GUWAHATI
A Meitei organisation has slammed Kuki civil society groups for warning the Meitei community against embarking on their annual pilgrimage to the Thangjing Hill, which lies in a Kuki-dominated district in conflict-scarred Manipur.
The Meitei Heritage Welfare Foundation (MHWF) said that preventing the Meiteis from visiting the sacred Thangjing Hill in the Churachandpur district is like stopping Hindus from undertaking a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, or making Mecca out of bounds for Muslims.
On April 9, six Kuki organisations issued a statement asking the non-tribal Meiteis not to cross the ‘buffer zone’ between the two communities for Cheirao Ching Kaba, an annual mid-April ritual of trekking up the Thangjing Hill as a part of the celebration of Cheiraoba, the Meitei New Year.
The buffer zone is a narrow strip separating the Meitei-dominated Imphal Valley from the low hills, primarily inhabited by the Kuki-Zo-Hmar tribes.
‘Denying Meitei rights’
The foundation said the pilgrimage to Ibudhou Thangjing, a sacred shrine on the hill range falling within the Churachandpur-Khoupum protected forests, has been a centuries-old religious practice of the Meiteis.
The Kuki organisations said that any attempt by the Meiteis to trek to Thangjing would be seen as a “direct provocation” until a political settlement for the Kuki-Zo people was reached under the Constitution. They added that those who undertake the pilgrimage would be responsible for any consequences of their action.
“This is a blatant attempt to deny Meiteis their fundamental rights to religious practice and freedom of movement,” the MHWF said in a statement on April 11.
‘Repeated provocations’
It accused the Kuki groups of similar provocations in the past, including the desecration of the Thangjing shrine, the erection of a Christian cross at the site in January 2024, and an alleged attempt to rename the hill. It claimed that such actions are designed to provoke violence and derail the peace efforts initiated by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
The foundation urged the authorities to take a decisive step, stating that further delay would embolden the extremist elements and deepen the communal divide.
More than 250 people have died and about 60,000 have been displaced in the conflict between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities that broke out in Manipur in May 2023. The State has been relatively peaceful since the imposition of President’s Rule in February.
Violence against girls and women
Meanwhile, a rights body has flagged the increasing violence against girls and women in the restive Churachandpur district, troubled by inter-tribal violence since March.
The Kuki Women Organisation for Human Rights condemned the rape and murder of a young woman in a village in the district’s Thanlon Subdivision on April 11.
“We are deeply alarmed by the continued rise in such crimes. Just recently, a 13-year-old girl was murdered and another rape case [of a 10-year-old girl] was reported within the district,” the organisation’s general secretary Kimneihoi Lhungdim said, demanding swift and decisive action from law enforcement agencies.
In March, a 9-year-old girl was found dead near a relief camp for internally displaced people in the Churachandpur district. Her neck bore injury marks.
