Kuki-Zo Leaders to Discuss Manipur Ethnic Crisis with MHA on January 17

Imphal: 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 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 organizations 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". (IANS)

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