A HISTORICAL AND ACADEMIC REBUTTAL:
"On Wrong Accusation of Kukis as 'Refugees' and 'Aggressors' on Native Tribes of NE India"
By: Dr. TS Haokip, WKZIC
Abstract
Recurring claims portraying the Kukis of Northeast India as colonial-era imports, refugee populations of recent origin, or uniquely aggressive actors lack substantiation in colonial archives and early administrative documentation.This article undertakes a critical reassessment of British ethnographic writings, frontier gazetteers, military dispatches, and post-independence parliamentary debates to evaluate these assertions. The evidence demonstrates that Kukis were recognized as organized hill polities possessing hereditary chieftainship and defined territorial jurisdiction prior to and during colonial rule. Furthermore, the application of the term "refugee" in the post-1950s period emerged within insurgency-era political rhetoric and mid-twentieth-century administrative repatriation processes rather than from historical origin. By distinguishing archival documentation from later political narratives, this study contributes to broader debates on indigeneity, frontier governance, and historical memory in Northeast India.
I. *Introduction*
Debates concerning indigeneity and territorial legitimacy in Manipur have increasingly relied upon historical reinterpretations. Among the claims advanced in contemporary discourse are the assertions that the Kukis were;
1) Brought by the British as porters or labourers,
2) Refugee populations of relatively recent arrival, and
3) Uniquely aggressive actors against other hill communities.
These claims demand scrutiny through archival evidence rather than political rhetoric. A careful examination of colonial records reveals that Kukis were documented as organized hill societies with recognized political authority well before the mid-twentieth century _(Brown, 1873; Mackenzie, 1884; Hodson, 1908; Shakespeare, 1912; Reid, 1942)._
II. *Colonial Documentation of Settlement and Governance*
Early British administrative works consistently describe established Kuki settlements in Manipur's hill tracts.
* In Statistical Account of Manipur, R. Brown documented numerous Kuki villages under hereditary chiefs exercising territorial jurisdiction (Brown, 1873).
* His descriptions indicate structured authority rather than migratory labour encampments.
* Similarly, The Meitheis identifies Kukis as integral hill inhabitants possessing organized clan systems and customary governance structures (Hodson, 1908).
* Further ethnographic detail appears in The Kuki-Lushai Clans, which outlines hereditary succession of chiefs, judicial practices, and military organization (Shakespeare, 1912).
* Alexander Mackenzie's The North-East Frontier of India refers to "Kuki country" and organized territorial authority within the frontier administrative framework (Mackenzie, 1884). Such terminology reflects political recognition rather than marginal status.
* Collectively, these sources establish that Kukis were functioning indigenous polities embedded within the region's political ecology.
III. *Political Structure and Colonial Engagement*
British frontier administration engaged directly with Kuki chiefs in matters of taxation, punitive expeditions, and political negotiation (Reid, 1942). The consistent use of terms such as "Kuki Chiefs" and "independent villages" indicates recognition of localized sovereignty within indirect rule arrangements.
Administrative interaction presupposed territorial authority. It would have been implausible for colonial authorities to conduct sustained military campaigns, negotiations, and settlements with populations considered transient labour imports.
IV. *The Anglo-Kuki War and the Collapse of the Porter Thesis*
* The Anglo-Kuki War provides decisive archival evidence contradicting the claim that Kukis were colonial porters.
* During World War I, British authorities attempted compulsory recruitment into the Labour Corps and interfered with traditional chieftainship authority. Resistance from Kuki chiefs escalated into sustained armed conflict lasting from 1917 to 1919 (Government of India, Political Proceedings, 1917-1919; Reid, 1942).
* Official dispatches document coordinated resistance across multiple chiefdoms, fortified defensive strategies, and extensive suppression operations. The scale and duration of the conflict demonstrate organized territorial defense, not colonial dependency.
* Rather than serving as imported labourers, Kukis resisted forced conscription.The porter-import thesis is therefore contradicted by colonial military records.
V. *Frontier Mobility and the Anachronism of "Refugee"*
* The modern legal concept of "refugee" emerged prominently after World War II.
* Applying this category retrospectively to pre-modern frontier societies is historically inaccurate.
* Hill Polities across Northeast India- including Naga, Kuki, Lushai (Mizo), and Chin groups- engaged in strategic relocation, alliance formation, and reciprocal raiding as part of a frontier political ecology shaped by resource competition (Mackenzie, 1884; Shakespeare, 1912).
* Colonial records describe Kukis as inhabitants of defined hill territories interacting with neighboring polities.
* They do not categorize them as displaced foreigners.
VI. *Inter-Polity Conflict in Comparative Context*
* Frontier records indicate that raiding and retaliatory cycles were reciprocal among multiple hill communities (Reid, 1942). Violence was structurally embedded within frontier competition rather than uniquely attributable to any single group.
* There is no archival evidence supporting the thesis of a singular, centuries-long Kuki campaign of aggression against "native" tribes. Such portrayals reflect contemporary political framing rather than documented historical patterns.
VII. *Post-Independence Repatriation and Statistical Context*
Following the 1962 upheavals in Burma (Myanmar), the Government of India organized repatriation of persons of Indian origin. Proceedings of the Parliament of India, recorded in the Lok Sabha Debates, confirm that approximately 200,000 Indian-origin persons were repatriated during the 1960s.
* Within this nationwide cohort, community accounts indicate that approximately 1,500 Kukis were among those repatriated. Numerically, this constitutes less than one percent of the total Indian-origin repatriate population.
Three clarifications are essential:
* The 200,000 figure represents Indian-origin repatriates across multiple communities.
* The estimated 1,500 Kukis formed a minor subset within this broader administrative category.
* Repatriation presupposes prior national affiliation and does not establish foreign ethnic origin.
* Parliamentary debates concerned rehabilitation logistics- transportation, housing, and compensation- not ethnogenesis.
* Consequently, administrative classification during repatriation cannot retroactively redefine the historical origin of the Kuki community.
VIII. *Archival Evidence versus Political Construction*
Colonial documentation consistently establishes Kuki's presence in Manipur prior to:
1. Indian Independence (1947),
2. The insurgency period of the 1950s-1960s,
* Mid-twentieth-century geopolitical realignments.
* The refugee characterization therefore appears to arise from later political narratives rather than archival foundation.
IX. *Conclusion*
A historically defensible conclusion grounded in archival evidence is as follows:
* Kukis were established hill polities prior to colonial consolidation.
* They possessed hereditary chieftainship and territorial jurisdiction.
* They resisted British conscription during the Anglo-Kuki War (1917–1919).
* The "porter import" claim contradicts documented military records.
* Parliamentary repatriation records concern administrative rehabilitation, not ethnic origin.
* The refugee label reflects post-independence political discourse rather than historical documentation.
* Distinguishing between archival record and political reinterpretation is essential for responsible scholarship on indigeneity
* and territorial claims in Northeast India.
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The writer can be contacted (if needed) at E-mail;
tshaokipwkzic@gmail.com.
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