"As on 14th December 1973, Government of India had Repatriated 1,96,843 Indians from Burma into India".
Dr. TS Haokip. WKZIC-GHQ,
Background: Ethnic tribal Kukis who originally called themselves Manmasi were later known as Khongjai by the Meiteis. The colonial British authorities came to call them as Kuki during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Kukis basically inhabited their territory which G.A Grierson 1904 documented as 'Kuki Country' (Linguistic Survey of India, Part III, Vol. III). When the Kuki Ancestral Land was trifurcated into India in 1947, Burma in 1948 and East Pakistan @ Bangladesh in 1972, the tribal Kukis became minority among minorities in these three countries, enduring persecutions, discriminations and subjugations from larger and stronger communities for the greed of their land. In order to defend themselves and their land, the Kukis endured conflict with neighbouring communities and authorities time to time, starting with Chittagong during 1770s, Tipra (Tripura) during 1860-61, Indian sub-continent during 1917-1919 against the British, Indian Independence Movement under Indian National Army (INA) during 1942-45, Coldwar during 1956-1966 from NNC-TR, 1967 Khadawmi Operation in Burma, 1993-1997 Kuki ethnic Cleansing by NSCN-IM and Kuki Genocide 2023-25 in Manipur by Meiteis.
1. A Glance of Kuki Population of Manipur from 1881- 1951: 1881 Census - 25,324, 1901 Census - 28,000, 1911 Census - 44,431, 1921 Census - 66,255, 1931 Census - 79,066, 1941 Census - IIWW, 1951 Census for Manipur - 1,00,748 (Source: Census of India 1951 for Manipur, Assam & Tripura: Inclusive of all Clans & tribes under Any Kuki). Additionally, there were 1,08,282 Kukis in 1931 Census for Kukis of Assam & Bengal, (Source: Purums: An Old Kuki tribe of Manipur by TC Das, 1945, University of Calcutta).
2. Kuki Migration Into Kabaw Valley (1956-1966): Large scale influxed and migration of Kukis into KANGMANGPHAI or Kabaw Valley of Burma during 1956 to 1966 from Manipuri Naga dominated areas of Manipur at the fear of NNC-Tangkhul Region's hostile militancy in Manipur from 1956 alarmed the Government of Burma who initiated a sort of NRC known as 'Khadawmi Operation 1967" to flush out Indians migrating into Burma. The operation had effected many Kuki villages, after identifying Indian Kukis and Burmese Kukis in the region, President Ne Win talked with Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi, and Indian citizen Kukis were officially repatriated into India by Government of India (GoI) through negotiations between Government of India and Burma respectively. The Government of India was very much awared that those Kukis suffered because of NNC-TF and willingly repatriated its people in 1967.
These repatriated Indian Kukis were provided Relief materials by the Government of India for 2/3 years. Here comes the point that the group that threatened and killed 60 Kuki chiefs, leaders and educated youths and uprooted their 46 villages during 1956-1966, began to invent the term "Refugees" and tagged the Kuki as 'Refugees' who were repatriated/ brought back into their land by the Government of India in 1967, with the support of Burmese President, General Ne Win. _
Here is an excerpt of one Kuki village in 1956 among numerous, called 'Thenjang village' headed by Chief Pu Kaikhothang Kipgen (Singkhom Bulpipa), and neighbouring 'Saichang Village' headed by Pu Jamkholun Kipgen, had settled in the region long time ago, in 'Chingai Sub-Division' of Ukhrul district, Manipur abandoned their village as they could no longer tolerate the ill treatments and hostilities of NNC-TF compelled them to migrate under the leaderships of a committee members: Chairman: Pu. Onkhokhai, Vice-Chairman: Pu. Onjaneh, Secretary: Pu. Ngamkhosat and Asst. Secretatry: Pu. Shochung, alongwith other 14 Executive Members as:
1) Pu. Onkhokhai, 2) Pu. Shokhongam, 3) Pu.Thangso, 4) Pu. Jamkholim,
5) Pu. Shochung, 6) Pu. Jampao, 7) Pu. Thangkholim, 8) Pu. Seikhojang,
9) Pu.Thangkhosat, 10) Pu. Demkhotong, 11) Pu. Jamkholam, 12) Pu. Thangjangam, 13) Pu. Letkhohen, 14) Pu. Paokhosat respectively by throwing a "Farewell Feast" by slaughtering a Mithun and resolved to migrate into Kabaw Valley which is not very far from Ukhrul . As per resolved in 1956 meeting, the village arranged fooding and clothings to migrate and left UKHRUL in 1957 and migrated to the site, which the 3 member team under the leadership of Pu. Onkhokhai with Pu. Letkhohen and Pu. Helngam chose to settle in Kabaw Valley of Burma at 'Tongkyo', (Source: Ngamkhothang Kipgen, Teiyang, Myanmar).
