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Shah urges Manipur tribal body to find alternative site for mass burial
Union Home Minister Amit Shah urged Kukis to find an alternative burial site for the mass burial of 35 bodies in Manipur to avoid potential violence. The Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum listed 10 demands, including legalizing land for burial, separate administration, and return of dead bodies to home districts. Shah also discussed the issue of Manipur police commandos operating in the hill districts, stating that they would be accompanied by security forces from the Centre. The Home Ministry has invited ITLF for talks to address the ongoing violence in Manipur.
Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday urged Kukis to find an alternative burial site for the mass burial of 35 bodies during a meeting with the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum in the national Capital, the body said in a press conference. The proposal, if accepted, could avoid a potential flashpoint that may result in more violence in Manipur.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, members of ITLF -- an influential umbrella body of tribal groups in Manipur -- said they would first consult people back in Manipur. ITLF spokesperson Ginza Vualzong said they met the HM in the afternoon and listed 10 demands of Kukis against the backdrop of the ethnic violence in Manipur that has claimed at least 152 lives and left around 50,000 displaced from their homes.
The 10 demands are: legalise the industry department land at government sericulture farm for burial, burial to take place in the government sericulture farm at S Boljang village, the Meitei commandoes should not be allowed to operate in Hill areas, early political settlement over demand for ‘separate administration’, return of dead bodies of Kuki-Zo communities lying in Imphal to their home districts, demand for helicopter service, facilitation of education services of students, construction of pre-fabricated structures for IDPs, transfer of all tribal inmates from Imphal to prisons in other states, setting up of an additional office (for) the Justice Lamba Inquiry Commission at Churachandpur.
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Saturday invited ITLF for talks after fresh violence broke out in Manipur after the tribal group announced its plan to organise a mass burial of 35 Kuki-Zomi people killed in ethnic violence.
The spurt in violence over the last few days --- five people have been killed and over two dozen injured since Saturday -- can be attributed to the announcement of a mass burial; it was hurriedly called off following hectic parleys by authorities, a court order, and an undertaking from MHA. Meiteis opposed the burial plan, and several groups began converging near the proposed burial site, triggering widespread clashes that went on in pockets of the state.
Vualzong said, “We had a two-hour long meeting with the home minister. In the meeting, he told us not to insist on burying the dead at that particular site, because it is located in a conflict zone. That particular site was identified after we consulted with our people. We will now go back to our people and share details of our meeting with the home minister and inform MHA.”
The spokesperson said that in response to a demand for a separate administration for Kukis, Shah said this could be discussed only when there is no violence in the state. Speaking in Parliament, Shah clarified that there would be “no change in Manipur’s demography”.
And in response to a demand that Manipur police commandos not be allowed to enter the hill districts because most of them are Meities and could be biased in carrying out their duty, Vualzong said Shah pointed out that “ this was not legally possible” but that when Manipur police operated in the hills “they would be accompanied by security forces from the Centre.”
Majority of the tribal groups reside in the hill districts while the non-tribals(Meiteis) live in the valley.
At present, CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force), BSF (Border Security Force), SSB (Sashastra Seema Bal), ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) and Assam Rifles along with the Indian Army are posted in Manipur. The forces report to the Centre while the Manipur police reports to the N Biren Singh led state government. The security forces are posted in the buffer zones between the hills and valley areas to ensure that the people from either side do not cross over and engage in violence. Vualzong said that Shah asked the group to return arms and ammunition looted from armouries. “We told the HM that our groups will return the little weapons that they have once the Meitei groups return the weapons. In our case, Kukis are defending their villages using licensed guns. “
Though MHA was yet to issue a statement over the details of the meeting till late Wednesday night, ITLF said he agreed to their demand of starting helicopter service between Churachandpur and Aizwal in neighbouring Mizoram soon.
ITLF said they had also requested that the bodies of tribals, which are lying in the mortuary of Imphal hospitals, be brought to Churachandpur and handed over to the families. “The HM told us that government is in the process of identifying the bodies and assured that this would be done,” Vualzong said,40 bodies are at the hospitals in Imphal.
The continuing chain of violence in the state underlined the deep ethnic divisions in Manipur and the kind of social rifts that the administration needs to bridge in order to bring normalcy back to the state.
On Tuesday evening, the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) , a Meitei group condemned ITLF’s meeting with the home minister.It said the meeting between the union government and ITLF would offend the sentiments of the people in Manipur because members of ITLF were involved in violence.
This is not the first time that Centre is holding talks with the groups. Shah had in last week of May visited Manipur and held talks with ITLF and COCOMI. The Intelligence Bureau(IB) has also been holding meetings with both groups as part of the government’s efforts to restore normalcy.
Forty MLAs from the ruling alliance in Manipur reached Delhi late on Wednesday and were set to meet senior BJP leaders, people aware of the matter said.
On Wednesday night, the MLAs submitted a letter to officials at PM’s residence, in which they sought removal of three units of Assam Rifles from the state and withdrawal of suspension of operations agreement, people aware of the matter added.
