E-Paper
Manipur: Coping with Kuki rebels
In Manipur Kuki rebels are demanding separate sate for Kukis.
As in other northeastern states, the Manipur too has the problem of counter insurgents. In Manipur the Kuki rebels are demanding separate sate for Kukis. They believe that Kukis were a sovereign nation before the British colonised their land and their demand for a separate state should be recognised.
Vipin Haokip, the leader of the Kuki National Army (KNA), the armed wing of the Kuki National Organisation, has offered to negotiate with the Centre on its demand for a separate state. He wants an amicable settlement by establishment of a tripartite arrangement to accommodate Meitei, Naga and Kuki.
Kukis are opposed to demand of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) for land occupied by the Kukis in Manipur.
The KNO/KNA was formed in 1990 and is now the torchbearer of the issue of Kuki territorial integrity, which is being threatened by the NSCN (I-M)'s demand for 'Greater Nagaland'.
The repeated extension of a ceasefire between the Centre and separatist Naga rebels has further aggravated the problem.
The complex demography of the state is believed to be at the root of the violence.
In the state's central region, which lies in a valley, majorities of the people are Hindu Meiteis.
But the Nagas and the Kukis - martial tribes with a fierce tradition of clan warfare - control the hills around the valley and make up about 30% of the population.
While the Nagas and the Kuki militants fought a bitter ethnic feud in the 1990s, the relations between the Nagas and the Meiteis have worsened since the separatist National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) started negotiating with the Centre.
When the Naga insurrection began in the 1950s, the Indian army tried to take control of the hills of Manipur, which caused the insurgency to spread throughout the Manipur valley.
The NSCN has called for a greater Naga state, proposing to integrate Naga inhabited areas of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh and even Burma with Nagaland.
