Tag: Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum

‘Prime Minister Must Visit Manipur’: Rahul Gandhi Visits Relief Camps in Restive State

The Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha visited relief camps in Churachandpur, Moirang and Jiribam. He also met Manipur governor Anusuiya Uikey. Hours before Gandhi’s visit, firing was reported in Jiribam district in the early hours of Monday. 

New Delhi: Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi visited Manipur on Monday (July 8), his first visit to the violence-torn northeastern state since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and said that while he had hoped that the situation would have improved, it “is still nowhere near what it should be” and requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the violence-torn state.

The 14-month-long conflict in the state, which began on May 3 last year, has resulted in over 200 deaths and over 60,000 people being displaced and forced to live in relief camps. The divide between the Kukis and Meiteis has only widened over the past year.

Gandhi visited relief camps in Churachandpur, Moirang as well as in Jiribam. Later, Gandhi also met Manipur governor Anusuiya Uikey.

“It’s the third time I have come here since the problem started and it has been a tremendous tragedy. I was expecting some improvement in the situation but I was disappointed to see that the situation is still nowhere near what it should be,” he said while addressing reporters in Imphal.

Gandhi had earlier visited the state last year when violence first broke out, and then during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in January this year.

“I visited the camps and heard the people there, heard their pain. I came here to listen to them, to build confidence in them and as somebody who is in the opposition, to try and apply pressure on the government so that it acts. Here, the need of the hour is peace. Violence is hurting everybody,” he said.

“Thousands of families have been harmed, properties have been destroyed, family members have been killed and I have never seen anywhere in India what is going on here. The state is completely split in two and it is a tragedy for everybody involved.”

The physical divide in the state hinges on ethnicity and has resulted in the state being virtually divided into two – between the Meiteis populated valley area and the Kuki-Zo populated hilly areas. Meiteis cannot go to the hilly areas, while the Kuki-Zo who live in the hills cannot go to the valley areas including the capital Imphal, which has better facilities, including government hospitals and the state’s only airport.

Gandhi said that Modi, who has not visited the state since the violence broke out, must visit to understand the ground reality.

“I feel that it is important that the prime minister come here, listen to the people of Manipur, try and understand what is going on. After all, Manipur is a proud state of the Indian union. Even if there was no tragedy, the Prime Minister should have come here. And in this huge tragedy, I request the Prime Minister to take one-two days to come here and try and listen to the people of Manipur. It will comfort the people of Manipur,” he said.

Hours before Gandhi’s visit, firing was reported in the Jiribam district in the early hours of Monday.

“Gunmen fired several rounds around 3:30 am towards the Meitei area of Gularthal, prompting security forces to retaliate. The exchange of fire continued till 7 am,” an official was quoted as saying to news agency Press Trust of India.

Manipur Congress president Keisham Meghachandra told the reporters that during his visit to Jiribam, Gandhi spoke to people in the relief camp.

“Rahul Gandhi visited the Jiribam district early in the morning today. And the people of this Jiribam district are very happy. Rahul Gandhi spoke with them and they shared their pain and also expressed many things like the sorrows of students and women,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi at a relief camp in Manipur on July 8, 2024. Photo: X (Twitter)/@INCIndia.

Meghachandra said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should visit Manipur in order to find a solution to the ongoing conflict, and while he had addressed the ongoing violence in the state in parliament last week, his statement that normalcy is returning to the violence-torn state is not true.

“Prime minister said in parliament that Manipur is returning to normalcy. But you see prior to Rahul Gandhi’s visit, today itself, close firing happened about 10km away from Jiribam headquarters. It is not that normalcy is returning that has been stated by the Prime Minister. So violence is still continuing. This visit is a peace mission. It shows that Rahul Gandhi loves the people of Manipur. In the last parliament session newly elected MPs of Manipur gave heated arguments. We demand that the Prime Minister should visit Manipur so that some solution can be found. His silence will not bring any solution to Manipur,” he said.

