Amid Manipur Border Town Gunfights, Kuki Groups Warn Of Picketing Offices

After two days of heavy gunfights in Manipur's border town Moreh between suspected insurgents and state forces, Kuki-Zo women in Kangpokpi district have started protests against the non-withdrawal of Manipur Police commandos from Moreh. They alleged Chief Minister N Biren Singh is trying to prolong the conflict in Manipur.

The women protesters at Gamgiphai, the peripheral area in Kangpokpi district with Imphal West, shouted slogans: "Remove Meitei commandos from Moreh", and "Reimpose AFSPA in the valley", and said they will picket offices if their demand is not met.

Reiterating the demand of the Kuki-Zo people, Committee of Tribal Unity (CoTU) media cell coordinator Ng Lun Kipgen on the sidelines of the protest said that they have demanded the withdrawal or removal of the state commandos from the Kuki-Zo-majority border town Moreh.

He said the deployment of state police commandos in Moreh is devoid of sound logic and rationality as tension and suspicion are bound to surface if suspected Meitei insurgents are allowed to roam freely in areas dominated by the Kuki-Zo.

He alleged the deployment of state police commandos in Moreh led to renewed violence in the Kuki-Zo-dominated areas where lives were lost and public properties were destroyed.

"This is the precursor to the tension that has happened recently in Moreh and the incumbent Chief Minister is responsible for the renewed or fresh violence in the border town," he said.