‘One-sided state govt’: Biren’s resolution draws sharp reaction from Manipur’s Kuki-Zo MLAs, including 7 from BJP | India News
Manipur’s 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs Wednesday responded to resolutions adopted in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister N Biren Singh and attended by 26 NDA MLAs on Monday, accusing them of “taking advantage” of the November 11 incident in Jiribam, in which three women and three children from a Meirei family were abducted and killed.
The 10 MLAs, seven of whom are from the BJP, one is Independent and two are from the Kuki People’s Alliance, issued a statement: “Time and again, the one-sided state government has taken undue advantage of the Jiribam incident in suppressing and curtailing the rights of the disadvantaged tribal community.”
Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh chairs a meeting of ruling MLAs condemning the recent killing in the state’s Jiribam district and regarding the ongoing violence in the state. (PTI Photo)
“(The Manipur government has) become emboldened even to the point of threatening the Central NDA government,” the MLAs said, referring to the meeting’s resolution that if their points are “not implemented within the specified period, the NDA legislators will decide the future course of action in consultation with the people of the state”.
On the meeting urging the Centre to to “review the imposition of AFSPA” in six police stations areas of the valley, the MLAs stated that it is instead “long overdue” for the AFSPA to reimposed in all 13 police station areas in the Meitei-majority valley, which continue to be exempted.
The resolution had also demanded “mass operations against Kuki militants responsible for” the November 11 abduction and killings in Jiribam. Calling mass operations against just one community biased, the Kuki-Zo MLAs stated, “Mass operations must be conducted all over the state to recover all illegal arms from all militia groups.”
While the resolution sought the handing over of three recent cases to the National Investigation Agency, the MLAs demanded that all cases of civilian killings in both the valley and the hills be handed over to the NIA.
Their statement went on to say, “The resolution for declaration by the Government of India, of ‘Kuki Militants’ responsible for the killing of six innocents, must be preceded by the declaration of the Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun as Unlawful Organisations under relevant laws. Village volunteers are not an organisation, but youth defending their villages from the murderous attacks by Arambai Tenggol, the so-called G5 (a conglomerate of five underground Meitei outfits) aided by the state police and, in the case of Jiribam, by the CRPF.”
The MLAs also urged the initiation of peaceful dialogue, and condemned the attacks on the homes of Meitei legislators by mobs protesting against the November 11 incident.