During the said period, altogether 46 Kuki villages were abandoned one after another and scattered in different places, and 60 Kuki chiefs, leaders and educated youths were assassinated which were officially recorded in a document with names of villages and year of dissertation, and names of persons and year of assassination, (WKP, Pp. 266-268) respectively. Another ugly inhumane, man-made catastrophe was 1993-1997 where remaining 360 Kuki villages from Ukhrul, Senapati and Tamenglong districts were burnt down and uprooted, leaving 1149 innocent Kuki women, children, elderly and invalids butchered in the most cruel cold blood, and rendering 1 lakh Kukis internally displaced._
3. *Repatriation of 1,96,843 Indians from Burma including 1500 Indian Kukis in 1967*
The Government of India, as on 14th December 1973, had all together repatriated 1,96,843 (One lakh, ninety six thousand, eight hundred and forty three) Indians from Burma, [(Source: Agrahayana 29, 1895 (SAKA), 1973)]. The committee for 'Compensation for Indian Repatriates from Burma' consisted of Smt. Indira Gandhi (Prime Minister), Shri. Hardayal Devgun, Shri. Ram Swarup, Shri. Bharat Singh Chowhan, Shri. Molahu Prasad and Shri. M. Narayan Reddy respectively. According to reports in respect of journeys by ship from the Embassy of of India, Yangoon and journeys by air from the Government of West Bengal upto 14th December 1973, 1,96,843 persons have been repatriated from Burma to India so far, air repatriates were allowed foreign exchange of Rs. 37.50 for adults and lesser amounts
for dependents and children. Sea repatriates who pay their fares were allowed Rs. 25/- per adult and Rs. 15/- per child. Repatriates who were granted free passage were allowed Rs. 15/- per adult generally.
a) _The number of Indians who have come back from Burma so far and the amount which each of them was allowed to bring with him._
b) _The arrangements made by the Government for their rehabilitation giving the details of arrangements made by the Government for the rehabilitation of repatriates from Burma was laid on the table of the Sabha._
c) _Rehabilitations include loans for purchasing plots, construction of houses, business establishments, agricultural loans, educational loans, book grants, educational concessions and stipends etc._
d) _About 2 lakh repatriate Indians, most of them were mostly from the states of Tamil Nadu, Mysore, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh respectively, and 1,500 Indian origin Kukis were among those Indians who were taken back by the Government of India from Burma._
_To shorten, till date 'Kuki Hatred Campaign' has been continuing in various social media such as whatsapp, facebook, video clips, public speeches, pamplets etc etc. Is it not enough that such large numbers of villages numbering altogether 46 + 360 = 506 Kuki villages already been uprooted and 60+ 1140 =1200 innocent Kuki people have already been killed, and more than 1 lakh had already been chased out, and those displaced people taking refuge in other Kuki dominated districts, and re-establishing their new villages were again narrated as immigrants entering Churachandpur, Tengnoupal and Kangpokpi districts. What is this ?? Everything has a limit._
_It is high time for both Kukis and Manipuri Nagas to be vigil and alert, not to be taken away by such evil minded campaigners with a slogan, "WAKE UP ! WAKE UP !!" by advocates of 'Blood & War' between different communities. Is it still not enough in the above stated lost of Kuki lives and lands, to avenge the 'Head Hunting' era episodes taking place to defend a weaker Tankhool who sought protections against the stronger attacking Tankhool ?? All right thinking should retrospect both sides of head hunting era incidents, keeping in mind Kukis were and are not head hunters. Kukis had been and shall never thirst for human blood and head except for defending own blood and head, in case of attempted to. The yearnings for blood and head must be rid off atleast at this digital and scientific era to 'live and let live'._
_It is therefore earnestly suggested to kindly read in between lines the underlying 12 (twelve) books written by non-Kuki, National and International writers about Kukis to know about Kuki people, so as not to strike again and again another 'matchstick' to burn again Kuki-Manipuri Naga fellow tribal Christians for the second time, to uphold the teachings of Christs not to demean Christianity infront of non-believers._
4). *INDIGENOUS KUKIS OF INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT: INDIA, MYANMAR (BURMA) AND BANGLADESH"*
i) *The Encyclopedia Britannica* _(Vol.13, P.511) states 'KUKI' a name given to a group of tribes inhabiting both sides of the mountains dividing Assam and Bengal from Burma, south of the Nantaleik River. A more detailed geographical account of 'Kuki Country' given by G.A Grierson (Tibeto-Burman Family: Specimens of the Kuki-Chin and Burma Groups, Linguistic Survey of India, Volume III, Part III), published by the office of the Superintendant Government Printing Press, India, Calcutta 1904, can be refered at the stated documented book._
