One year ago, on May 3, 2023, international cross-border Kuki terrorists clad both in combat fatigue and civilian garb, concealed themselves within the apparent cover of a mass solidarity peace march, and dramatically unleashed a premeditated reign of terror in India’s North-eastern state of Manipur. They overpowered state police, vandalised government offices, plundered arms and ammunition, and attacked Meetei people. They killed, injured, vandalised, plundered, desecrated religious structures, tortured, raped, displaced and held hostage several thousand. It provoked Meetei emotions, leading to mobs targeting several Kuki settler colonies, not only to avenge the communal attack but also to prevent further infiltration by the terrorists. This day marks the beginning of mayhem – a vicious cycle of Kuki terroristic offensives and Meetei defensive retaliation.
The long-term geo-political agenda of Kuki terroristic offences, the collusion of cross-border clan-based warlords, the modus operandi of funding terrors, selection and timing of targets, forms and course of terror, physical holocausts and psychological damages on people, and threats to India’s internal security and international borderland trade have been covered up by coordinated propaganda of a sinister web of lies worldwide.
The propaganda of lies and misinformation is the combined product of Kuki settler colonialists who would displace indigenous people by expanding their settler colonies, yellow journalists, crony media, Indian fifth columnists, and vested agencies of the Western world that pitted the Kuki proxies designed to disturb and hold in ransom India’s national security and geo-strategic interests.
Through the Call for Justice cry, we seek justice. We appeal to the Government of Manipur and the Opposition, to prioritize the delivery of swift justice to the victims impacted by the yearlong and still ongoing mayhem. We urge all elected representatives of the Manipur Legislative Assembly to work together with the people of Manipur by initiating steps towards reconciliatory efforts with the sole mission of bringing lasting peace and harmonious co-existence in Manipur.
What are the Kuki Lies?
Truth debunks the propaganda of lies. The Manipur mayhem can be deconstructed as follows:
(1) Not between Non-tribal (Meetei) and tribal. Not all scheduled tribes in Manipur are Kuki. Non-tribal in Manipur also includes other communities in addition to Meetei. The confrontation is between Kuki terrorists and Meetei volunteers. The total number of persons killed from May 3, 2023, to April 27, 2024, is 223, comprising 102 Meetei, 114 Kuki & one Nepali, one Maring, one Kom, and five others. The total number of missing or forcibly disappeared persons between May 3, 2023, and April 27, 2024, is 41 with 31 Meetei and 11 Kuki. The total number of injuries between May 3, 2023, and March 19, 2024, is 1555, consisting of 1008 Meetei, 383 Kuki, 39 others, 28 Central Security Force, and 97 Manipur police.
(2) Not a premeditated attack by the majority (Meetei) on the helpless minority (Kuki tribes). Kuki terrorists launched attacks on Meetei minorities in Kuki-dominated hills. Meetei mobs retaliated by attacking vulnerable Kuki neighbourhoods. Kuki terrorists attacked Meetei villages in Meetei-dominated districts. The cycle of attack and retaliation continues. The total number of destructions between May 3, 2023 and March 19, 2024, is 4792 houses (2122 Meetei and 2670 Kuki). The total number of displaced persons is not available, but on April 22, 2024, at least 24655 Meeteis and 34489 Kukis were sheltered in 317 relief centres. The total number of children who became orphaned or semi-orphaned is 45 (12 Kuki children staying in relief centres and 33 Meetei children staying outside relief centres).
(3) Not a religious war between dominant Hindus (Meetei) and minority Christians (Tribes). Not all Meeteis are Hindus. Not all Christians are Kuki. Kuki fanatics, by desecrating the religio-cultural structures of Meetei neo-traditionalists and Hindus, forced them to avenge by attacking Kuki symbols. The total number of destructions of religious structures between May 3, 2023 and March 19, 2024 is 639 religious structures (408 churches and 231 temples).
(4) Not Valley (Meetei) encroachers attacking indigenous Hills (Kuki tribes). The valley is not solely owned by Meetei. Neither are all Kukis indigenous to the Manipur hills. Since Meeteis are not granted land rights in the hills where land laws have not been extended, they do not encroach to occupy hills. Similarly, there is no encroachment on Kuki land by the Government of Manipur. On the contrary, there is an abnormal decrease in Manipur’s forest cover area and the Government of Manipur has been striving to protect the State’s forests from the ecosystem destroyers, including those targeting forests. The alarming decline in forest cover is related to the unnatural growth of villages in Kuki-dominated hill districts. There is a correlation of immigration, unnatural growth of villages, expansion of poppy plantations in the hills, and destruction of forests and ecosystems by encroachers, including the Kukis.
Why the Propaganda of Lies?
Kuki masterminds covered up their secret agenda of creating an exclusive Zale’n-gam as a protectorate territory of the Western Imperialist powers by carving out territories from India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh. This must be achieved first by creating autonomous territories in all these countries, which should become contiguous and operated by Western imperialist agents in the name of religious and humanitarian aid. For this, Manipur is being identified as Central Zale’n-gam, that is, the omphalos of Kuki agenda. In Manipur, they have adopted interplaying multi-prong strategies: (1) System manipulation, (2) Armed insurrection, and (3) Propaganda.
