Create chief secretary, DGP posts for our people: Manipur Kuki MLAs request PM

The MLAs said the move to ask for separate administrative posts was necessitated since capital Imphal (Meitei dominated) “has become a valley of death and destruction for the Kuki-Zo people”.

Ten Manipur legislators from the Kuki-Zomi tribes including seven from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking creation of posts similar to chief secretary and director general of police (DGP) for “efficient administration” of the five hill districts in which people from their tribes reside.

A number of checkpoints have been set up in different districts of Manipur, both in the hill and the valley. (File photo)

Manipur has witnessed ethnic clashes between Meiteis, who are dominant in Imphal Valley, and the Kuki tribes, who are in majority in five of the surrounding hill districts since the beginning of May. The clashes have claimed nearly 160 lives, displaced over 50,000 and also divided administrative and police set up on community lines.

The MLAs, who had first demanded creation of a separate administration for the Kuki people, stated that the move to ask for separate and senior administrative posts was necessitated since the state capital Imphal (which is Meitei dominated) “has become a valley of death and destruction for the Kuki-Zo people”.

“It is pertinent to mention that even IAS and MCS (Manipur civil service) officers and IPS and MPS (Manipur police service) officers belonging to the Kuki-Zo tribes have been unable to function and discharge their duties as Imphal Valley has also become a valley of death for us,” the MLAs said in their three-page memorandum.

“In order to solve the problems faced by government employees belonging to Kuki-Zo tribes and for efficient administration of the districts inhabited by us, the post of chief secretary or its equivalent post and the post of DGP or equivalent post need to be immediately created,” the letter added.

The MLAs also asked for other key senior-level posts should also be created in the civil and police departments in public interest.

The legislators sought ₹500 crores from the PM’s Relief Fund for rehabilitation of the Kuki-Zo people who have been displaced or lost their homes and livelihoods due to the clashes.

As reported earlier, within days of the clashes starting on May 3, thousands of Kukis including government officers left Imphal Valley and fled to the nearby hill districts of Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, Tengnoupal, Pherzawl and Chandel.

Similarly, Meiteis residing in those districts escaped to Imphal Valley. At present, around 50,000 people from both communities are staying in relief camps.

Apart from ordinary citizens, divisions on ethnic lines have also surfaced among government employees and police personnel. Since the start of the clashes, there has been almost no movement of people from one community to places where the other is in the majority. Check posts and blockades set up by women and “defence volunteers” don’t allow anyone from the other community to enter their areas, a mark of the deep divide between the two communities.

In their memorandum, the MLAs also pointed out instances of how members from their community were targetted in Imphal Valley.

On May 4, Vungzagin Valte, a BJP MLA from the Kuki community was brutally assaulted by a mob in Imphal while he was on his way home after a meeting with Chief Minister N Biren Singh. On June 14, a mob set on fire Nemcha Kipgen’s, the only female minister in the state cabinet, located at Lamphel in Imphal West district on fire.