Also read: Rahul Gandhi and Manipur: the Politics Not of Transaction but of Love

Modi’s statement in the Rajya Sabha addressing the violence in Manipur came a day after he faced consistent sloganeering from the opposition in the Lok Sabha that chanted “Manipur, Manipur”. The day before in his maiden speech close to midnight in an almost empty Lok Sabha, Manipur MP Angomcha Bimol Akoijam tore into the ruling BJP and Modi for ignoring the “hurt, anger and sufferings”.

Gandhi on his visit to Manipur was accompanied by Congress general secretary (organisation) and MP K.C. Venugopal, Manipur’s state Congress leaders as well as newly elected MPs Angomcha Bimol Akoijam (Inner Manipur) and Alfred Kanngam Arthur (Outer Manipur).

A delegation of the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) submitted a memorandum to Gandhi.

“There has been no improvement in the security situation following over a year of killings and displacements; citizens continue to face daily danger of death,” the memorandum stated.

Highlighting the divide between the hill areas and the valley, which has affected connectivity and supply of essential goods and commodities, the memorandum called for an immediate political solution.

“An immediate political solution is required to break the cycle of violence and atrocities in Manipur..” it said.

In another memorandum submitted to Gandhi, the Kuki Students’ Organisation in Churachandpur district has urged for exam centres in the area so that students can take all-India competitive exams, and helicopter facilities from Lamka to Aizawl, Lamka to Kangpokpi, Lamka to Moreh to ease travel, among others. The Kuki Women’s Organisation for Human Rights in its memorandum has highlighted sexual violence being used as a “method or tactic of warfare” and that the shutdown of internet services in the state has prevented these abuses from becoming known.

Last year, Modi broke his silence on the ongoing violence in the northeastern state, 70 days after the violence began, only after a harrowing video went viral on social media the day before that showed two Kuki women being paraded naked in Kangpokpi on May 4.

Manipur: Tribal Outfits Demand Union Territory for Kuki-Zo Areas, Write to Amit Shah

The Committee on Tribal Unity has also suggested that the Centre must consider establishing a Kuki-Zo regiment under the Indian military apparatus by streamlining the existing Kuki-Zo village volunteer forces.

New Delhi: Tribal outfits representing Kuki-Zo communities of Manipur have written to Union home minister Amit Shah suggesting that a political solution in the form of separate administration or Union territory for the hill districts be considered to contain the ongoing violence in the state.

Both the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum and the Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU) have submitted their respective memoranda to Shah through district magistrates. They appealed to the Union government to consider the creation of a Union territory with a legislature for Kuki-Zo communities under Article 239 (A) of the Indian constitution.

The CoTU has also suggested that the Centre must consider establishing a Kuki-Zo regiment under the Indian military apparatus by streamlining the existing Kuki-Zo village volunteer forces, “so as to prevent the upsurge of armed insurgency among young Kuki-Zo defenders”, E-Pao reported.

The memoranda said that the tribal communities have been living under the constant threat posed by armed groups possessing large arsenals of weapons. These groups, the tribal outfits said, have openly declared their intention to either eliminate the ‘tribal’ population or force them out of their lands.

They also alleged that the maintenance of public infrastructure and development works in the Kuki-Zo areas have come to a halt.  “ITLF further alleged that the state government has conducted mass job recruitments, excluding ‘tribal’ youth from these opportunities due to their inability to travel to the state capital, consequently deepening feelings of discrimination and marginalisation,” the E-Pao report added.

Until a political solution is reached, the ITLF said the Centre should consider setting up a separate secretariat for the hill districts.

Opposition to separate administration calls 

On Monday, the women vendors of Ima Market, who are grouped under the banner of the Khwairamband Ima Keithel Coordinating Committee for Peace, took to the streets of Imphal to demand immediate parliamentary intervention into the ongoing violence in the state.

While opposing the calls for separate administration by the Kuki-Zo community, the women vendors appealed to the Union government to preserve the unity and integrity of Manipur.

