Kuki-Zo MLAs will not participate in formation of new Manipur govt: Tribal bodies

Imphal, July 5 (IANS) The Kuki-Zo tribal organisations in Manipur on Saturday announced that their MLAs would not participate in the formation of the new government in the state.

Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) General Secretary Khaikhohauh Gangte in a statement said that a joint meeting of eight Kuki-Zo tribal organisations and their district units held a meeting on Friday and resolved that no Kuki-Zo MLA shall participate or take part in any manner in the formation of a new popular government in Manipur.

“Under no circumstances shall the Kuki-Zo people compromise our ancestral land, culture, identity, and political, social and economic rights. This resolution of Friday’s meeting is the collective political will and aspiration of the Kuki-Zo people and is binding upon all Kuki-Zo representatives and community organisations,” the statement said.

The KIM General Secretary said that all concerned are hereby advised to adhere strictly to the Friday meeting’s resolution in letter and spirit.

There are ten MLAs belonging to the Kuki-Zo tribal community and they have boycotted all the assembly sessions in Manipur since the violence broke out on May 3, 2023.

All the Kuki-Zo tribal organisations have been demanding the creation of a separate administration equivalent to a Union Territory with a legislature for them.

The ten Kuki-Zo tribal MLAs, including seven belonging to BJP, also have been strongly supporting the separate administration demand.

On Saturday, senior BJP leader Yumnam Khemchand Singh highly praised the Central government for its initiatives to restore peace and normalcy in the strife-torn Manipur and praised Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s approach to resolving the crisis.

Singh, who was elected to the state Assembly from Singjamei constituency in Imphal West district, said that as part of the measures taken to restore peace and normalcy in the state, security forces have been successfully conducting search operations to recover illegal arms and ammunition.

The 61-year-old MLA said that the Central government has been taking various steps to resolve the ethnic crisis, which erupted on May 3, 2023, and has now exceeded two years.

“Among the significant measures taken to restore peace and normalcy in the state, security forces have been conducting search operations to recover illicit arms and ammunition,” the Meitei community leader said.

In a statement, he said that in the past month, a substantial quantity of arms and ammunition were seized from various parts of the valley districts, and recently, a significant cache was recovered from the hill districts as well.

--IANS

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