A tribal council in Assam has decided to send back more than 1,000 Kuki-Zo people who came from ethnic violence-scarred Manipur.
Tuliram Ronghang, the chief executive member of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC), said the Karbi Anglong district has no space for the “newly arrived migrants”, indicating they settled down after the ethnic clashes between the non-tribal Meitei and the tribal Kuki-Zo people broke out in Manipur in May 2023.
“More than 1,000 Kukis from about 500 families came to the district recently. I have invited the Karbi Students’ Union and Kuki village chiefs to a meeting on Thursday (November 28, 2024) to discuss the matter so that we can give the migrants a good send-off,” he said on the sidelines of an official event in Howraghat, about 180 km east of Guwahati.
“The Kukis are tribals but they cannot settle down here in Karbi Anglong,” Mr. Ronghang, who heads the Bharatiya Janata Party government in KAAC, said.
The Karbis are the largest ethnic community in Karbi Anglong. The district has some Kuki settlements primarily in the Singhasan Hills region.
More than 75 people were killed in Karbi Anglong in 2003-04 during a conflict between the Karbis and Kukis over land, resources, and activities of extremist groups of both communities. Most of the victims were Karbis, allegedly killed by members of the extremist Kuki Revolutionary Army.
Manipur on the edge again
On Tuesday (November 26, 2024), fresh tension gripped Manipur after a few days of relative calm following reports that a 56-year-old Meitei man has been missing since Monday (November 25, 2024).
The man, identified as Laishram Kamalbabu Singh, was last seen heading to an Army garrison in Leimakhong on the border of the Meitei-majority Imphal West and the Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi districts. His family members said his phone remained switched off.
Leimakhong is about 17 km from the State’s capital Imphal.
The residents of Loitang Khunou, where the missing man was staying, appealed to the State government to ensure his safe return. Local media reports said the police and central paramilitary forces have been trying to locate him.
An Army officer said the man, originally from Assam’s Cachar district, was working as a supervisor for a civilian contractor of the Military Engineering Services for about 15 years.
“The garrison is surrounded by villages of all communities. The individual and his two-wheeler have not been traced yet. We have activated all resources and launched search parties in coordination with the police,” he said.
He also said the Army has kept all civil society organisations in the loop.
In Imphal, the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity announced a “complete shutdown” of the State and Central government offices in the State from Wednesday (November 27, 2024). This followed the expiry of a seven-day deadline set by the influential Meitei organisation for the government to fulfil its demands.
The demands include a review of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act reimposed in areas under six police stations of the Imphal Valley, action against the killers of three women and three children in Jiribam, and a terrorist tag on the armed group involved in the incident.