Police foiled the group’s attempts to march towards the Manipur Raj Bhavan and the Chief Minister’s Bungalow to press their demands. The police intercepted them at the western gate of Kangla Fort, and the protestors were sent back to Khwairamband Bazar.

“Our representatives have failed to raise their voices for the people they are supposed to serve. Their silence is a grave disservice to the citizens of Manipur who are living in fear and uncertainty,” said Peace Committee co-convenor Huirem Binodini, according to Imphal Free Press.

Metei body reasserts demand for ST status

The World Meetei Council has reasserted its demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) to Meteis in an open letter to chief minister N. Biren Singh. The particular demand was indeed an immediate trigger for the outbreak of violence on May 3 last year, which continues to rage on till date.

The Council held its two-day meeting recently and issued an ultimatum to Singh to send reports to the Union government by August – when the work for the delimitation exercise of 2026 kicks off – recommending ST status for Meiteis. According to the Metei body, the delimitation exercise is set to “decimate” the Meetei identity, Imphal Free Press reported.

At present, the Manipur assembly has 40 seats in the valley and 20 seats in the hills, based on the 1971 census report. This could change with the delimitation exercise.

The Metei body said that according to the 1971 census, 69% of Manipur’s population resided in the valley, while the remaining 31% lived in the hills. Though the census does not provide community-wise population figures, the body said, various indices suggest that the Meetei population comprised approximately 60% of the total population of Manipur in the 1971 census report.

According to the 2011 census, the Meetei population consisted of approximately 44%, indicating a sharp decline from the 1971 census, the Council said. It cited a low birth rate among the Meteis and an unchecked heavy influx of migrants, especially from Myanmar and Bangladesh as reasons for the drop in their population.

The Metei Council said it was their community that has adhered to the National Population Policy of “Small Family, Happy Family”, but yet “the paradox is that delimitation is set to penalise those who dutifully followed the National Policy and reward those who have not and the 2026 delimitation is poised to victimise the Meetei for being lawful and obedient citizens, posing a threat to our identity”.

It said that enlisting Meetei in the ST list of the Indian constitution is the “only one way to protect our identity”.

Tribal Affairs Minister ‘Mistaken’ in Calling Manipur Strife a ‘Law and Order’ Issue: Tribal Body

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum said that after the deaths of 200 people and the displacement of tens of thousands of others, “it should be clear to everyone that the conflict is not a simple law and order issue”.

New Delhi: After Union tribal affairs minister Jual Oram referred to the Manipur ethnic strife as a “law and order situation”, a tribal organisation from the state said on Thursday (June 20) he was “misinformed” and that the conflict has comprised an “ethnic cleansing”.

“The conflict was a law-and-order issue for the first 24 hours, during which an impartial government could have stamped out the violence,” said the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), an umbrella pro-Kuki-Zo group based in Manipur’s Churachandpur district.

“But it is well documented that state police forces from the majority Meitei community made no effort to stop the attacks on minority Kuki-Zo tribals but actively participated in the violence,” the ITLF continued to say.

Oram, who was given the tribal affairs portfolio earlier this month, had said during an interview published on Thursday that the conflict was a law and order situation the Union home ministry was helping tackle.

“This problem is actually one of the home ministry. Law and order situation is a state subject. In this, you are asking about this only because one of the parties involved is a tribal community … Who will not want a solution?” Oram said while speaking to The Hindu.

He added: “But this is being handled by the home ministry, in coordination with the state government and the governor there.”

But the ITLF called the violence the “worst and most prolonged ethnic conflict after India’s partition” and blamed it on Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh and his “patronage of militant Meitei organisations”.

“After more than a year of hostilities, the deaths of more than 200 people and the displacement of more than 60,000, it should be clear to everyone that the conflict is not a simple law and order issue,” it also said.

The ITLF alleged the state and Union governments had stood by while sections of the Meitei community, including militant bodies, had raped, tortured and killed tribals, saying “if this is not ethnic cleansing, then what is?”

Manipur has been beleaguered by an armed ethnic conflict between the Meiteis and the tribal Kukis since May last year.