ii) *Historians: Majumdar and Bhattasali*_(1930, Pp. 6-7) stated the 'Kukis' as one of the earliest races to have lived in Pre-historic India, preceeding the 'Dravidians' who have now settled in South India. The Aryans who drove the Dravidians towards the south arrived in the Indian sub-continent around BC 1500 (Thapar, 1996, P. 29)._
iii) *Prof. JN Phukan* _(1992, P.2) wrote, If we were to accept Ptolemy's Tiladae as the Kuki people as identified by Gereni, the settlement of the Kuki people in the northeast India would go back long, long time back._
iv) *Geographer Claudius Ptolemy*_in the second century (AD 90-168) identified the Kukis with the Tiladae who are associated with the Tilabharas and placed them to the north of Maiandros about Garo Hills and Sylhet (Gereni, 1909, P. 53)._
v) *Mizo History* _(Series III, 1993) stated that during the era from BC 700 to 30 AD, the Kuki people called themselves as Manmasi (Manmasis). Mention may be made of the first Manmasi Khongsai (Khongjai) Chieftaindom under Chieftain Chongphut@ Chongpu from BC 19-70 AD, (Kuki-Meitei Connection & Relationship, 2010)._
vi) *Stevenson* _(1932)'s references to the Kukis in relation to Ptolemy's 'The Geography' bears critical significance to its period of Kuki existence. According to Dalton (Dalton, 1872, P.10), Shiva is quoted to have fallen in love with a Kuki woman around AD 1512._
vii) _*Dalton*, (1872, P. 10) stated that the present state of Tripura has been one of the Ancestral territories of the Kukis since time immemorial. There are 16 Kuki sub-tribes under Kuki nomenclature constituted under 'Tripura Hallam-Kuki Socio-Culture and Linguistic Organisation' (THKSCALO)._
viii) *Prof. Gangmumei Kabui,*_(History of Manipur, p. 24), mentioned as 'Some Kuki tribes migrated in the Manipur Hills during Pre-historic times along with or after the Meitei advent in the Manipur valley'._
ix) *Encyclopedia Britannica:*_(Meitei People Encyclopedia Britannica @ https//
www.brittanica.com) states that the present Manipur Hill area was once inhabited by peoples resembling such as hill tribes as the Naga and the Mizo Kuki, with Meitei also spelled Meetei or Meithei/ Meilhei also called Manipuri, dominant population of Manipur in north eastern India in the valley._
x) *T.C Hodson*(The Meitheis,1908, P.100) and William Shaw (The Thadou Kukis, 1929, Pp. 47 & 480) states that Lairen Pakhangba, ancestor of the Ningthouja clan of the Meitheis (Meiteis) was the son of a Kuki woman by the name of Lenghoi @ Nungmaidenga of the Chohte clan of the Kukis and a Snake (Lairen).
xi) _The book 'Kuki Hills in Kanglei Manipur' (1852-1949) and "Meitei Ningthourol: Genealogy of Meitei Kings" by Sarangthem Bormani Singh have documented some of the Kuki Chiefdoms of Kuki Hills, former Khongjai Hills (1741-42), during BC 90 to 30 AD, who were originally called as Manmasi, were later called as Khongjai and finally known and recorded by colonial writers as Kuki during the 18th and 19th centuries such as:_
i) Chothe Chiefdom, (Chothe),
ii) Thayong Chiefdom, (Kom,
iii) Maring Chiefdom, (Pawi/ Lai),
iv) Kharam Chiefdom, (Maram),
v) Molpi (Mombi) Chiefdom,(Haokip)
vi) Chahsat (Chassad) Chiefdom, (Haokip)
vii) Tonghu (Tonglhu Haokip) Chiefdom,
viii) Tayaang Chiefdom (Kipgen),
ix) Mapao Chieftaindom (Mapao tribe now converted into Tangkhul),
x) Makeng Chiefraindom, (Thangal),
xi) Langmai Chieftaindom, (Assimiliated Chothe Clansmen) respectively. (The History of Kuki Hills in Kanglei Manipur, 2010 & Meitei Ningthourol: Genealogy of Meitei Kings" by Sarangthem Bormani Singh).
xii) _*Wangkhemcha Chingtamlen* (Discovery of Kangleipak, 2011, P.20-21), stating the group of people called "Lai" people 'settled many many thousand years on the Koubru (Koupulu) mountain ranges… near Saitu village Kanggui (Kangpokpi), as Meitei people who later in the 18th century migrated into Imphal valley as Meitei people', were not Meiteis, but on ethinicity and by blood are the Kuki-Chin people categorised as old Kukis by colonial writers. Many of this Lai people are there in Lawngtlai district in Mizoram under 'Lai Autonomous District Council' (LADC) and Falam, Thantlang and Hakha in Chinstate of Myanmar._
*Conclusion:* _It is clear from the census records available starting from 1881 to the present that ethnic Kukis are as much indigeneous with other communities in the regions they inhabited, and terming them as immigrants or refugees are merely out of jealousy and greed for their lands. Any individual who are still confused with the indigeneity of the Kukis may once again refer the statistical data of 1881 Census with 25,324 Kuki population in Manipur, 28,000 in 1901 census, 44,431 in 1911 Census , 66,255 in 1921 census, 79,066 in 1931 census, (no census in 1941 due to II World War), and 1,00,748 Kuki populations in 1951 Census for Manipur (Source: Census of India 1951 for Manipur, Assam & Tripura: Inclusive of all Clans & tribes under Any Kuki). It is also to note that there were 1,08,282 Kuki populations for Assam and Bengal in 1931, (Source: Purums: An Old Kuki tribe of Manipur by TC Das, 1945, University of Calcutta)._
The 1st June 2025.
~ WKZIC
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