Manipur's Thadou Group Writes To KNO On Suspects Who Attacked Their Leader's House

The Thadou Students Association (TSA-GHQ) has written to the heads of the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), seeking their cooperation in identifying suspects who attacked the house of Thadou leader and Manipur BJP spokesperson T Michael Lamjathang Haokip in Churachandpur district twice last month.

TSA spokesperson Vicky Thadou in the letter said that Peniel village, where Mr Haokip's senior citizen parents live in their ancestral house, falls within the operational area of KNO, and are dominated by KNA, KNFMC, KNF-S, KNF-Z, and KLA - the five constituents of the KNO.

"... We hold the KNO and the local civil organisations morally responsible for the attacks," the TSA said in the letter addressed to the KNO president and vice presidents.

NDTV has seen a copy of the letter.

The Kuki National Front (Samuel), or KNF(S), in a statement refuted the TSA's allegation and requested people to "stay away from this misinformation and blatant accusation."

"The organisation is constrained to clarify that it is not involved in any violent act since the signing of SoO and that it has no knowledge of the said incident. Moreover, the place of the incident is not within the operational area of KNF(S). So, the blatant accusation that the incident took place within the operational area of the organisation is nothing, but the act of tarnishing the image and reputation of KNF(S)," the KNF(S) said in the statement, referring to the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement.

Mr Haokip told NDTV that except for KNF(S), the rest have not responded.

Mr Haokip is also one of the key members of the TSA-GHQ. The association in the letter said Mr Haokip's family or the village deserves no cruel treatment and persecution from any group, and requested the KNO to identify the suspects who set his house on fire last month.

"The Koitelui Area Chief Association (KACA)... reported and dismissed any knowledge about the perpetrators. They also stated that even the local organisations including Kuki Inpi Churachandpur, Kuki Chiefs' Association Churachandpur, and Kuki Village Volunteers Churachandpur have denied any knowledge about the perpetrators," the TSA said.

Mr Haokip's house was last vandalised and set on fire on August 31 in the third attack at his house since the Meitei-Kuki ethnic violence began in May 2023. Before that, on August 25, over two dozen people, some of them armed, had vandalised Mr Haokip's house where his parents and four families displaced by the violence live. The attackers also fired shots in the air.

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Mr Haokip had told NDTV that the brazen daylight attack on August 31 - despite the police having filed a first information report (FIR) naming several individuals as suspects in the previous attack - showed the "Kuki supremacists take India's laws as jokes."

Mr Haokip has said he has been raising awareness about his tribe, Thadou, being inaccurately referred to as a Kuki tribe amid the ethnic tension in Manipur. This had angered "Kuki supremacists" as they do not want to accept the Thadou tribe's distinct identity, Mr Haokip alleged.

In mid-August, three MLAs from among the 10 who have been demanding a separate administration carved out of Manipur had clarified they want their own tribes to be called by their correct names, instead of being associated only with the term "Kuki-Zo".

The KNO is one of the two umbrella organisations of 23 Kuki-Zomi-Hmar insurgent groups that have signed the controversial tripatriate SoO agreement with the state government and the Centre. The other is the United People's Front (UPF). The KNO and the UPF represent these 23 Kuki-Zomi-Hmar insurgent groups.

Broadly, the SoO agreement says the insurgents are to stay at designated camps and their weapons kept in locked storage, to be monitored regularly. Every year, a joint monitoring group reviews the SoO agreement and decides whether to end or renew it. The agreement lapsed on February 29 this year - the same day the Manipur assembly unanimously passed a resolution asking the Centre to scrap the agreement. The 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs did not attend the assembly session.

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The Manipur government has alleged some Kuki insurgents who are part of the SoO agreement have been participating in the ethnic conflict, thus violating the ground rules.

Leaders of the Kuki tribes have also accused the state government headed by Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who is from the valley-dominant Meitei community, of looking the other way when insurgents of the Meitei group United National Liberation Front (Pambei), or UNLF(P), allegedly participated in the violence. The UNLF(P) last year signed a peace deal with the Centre and the state government, after which its personnel came overground.

Manipur BJP President Writes To Amit Shah

Manipur BJP chief Adhikarimayum Sharda Devi has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking security and safety for Mr Haokip. In the letter, Ms Devi said that Mr Haokip, "a young and dynamic youth leader of the Thadou tribe and spokesperson of the BJP, Manipur Pradesh" has the right to express his views without fear.

She requested the Union Home Minister to direct the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to take up the cases of attacks on Mr Haokip's ancestral house.

"Provide adequate security for Mr Michael and his family, given the serious threats against him," she said.

Thadou Students' Association Seeks Answers

The TSA-GHQ in a fresh statement on Monday expressed disappointment over what it claimed was the state government's inaction and failure to arrest the suspects who attacked Mr Haokip's house multiple times.

"TSA is aghast at the failure of the government authorities to arrest the perpetrators of the crime and the masterminds till now. This is possibly due to the weakness of the local police and district administrators to enforce laws on the ground despite the will of the state government," the TSA said in the statement.

"But there can be no excuse for allowing injustice on repeated acts of terror and crime, and therefore, TSA reminds the state government to hand over the case to the NIA without any further delay," it said.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meitei community and the 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 Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar's Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.