Manipur is slowly returning to normal after ethnic violence broke out on May 3 (File)
The top Naga body in Manipur has strongly objected to the Kuki-Zo tribes' demand for a separate administration as it includes two districts that the Nagas had opposed when they were created in 2016.
The United Naga Council (UNC) in a strongly worded statement said the creation of the two districts "remains alive as an unfinished issue", and so it has become all the more "inevitable for the Nagas to register our opposition to the issues raised and incorporated in their memorandum submitted to different authorities as it is posing a big threat to the very existence and inalienable rights of the Nagas, particularly in the state of Manipur".
Sources said the UNC's statement, although not entirely unexpected, is significant as it brings the Nagas in the state, who have so far been speaking from the sides amid the Kuki-Meitei conflict, to the centre stage of the Manipur situation.
After ethnic violence broke out on May 3 between the hill-majority Kuki tribes and the valley-majority Meiteis over the Meiteis' demand for Scheduled Tribes (ST) status, the Kukis have moved to demanding a complete separate administration, saying they can no longer co-exist with the Meiteis.
The separate administration demand initially came from 10 tribal MLAs in Manipur's 60-member assembly, following nine days of major clashes in the India-Myanmar border trading town Moreh, Churachandpur, Imphal valley and other areas. The entire Kuki-Zo tribes eventually joined the MLAs in pushing for the demand.
Referring to the two districts created in 2016, the UNC said it was the "handiwork" of the then Congress government that allegedly took the decision for political reasons.
"Of the districts, the ones carved out from Senapati and Chandel districts are the handiwork of the Congress government's appeasement policy carried out in the name of administrative convenience. Hence, the demand of a separate administration which incorporates the so-called two new districts is necessarily opposed," the UNC said in the statement today.
"The Nagas' stand on the opposition remains unchanged. The bifurcation of the so-called two districts is an issue virtually with the Kukis only, not with the Zo peoples. In this regard, the Kuki-Zo people's representation to the Union government, Israeli Prime Minister, European Parliament, UN, etc is on false territorial foundation and an attempt to befool those authorities..." the top Naga organisation that represents all Nagas in Manipur said in the statement.
Over 180 have died in the ethnic violence and thousands have been internally displaced.
The security forces have created what they call "buffer zones" in areas between Meitei villages and Kuki settlements to avoid the two sides from fighting again.