The two communities became almost completely segregated – with the Meiteis living in the Imphal valley and the Kukis living in the state’s hilly districts – and separated by ‘buffer zones’ patrolled by security forces.

Violence continues to occur in the state. Recently, the Jiribam district, which was reportedly one of the state’s calmer districts during the period of strife, saw a spate of ethnic violence.

According to The Hindu, Oram’s remarks on the conflict were the first to made by a Union tribal minister, as his predecessor Arjun Munda had “maintained a silence, refusing to answer questions on the issue”.

Manipur: Relief Material Being ‘Withheld’ in Tribal Majority Churachandpur, Alleges Kuki-Zo Outfit

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum has alleged that the deputy commissioner ‘refused’ to release rations for the past two weeks, putting ‘more than 17,000 IDPs (internally displaced persons) at the risk of starvation’.

New Delhi: Manipur’s Churachandpur district administration has been withholding the release of ration sent by the Union government for internally displaced persons since February 15, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) has alleged. ITLF is a conglomerate of outfits supporting Kuki-Zo tribes in the district.

In a two-page memorandum to Union home minister, Amit Shah, the Forum claimed that “relief materials including rice and dal sent by the central government for thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) residing in more than 100 relief camps in Churachandpur had been withheld since the night of the protest on February 15, 2024”, The Telegraph reported.

It further claimed that deputy commissioner (DC) “refused” to release rations for the past two weeks, putting “more than 17,000 IDPs at the risk of starvation”.

“This is another form of discrimination, whereby the DC is punishing people who have already lost their homes by threatening to starve them. We request the central government to urgently intervene so that the supply of rations to relief centres is resumed at the earliest,” the ITLF has claimed in the memorandum.

The ITLF’s allegations came two days after the Manipur government dismissed reports that emerged out of Churachandpur that the district authorities were delaying the release of ration after the February 15 violence.

On February 15, violence broke out in Churachandpur town in protest against the suspension of a constable by the superintendent of police (SP), leading to attacks on the SP’s and DC’s offices and the DC’s residence and resulting in the death of two persons in firing by security personnel. The government in response banned the internet in the district until March 2.

In a statement, the Manipur home department said that the Churachandpur DC “has always ensured that all relief materials such as rice, dal, vegetables and other consumables are released in a timely manner” through local civil society organisations.

The government also went on to claim that the relief was last distributed on February 12-13 when “about 50,000kg of rice, 245 bags of dal, 55 bags of sugar and other consumables such as vegetables, cooking oil, eggs, tea leaf and spices were released”.

Authorities also claimed that a lot of official documents and records were burnt in the February 15 arson and that two of the 12 vehicles damaged that night were used for distribution of relief materials in the district.

On the other hand, an additional superintendent of police, posted in the operations wing of the Manipur Police at Wangkhei in Imphal East district, was abducted by armed men and was later rescued after swift action by police and security forces.

The ongoing ethnic conflict between the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zo communities since May 3 has left at least 213 dead and over 67,000 displaced in the state. The situation remains tense and is set to dominate the Assembly session starting Wednesday.

Manipur Government Buses Travelling From Imphal Turned Back By Kuki Groups: Reports

The reported incidents come days after the N. Biren Singh government issued a statement saying that the key Imphal-Churachandpur and Imphal-Mao highways were operational.

New Delhi: Manipur’s state-owned bus service has failed to resume its public facility beyond the state’s valley areas even seven months after the ethnic violence between the Meitei and the Kuki communities had erupted.

According to a December 23 news report in the Imphal-based Sangai Express, “tight security arrangements made by the state government for [the] resumption of [the] Manipur State Transport’s bus service on [the] Imphal-Senapati-Mao and Imphal-Churachandpur routes could not yield the desired result as the buses have to turn around before reaching their destinations.”

While private buses headed to Senapati (in Manipur), Nagaland and Guwahati were reportedly able to go past Kangpokpi, the Indian Express reported that Manipur State Transport (MST) buses going from Imphal to Senapati and Churachandpur were forced to turn back along the way by Kuki civil bodies.

