A day after the central government constituted a peace committee headed by Manipur governor Anusuiya Uikey to restore amity among warring ethnic groups in the northeastern state, a prominent Kuki organisation on Sunday said normalcy should first be restored and security ensured for the community.
Manipur has been roiled by ethnic clashes since May 3 between Meitei and Kuki communities that have claimed at least 105 lives, injured more than 300, displaced over 40,000 and damaged close to 2,000 houses.
A day after the central government constituted a peace committee headed by Manipur governor Anusuiya Uikey to restore amity among warring ethnic groups in the northeastern state, a prominent Kuki organisation on Sunday said normalcy should first be restored and security ensured for the community.
Manipur has been roiled by ethnic clashes since May 3 between Meitei and Kuki communities that have claimed at least 105 lives, injured more than 300, displaced over 40,000 and damaged close to 2,000 houses.
While Kukis want peace, they can’t overlook attacks by Meitei groups that have burnt 160 Kuki-Zo villages till date, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF), a collective of Kuki groups in Churachandpur district, said in a statement on Sunday.
“ITLF strongly reiterates the need for normalcy to prevail before the constitution of any peace committee in the region,” the statement said, demanding the immediate imposition of President’s rule in the border state.
Besides Uikey, other members of the peace committee will include chief minister N Biren Singh, few Manipur ministers, members of parliament and MLAs, leaders from political parties, former civil servants, educationists, littérateurs, artists, social workers and representatives of different ethnic groups. The mandate of the committee is to facilitate peace among ethnic groups and initiate dialogue and negotiations.
“The committee should strengthen social cohesiveness, mutual understanding and facilitate cordial communication between various ethnic groups,” the central government said in a statement on Saturday.
The ITLF blamed the state machinery under Singh to be responsible for the start and escalation of violence. “ITLF strongly condemns the inclusion of CM N Biren Singh, the very perpetrator of the current violence, in the peace committee,” it said on Sunday.
No immediate reaction was available from the state government or the chief minister’s office to the statement by the Kuki collective.
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