New Delhi/Imphal, Jan 15 (IANS) Leaders of the Kuki-Zo Council (KZC), the apex socio-political body of the Kuki-Zo tribal communities in Manipur, are scheduled to have a crucial meeting with the senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in New Delhi on January 17, KZC sources said here on Wednesday.
A KZC leader said that the council leaders, led by its Chairman Henlianthang Thanglet, already reached Delhi to hold the vital meeting with the MHA officials.
The KZC, a conglomerate of 13 organisations of the Kuki-Zo tribal community, and 10 tribal MLAs have been demanding a separate administration equivalent to a Union Territory.
The January 17 meeting with the MHA officials assumes significance in view of the ongoing ethnic violence in Manipur and this demand.
The KZC earlier this week urged Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla to take steps to deploy “neutral central security forces” to deal with the ethnic crisis and also pressed their demand for a Union Territory.
The KZC leaders met the Governor in Churachandpur district headquarters during Bhalla’s maiden visit and submitted a memorandum, which also demanded “maintaining the sanctity of the buffer zones between the hill and valley regions and re-demarcation of district police jurisdictions”.
The memorandum said that there has been no improvement in the security situation following over a year-and-a-half of killings and displacements and citizens “continue to face daily danger of death”.
“One-and-a-half years after the violence began, Kuki-Zo community people’s homes and properties are still being set on fire and destroyed. To date, almost 7,000 homes have been demolished, over 220 Kuki-Zo community people have lost their lives, over 360 places of worship were destroyed, and about 40,000 have been made homeless,” the memorandum had said.
The Kuki-Zo Council told the Governor that “as a minority community with fewer numbers and even fewer resources to protect ourselves, we are under constant threat of being attacked by militant groups like Arambai Tenggol and the proscribed UNLF, who have access to a large arsenal of weapons bought from across the border or looted from state armouries”.
The memorandum, signed by Council Chairman Thanglet and General Secretary Reverend Dr. VL Nghakthang said: “Our only hope of survival lies in a political solution for the Kuki-Zo community, which is total separation from the Manipur government and the Meitei people.”
They said that now that the hills and valleys have been divided, the only thing left is separation in the administration.
“Only after the separation is completed, will there be peace. We implore you to acknowledge our predicament, act quickly to address our concerns, and support our desire to have a separate administration which is a Union Territory with a legislature under Article 239 (A) of the Indian Constitution,” the memorandum had said.
The Governor, on his maiden visit after assuming office on January 3, visited Churachandpur and Bishnupur districts and during his interaction with various civil society organisations (CSOs) appealed to the leaders to work collaboratively with the administration in peace-building efforts. Bhalla also visited various relief camps in the two districts and interacted with displaced people, who have been staying in the relief camps since the ethnic violence broke out in Manipur in May 2023.
–IANS
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