This was in spite of the MST ensuring that buses on the Imphal-Senapati highway were driven by non-Meiteis, according to the Sangai Express.

Its report added that while there were “just four [or] five non-Meitei passengers on board the MST’s Imphal-Senapati bus”, there was “not a single passenger on the Imphal-Churachandpur bus.”

Significantly, it also said that state-owned bus services to the tribal-dominated Senapati and Churachandpur districts were escorted by police teams.

Days after dozens of bodies of victims of the ethnic conflict were buried in the Kuki-dominated Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts, the influential Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) declared the ‘sealing’ of the border between the Churachandpur and the Meitei-dominated Bishnupur districts, NDTV reported.

The ITLF said it would ‘seal’ this border between December 23 and January 25, claiming it had received “intelligence inputs” about attempts by some miscreants to disrupt Christmas celebrations in the Christian-majority hill areas.

Its declaration came a day after the N. Biren Singh government issued a statement saying that the key Imphal-Churachandpur and Imphal-Mao highways were operational.

Mao is located in the state’s Senapati district.

Manipur: Kuki Tribal Body to Seal Borders between Hill, Valley Districts During Christmas Season

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum said it has ‘intelligence inputs about an imminent threat’ to disrupt Christmas season, prompting it to seal borders for two weeks starting from December 23.

New Delhi: The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), an umbrella organisation of the tribal Kuki groups in Manipur’s Churachandpur, has announced the sealing of borders between hill and valley districts in Manipur between December 23, 2023, and January 5, 2024, to ward off alleged attempts by some miscreants to disrupt Christmas celebrations in the hill districts.

The Kuki-dominated hill districts have a Christian majority population, which is preparing for Christmas. “ITLF would like to inform the general public that all the borders within Churachandpur district and Bishnupur will be sealed for security reasons,” the ITLF said in a statement on Friday, December 22, according to NDTV.

The statement said ITLF has received “intelligence inputs about an imminent threat” to disrupt the Christmas season. “From December 23 till January 5, all non-tribals within the district are not allowed to move out of the district and those non-tribals from outside are not permitted to move inside the district,” the statement added.

The ITLF’s announcement comes a day after the Manipur government had issued a statement noting that two key highways from Imphal to Churachandpur and Mao, through Kangpokpi district, and the routes were now operational. “It is for the information of all, that the Imphal – Kangpokpi – Mao Highway and the Imphal Bishnupur -Churachandpur Highway are operational and open for use by all. For convenience and security of the people using the highways, additional security forces have been deployed,” a statement from the Manipur home department had said.

The ITLF’s decision would prevent the state government from posting more forces and opening the routes.

Even local Kuki groups in Kangpoki district, which is on the opposite side of Churachandpur with Imphal Valley in between, have also announced a lockdown of the district.

The ITLF statement came two days after the bodies of 87 Kuki-Zo victims of the ongoing ethnic clashes were buried at one location in Churachandpur district and following recent clashes that erupted earlier this week.

Police in Manipur on ‘High Alert’ Ahead of Tribal Rally: Report

Shops and businesses in four districts of Manipur will be closed on Wednesday (November 29), the day of the planned rally, the Hindustan Times reported.

New Delhi: Police in Manipur are on high alert ahead of a planned rally on Wednesday (November 29) in support of a separate tribal administration in the state, the Hindustan Times reported.

Its report added that the rally is being organised by an umbrella organisation called Zo United and will be held mainly in the Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, Pherzawl and Tengnoupal districts of Manipur.

A poster for the rally uploaded by the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), which is also an umbrella organisation of pro-Kuki-Zo groups, said the rally was in support of settling the demand for a “separate administration for [the] Kuki-Zo peoples in Manipur”.

The poster also said the rally will take place in Agartala, New Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai.

Albert Renthlei, who the Hindustan Times described as convener of Zo United, told the newspaper the rally will take the form of a peaceful, silent march.