To bolster their ranks, they have systematically transplanted Burmese infiltrators, who subsequently acquired Indian citizenship by unscrupulous means upon their arrival in Manipur. Together, they misappropriated the Scheduled Tribes status reserved for Indian citizens and seized control of land, resources, economic opportunities, jobs, and political and administrative positions. This has helped them to expand their cross-border territorial bases, increase manpower for building militia and regular armed groups, vote bank, civil society pressures, land grabbing, fundraising, etc.
The funds for armed insurrection and propaganda are derived from profits in illicit narco-business, smuggling, kleptocratic accumulations, extortions, plunders, etc. The narco-business includes spreading drug menace in India, wide scale land grabbing for poppy farming, and forest destructions. However, all these were threatened by the government’s recent policies to (a) identify refugees and illegal immigrants, (b) conduct population survey and update NRC, (c) war on drugs, including arrests of drug peddlers, and destruction of drug caches and poppy farms, (d) evict encroachers in Reserved and Protected Forests, (e) dismantle unauthorised constructions in government’s lands, and (f) stern decisions against a few Kuki armed groups that were responsible for violating SoO, etc.
Hence, they have organised premeditated attacks on the State government and carried out ethnic cleansing of the Meetei, to create mayhem. A few days before their direct action day on 3rd May, 2023, they protested the proposed visit of Manipur’s Chief Minister to Churachandpur and vandalised an open public gym on 27th April, 2023, the night before the Chief Minister’s visit. On 28th April, they announced non-cooperation with all government related programmes, a total shutdown of Churachandpur, and vandalised the forest office at Tuibong. On 29th April, they desecrated the seven-coloured spiritual flags of the Meetei and the Meetei God Ibudhou Pakhangba’s shrine. They discreetly planned and initiated their direct action day on 3rd May. By creating mayhem, they hoped to topple the local government on the grounds of instability, and thus remove obstacles against their agenda. Even when they failed to topple the local government, they prolonged the mayhem to win supporters for a Kuki separate administration. Therefore, they created fake victimhood narratives and spread lies that projected the Meetei as culprits attacking them, to garner solidarity and support from misinformed sections in India and beyond.
Why Call for Justice?
May 3, 2023, marks the onset of a dark era, the likes of which the present generation of Manipuris had never witnessed:
* India remains either ignorant or mute spectator to the blatant terrorism on its soil by cross-border Kuki settler colonialists, mostly funded by narco-business cartels and international agencies, and armed with smuggled weapons from the West. The country has been rendered unprotected.
* The propaganda of lies has unfairly portrayed the Meeteis who are the real victims of cross-border terrorism as culprits. They have been misrepresented, humiliated, targeted, unprotected, and denied timely justice.
* High-profile Indian fifth columnists, armed chair liberals and leftists, and a clique of opposition have failed to stand for peace but instead indulged in sectarianism and propaganda of lies. It has become clear that their objective is not democratic idealism and humanitarian causes but to take advantage and aggravate the already precarious situation, as is their habitual opportunism to topple the local government.
* India’s Northeastern portion of Manipur has been isolated, at least for a year, from the dominant mainstream perceptions and agenda that can help neutralise cross-border Kuki terrorists and thus restore the rule of law, peace, democracy, and progress. It conveys an impression that Manipur is too far away from both Delhi and from nationalists’ patriotic minds cape.
* The regime in power, while tacitly favouring leniency to Kuki armed groups protected by Suspension of Operations, compromises Manipur’ security (and by extension, India’s international border) from the elements of external aggressors. It becomes crystal clear that the authorities are not only neglecting the rule of law but also desisting from fulfilling the constitutional responsibility of protecting the citizens’ fundamental rights to life, property, movement, etc.
* Some allegedly high-profile renegades amongst the political, administrative, and security barons, either for their clandestine political or personal gain, may allegedly stand by the side of the terrorising partisan forces. It creates a serious negation that may cost Manipur people’s loyalty and trust.
* Security lapses have forced helpless citizens to rise up in self-defence, thereby giving rise to armed militia and overall militarism at an unprecedented level despite the presence of thousands of central security forces personnel. It reduces the much-publicised claims of progress in internal security and Act East Policy via Manipur to redundancy.
* There have been incomprehensible security and administrative lapses for a year. There is now a dilemma as to by whom, when, and how the immediate victims of Kuki terrorism and the most aggrieved sections affected by the Mayhem would be adequately compensated and rehabilitated.
We, therefore, rise up on the occasion of ONE YEAR TODAY and CALL FOR JUSTICE, to demand that normalcy and peaceful coexistence be restored once again in Manipur.
This document is a joint statement from the following organisations / groups: DEMAS • Delhi Meetei Coordinating Committee • Global Manipur Federation • Karnataka Meitei Association • Meetei Yaipha Lup • Meitei Alliance • Meitei Diaspora in America • Meitei Heritage Society • NUPI • Souls Offered Unitedly for a Lustrated Society • Team Meitei Personalities • World Meetei Council.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the NEA.
