meitei Alliance urged the Centre to scrap the suspension of operations (SoO) agreement with Kuki insurgents, alleging their role in the Manipur violence. They claim these groups exploited the agreement for terrorism, extortion, and illegal activities. Imphal: A global umbrella body of civil society organisations of Manipur's Meitei community has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to scrap an agreement signed with insurgent groups of the Kuki tribes over allegations that they have been involved in the Manipur ethnic violence. The request by the Meitei Alliance comes amid speculation that a formal announcement on the status of the controversial suspension of operations (SoO) agreement in Manipur is expected to come. However, a meeting in neighbouring Assam's Guwahati on June 5 had no link with the SoO agreement in Manipur. The Manipur assembly unanimously passed a resolution asking the Centre to scrap the SoO agreement on February 29, 2024, the same day the deadline for extension of the SoO agreement ended. "These armed groups, which have been the primary instigators and escalators of violence in Manipur since May 3, 2023, have used the SoO as a cover to pursue a vested agenda," the Meitei Alliance said in a statement. "Since the initiation of the SoO agreement in 2008, these militant groups had exploited the arrangement as a shield for engaging in acts of terror... They committed repeated and blatant violations of the SoO ground rules, amounting to terrorism," the Meitei Alliance alleged. Some of these violations, the Meitei Alliance said, include extortions and illegal 'highway tax', recruitment of insurgents, and nexus with other insurgent groups in Myanmar and Manipur, among others. "These armed groups have been the primary instigators and escalators of violence in Manipur since May 3, 2023 and have used the SoO [agreement] as a cover to pursue a vested agenda, that directly or indirectly contributed to infiltration into Indian soil by large-scale illegal immigrants from Myanmar..." the Meitei Alliance said in the strongly worded statement. The Manipur Police for the first time confirmed in September 2024 the involvement of insurgents who are part of the SoO agreement in the ethnic violence. The police also, for the first time, confirmed the involvement of the Meitei insurgent group UNLF (P), which had signed a ceasefire agreement with the Centre and the state, in the ethnic violence. Three insurgents of the SoO agreement-signatory Kuki Liberation Army (KLA) and one from the United National Liberation Front (Pambei) were killed in a gunfight in Jiribam district in September 2024, the police had said. Under the SoO agreement, the insurgents are to stay at designated camps and their weapons kept in locked storage, to be monitored jointly with the authorities. Over 260 have been killed and nearly 50,000 have been internally displaced in the Manipur violence.
NDTV
02-05-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
"Restore Peace, Security And Constitutional Order In Manipur": Meitei Alliance
Imphal: An influential global umbrella body of Manipur's Meitei community today appealed to the central government to take immediate and decisive action to end the suspension of operations (SoO) agreement with Kuki militant groups and take firm steps to end terrorism. The statement came as the state entered a second year of living under immense hardships after the outbreak of ethnic violence between the Meitei community and the Kuki tribes on May 3, 2023. Recalling how the violence began two years ago to this day, the Meitei Alliance alleged armed aggression from Kuki militant groups funded by drug money carried out strategically orchestrated attacks to disrupt communal harmony and coerce the Manipur government into stopping its actions against cross-border drug trafficking, illegal opium poppy cultivation, encroachments on protected forest lands, and illegal immigration from Myanmar. "Since then, Manipur has endured sustained unrest, severely affecting peace, security, and normal life across the state... Despite assuming control over the state's law and order situation, the central government's delayed and inadequate response allowed Kuki militants - operating under the SoO agreement - to carry out coordinated attacks against Meitei civilians," the Meitei Alliance said in the statement. "The subsequent establishment of buffer zones by central forces, ostensibly to prevent further violence, inadvertently facilitated the creation of de facto enclaves that have since served as launchpads for continued terrorist operations targeting civilians," it said. The Meitei Alliance put forward seven points of actions that it suggested the Centre should consider taking up. One of the points stressed on intensifying the war on drugs campaign, including the complete eradication of illegal opium poppy cultivation. It sought carrying out the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise to detect foreigners. "Identify and deport illegal migrants from neighbouring countries. Dismantle artificial buffer zones and ensure unrestricted movement of all citizens across the state," the Meitei Alliance said. The Centre's order to ensure free movement across Manipur failed after the Kuki tribes protested against the decision. "The people of Manipur continue to suffer under the weight of prolonged violence and uncertainty. It is time for the government to act with resolve and ensure that the fundamental rights, safety, and dignity of every citizen are restored and protected," the Meitei Alliance said. The Meitei Alliance is one of the two organisations - the other is a key civil body of the indigenous distinct tribe Thadou - that met for the first time on a common platform and for a common goal since the outbreak of ethnic violence in Manipur in May 2023. The Meitei Alliance and the Thadou Inpi Manipur on March 8 called the development a "significant and historic moment". The Kuki tribes and the Meiteis have been fighting since May 2023 over a range of issues such as land rights and political representation.