Most shops and businesses in the four aforementioned districts will be shut on Wednesday, the Hindustan Times‘ report added.

It quoted an unnamed police officer from “a hill district” as saying that the rally would be confined to the specific districts.

“But police will be alert and, along with security forces, will watch out the buffer zones [sic],” the officer told the Hindustan Times.

The officer was referring to zones of armed ethnic conflict in areas near the borders between Meitei and Kuki-dominated districts in Manipur.

Ethnic divisions between the two communities have become extremely stark since the armed conflict broke out in May this year, with both communities no longer inhabiting the same areas.

The violence broke out during a ‘tribal solidarity march’ held by Kuki-Zo groups on May 3.

At least 180 people have been killed in the ensuing conflict and tens of thousands rendered displaced.

A student body for the Tangkhul Naga community issued a statement earlier this week saying that the November 29 rally “should exclude” the Ukhrul district of Manipur, the Ukhrul Times reported.

Watch | Trust in Modi Government is Waning Day by Day: Kuki ITLF Spokesperson

In an interview with Karan Thapar, Ginza Vualzong added that the ITKF and the wider Kuki community still have “a flicker of hope” and they “pray” the Union government will fulfil the commitments it has made.

In an interview recorded on Wednesday evening, hours before the Intelligence Bureau director and Manipur interlocutor arrived in Imphal to hold talks with the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum, its chief spokesperson and head of media and publicity Ginza Vualzong has said that the organisation stands by “every word” of a press release it issued on Tuesday where it says: “The trust we have placed in the Central government is waning day by day.”

However, in a 25-minute interview with Karan Thapar for The Wire, Vualzong added that his organisation and the wider Kuki community still have “a flicker of hope” and they “pray” the Union government will fulfil the commitments made to the ITLF in August by Union home minister Amit Shah. As of now, those commitments have either been reneged upon or not fulfilled in proper spirit. Vualzong did accept that this is a case of “hope against hope”.

After several weeks of relative calm in Manipur, when many came to believe the situation was improving, the ITLF press release declaring that faith in the Modi government is waning day by day is an ominous and worrying note, particularly because it happens at a time when there’s been an uptick in killings and abductions.

In the interview, Vualzong discusses all the demands made by the ITLF in August to Shah, and the response and commitments given by the government. In each case, he explains where the government has fallen short in fulfilling its promises as well as the one issue on which it has taken action – although inadequately.

Vualzong also raises a new issue i.e. the discriminatory response of the N. Biren Singh government to atrocities committed on the Meiteis compared to its response to atrocities committed on the Kukis. This is an issue that has arisen after the August talks with the government.

On the critical Kuki-Zo demand for a separate administration, Vualzong says the talks are effectively stalled and there has been no progress since August. He agrees and accepts that this is perhaps because the government came to believe that because Manipur was relatively calm during the last few weeks and the government could afford to drag its feet in the hope the matter would resolve itself without further action.

Watch | Full Details of Kuki Leaders’ Talks With Amit Shah on Mass Burials, Separate Administration

In an interview with Karan Thapar, Ginza Vualzong of the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum revealed what was discussed, the positions taken by either side, the areas where there is agreement as well as one area where there is a 50:50 chance of an agreement.

In a comprehensive and detailed interview, conducted immediately after the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) finished their talks with Union home minister Amit Shah, the umbrella body’s spokesperson has revealed what was discussed, the positions taken by either side and the areas where there is agreement as well as, as he put it, one area where there is a 50:50 chance of an agreement.

In a 34-minute interview with Karan Thapar for The Wire, Ginza Vualzong said the home minister has asked ITLF to find a different site for the mass burials they plan because the original site they have chosen is in the conflict zone. As a sweetener, Vualzong said Shah has offered to hand over the original site to the Kuki-Zo community to use for public utility purposes or as a memorial park. He believes there’s a “50:50 chance” the Kuki community will agree. ITLF will now consult them. He says they will communicate their answer to the Home Minister in a week.

