Churachandpur-based ITLF condemned has condemned attacks on their leaders
A civil society group of the Kuki tribes in Manipur has asked the Assam Rifles and the police for help after unknown armed people broke into the house of one of its key members and attacked his family in the hill district Churachandpur.
Another civil society group chief was kidnapped and tortured before he was released. Shots were also fired at the home of Singngat MLA Chinlunthang in the same district.
In the first incident, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF) in a statement said some armed people came looking for ITLF secretary Muan Tombing at his house, and when they could not find him, they "kicked doors, dragged his wife across the floor, and snatched his daughter's phone".
"Luckily, he wasn't in the house at the time, yet one can only imagine what the armed miscreants would to him if he were," said the Kuki body formed in June 2022 which has been leading the call for a separate administration carved out of Manipur.
In the second incident, the ITLF said some armed people also kidnapped the chief of the Young Paite Association in Kanaan village, and released him "after extensive interrogation and being severely tortured".
In the third incident, the ITLF said some armed people suspected to be a part of the same group from the incidents earlier "opened fire on the home of Singngat MLA Chinlunthang... Around the same time, shots were heard close to [the house of] Henlianthang... who is the president of the Vaiphei People's Council."
The ITLF said the armed people and those who are supporting them do not want peace. "It is clear that they wish to sabotage our unity in the face of our common enemy," the ITLF said.
"Before things get out of hand, we implore law enforcement agencies such as the Assam Rifles and the police to take action and take necessary precautions on account of the armed miscreants' continual harassment of the residents of the town," the ITLF said.
The ITLF's demand for a separate administration carved out of Manipur is supported by two other Kuki groups - the Kuki Inpi, and the Kangpokpi-based Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU).
The ethnic violence that began in May 2023 between the valley-dominant Meitei community and nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis - a term given by the British in colonial times - who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, has killed over 220 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.
The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the nearly two dozen tribes that share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar's Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administrative carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.