TENS of thousands of people marched in 9 towns, cities and 17 different villages across the country today during a nationwide rally to demand a separate administration for Kuki-Zo kindred tribes in Manipur.
The rally was organized under the aegis of Zo United, a CSO parent body for all Kuki-Zo kindred Tribes in Manipur.
People denounced the Manipur state government and held placard like “Separate administration is the only solution”, “Metei government, down, down”, “Tribal area, tribal government” and “No solution, no rest”.
The Kuki-Zo kindred family have endured seven months of ethnic cleansing attack by the majority Meiteis, who controls the government, and the Kuki-Zo kindred family have borne the brunt of the violence with 203 villages totally burnt down, more than 7000 house burnt down to ashes, 152 souls have lost lives and more than 50,000 displaced. “The majoritarian policies of the Biren Singh government led to tensions and a complete breakdown of trust between the Meiteis and the tribals. This eventually led to the outbreak of the violence,”.
“We have been butchered and chased out of the capital and the valley areas. Radical Meiteis are publicly saying they will not stop until they chase us all out of Manipur. There is no longer any hope for Kuki-Zo kindred tribes to live a dignified life in a state controlled by the Meitei community. A separate administration is the only option for us.”
Why Kuki-Zo kindred tribes urgently need a separate administration:
1) Kuki-Zo kindred tribes have been chased out of the capital and the prosperous valley areas with no possibility of going back. All major government and private learning Centres – technical institutes, hospitals, offices and the state’s only airport - are located in Imphal and are now inaccessible to us. We also no longer have access to the highway linking us to the country’s rail corridor.
2) The Meitei-controlled state government and police have openly sided with the majority community, with commandos leading attacks on tribal villages. There is also no hope for us to be treated fairly in government recruitment, job postings and any other government-related work.
3) Even NGOs in the field of development, aided by the CM, are siphoning off funds meant for tribal development. In the most recent case on October 23, the CM requested Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda to approve six project worth crores of rupees to Meitei NGOs based in Imphal. None of them work for tribal welfare.
4) The state’s education minister said he will remove a chapter on "The Kuki" from school books, an obvious attempt to erase tribal history.
5) Students from Kuki-Zo kindred tribes are openly being discriminated against by the government.
In August, a majority of Psychology students from Rayburn College were failed by awarding them single-digit marks or no marks in their papers. One student even received a minus two (-2) in one subject.
Displaced tribal medical students were not allowed to write their MBBS Phase-1 examinations at Churachandpur Medical College (CMC) by Manipur University despite the National Medical Commission having no objection. In contrast, Meitei students from CMC who fled to Imphal were allowed to take their exams in the capital.
A whole generation of students from the Kuki-Zo kindred tribes are in peril because all institutes and education boards are controlled by the Meiteis.
6) Tribal government employees and our MLAs can no longer reach Imphal and are unable to perform their duty for their constituencies.
7) We have not received any help from the state government; even central government aid like food and other essential items are routed through neighbouring Mizoram state as Meitei mobs don’t allow any material to reach tribal areas.
8) We are unable to send any document or parcels through the postal system (government or private) because the highway that leads to the mainland are blocked by Meiteis.
9) All tribal districts combined have just one full-fledged government hospital – the district hospital in Churachandpur. Shortage of essential medicines and medical equipment plague the basic medical facilities found in tribal areas.
10) Thousands of government-issued weapons and lakhs of ammunition were handed over to the Meitei population in Imphal and nearby areas and these are being used to hunt and kill tribals. Groups like Arambai Tenggol, Meitei Leepun and COCOMI have publicly declared that they will not rest until they kill everyone from the Kuki-Zo kindred tribes or chase us all out of Manipur. This is the best indicator that the two communities can no longer live together and tribals have no hope of being treated as equal citizens in Manipur under Article 21 of the Indian constitution.
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| Pic: Submission of Memorandum for Union Home Minister to DC Lamka by Zo United. |
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