Vualzong said that in response to the ITLF demand that “Meitei state forces” should not be deployed in the hill district, the home minister agreed that they would only enter accompanied by either the paramilitary or the Assam Rifles. Vualzong said this was not what they wanted but they are prepared to accept it.

Regarding the ITLF demand that tribal jail inmates in Imphal should be moved to other states for safety, Shah said that as of now there has been no trouble or violence of any sort in jails – something Vualzong agreed with – but if anything were to happen, the government would shift tribal jail inmates out of Imphal jails.

On the key issue of separate administration, Vualzong said the issue was raised with Shah, who said that it should be talked about after peace has prevailed and an appropriate political environment is created. In other words, the home minister is envisaging a two-stage process.

Vualzong said he got the impression that the director of the Intelligence Bureau and A.K. Mishra, the interlocutor for militant groups which have entered into a suspension of operations (SoO) agreement with the government, are sympathetic and understanding of the ITLF position that they cannot any longer live with the Meiteis. However, neither gentleman spoke specifically about a separate administration.

The spokesperson made clear that the ITLF will no longer accept an autonomous territorial council. That door is firmly shut. However, they are open to either separate statehood or union territory status. This is where the ITLF sharply differs from the Kuki Inpi, who in July said only separate statehood is acceptable.

Finally, there’s also a discussion about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s handling of the crisis. Vualzong said the Kuki-Zo community felt let down by him. He said the prime minister had only spoken about the viral video that showed the sexual assault on two Kuki women out of “embarrassment”.

Watch the video for full details about the interview.

Manipur: Top Tribal Body Rejects Any Form of Dialogue With Biren Singh’s Government

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) said that the chief minister’s intention of reaching out to stakeholders “comes too late after the loss of so many innocent lives and properties and the untold hardships faced by the Kuki-Zo tribals”.

New Delhi: The influential tribal orginsation from Manipur, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum, has rejected “any offer of dialogue” with chief minister N. Biren Singh, and said it will not hold any talks with Singh’s government.

In a statement issued on Monday, June 26, ITLF said the chief minister’s intention of reaching out to stakeholders following a meeting with Union home minister Amit Shah “comes too late after the loss of so many innocent lives and properties and the untold hardships faced by the Kuki-Zo tribals, there is no point in talking about peace without a political solution”.

Singh returned to Manipur on Sunday evening after holding talks with Shah, and had said that he “will reach out to everyone, including the Kuki community”. He had said that he briefed Shah “about the evolving situation on the ground”. He had also claimed that both central and state governments have been able to control violence in the state “to a great extent” under Shah’s “close supervision”.

However, the tribal body said that it will not believe the words of “the perpetrator of the current ethnic violence”, referring to Singh. “We have reached a point where the Kuki-Zo community can no longer live together with the Meiteis. N. Biren Singh, the perpetrator of the current ethnic violence whose hatred for the Kuki-Zo community resulted in the genocide of the Kuki-Zo community, cannot be the harbinger of peace,” the statement said.

“All tribals and a large section of his own Meitei community have lost faith in his leadership and his government,” the statement added.

ITLF has held talks with top Union ministers, including Shah, where KuKi-Zo tribals have voiced that their demands include the political aspiration of total separation from Manipur. It stated that all avenues for dialogues are now “exhausted”, making it “crucial for the Government of India to concentrate on finding a solution to our political demand as soon as possible to bring lasting peace to Manipur”.

It is to be noted that ITLF, along with 10 tribal MLAs (seven of them belonging to the ruling BJP), has been demanding a separate administration (equivalent to a separate state) for the tribals.

The statement also alleged that all tribals and a large section of Singh’s own Meitei community have lost faith in his leadership and his government. “Our political demand is in sync with the demand of our 10 MLAs and other CSO [civil society organisations] groups. The ITLF has exhausted our avenues for dialogue, and it is now crucial for the Government of India to concentrate on finding a solution to our political demand as soon as possible to bring lasting peace in Manipur,” it added.