A top body of Manipur's Thadou tribe met Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla and requested for deletion of 'Any Kuki Tribes' from the Scheduled Tribes' (ST) list in the violence-hit state.
In a memorandum, which included suggestions for a peace restoration roadmap, the Thadou Inpi Manipur said the government must remove the "vague and ambiguous 'Any Kuki Tribes' from the Scheduled Tribes list of Manipur, as it is not only a threat to the integrity and unity of Manipur, but also a threat to national security from illegal immigrants."
The Thadou Inpi Manipur in the memorandum said the Manipur government "in a significant step forward to right a wrong" wrote to the Tribal Affairs Ministry in February 2023 to delete 'Any Kuki Tribes' from the ST list.
'Any Kuki Tribe' was added to the ST list in 2003 under the then Congress government in Manipur.
"Moreover, it [Any Kuki Tribe] cannot be changed to Kuki tribe simply because there is no such thing as Kuki tribe. There is baseless, false and deceitful propaganda by some ignorant or unscrupulous people that this 'Any Kuki Tribe' of 2003 is the same as the already deleted 'Any Kuki Tribe' of 1951-56," the Thadou Inpi Manipur said in the memorandum.
"The fact is that the tribes of Manipur were broadly grouped into 'Any Naga Tribe', 'Any Kuki Tribe' and 'Any Lushai' in 1951 as a temporary arrangement for the time being only for five years during the process of the linguistic survey of individual tribes of Manipur...
"Whereas Thadou is an indigenous tribe with its own distinct language, costumes, culture, traditions and rich heritage and history, the fake Kuki tribe (Any Kuki Tribe) was created in 2002, and fraudulently added to the Scheduled Tribes list of Manipur in 2003, so that their leaders could exploit this separatist movement for their own personal wealth creation and political control," the Thadou Inpi Manipur, which says it is the highest body of Manipur's recognised distinct Thadou tribe, said in the memorandum submitted to Governor Bhalla on Saturday, a day before Chief Minister N Biren Singh resigned.
The Thadou tribe organisation said all indigenous ethnic groups and tribes that call Manipur home should live in harmony and respect one another instead of battling over who is an illegal immigrant and who is an indigenous person.
"People who identify as 'Any Kuki Tribe' but are not illegal immigrants need not be alarmed since they can return to their original tribe if they are Indian citizens or members of one of Manipur's indigenous tribes and are not illegal immigrants or foreigners," the Thadou Inpi Manipur said.
The Thadou Inpi Manipur also requested for insertion of a clause in the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement to include "respect for Thadou human rights", alleging an alarming rate of human rights violations and persecution faced by the Thadou tribe at the hands of Kuki militants, "which has significantly eroded, suppressed, and subdued distinct Thadou identity in Manipur."
"... Thadou Inpi Manipur seeks to include a clause in the SoO agreement, if extended, which had elapsed in February 2024, that would mandate that SoO groups, specifically the Kuki militant groups, respect the rights of the Thadou indigenous tribe as this would also promote a more inclusive and peaceful coexistence among communities in Manipur," the Thadou body said.
While submitting the memorandum, members of the Thadou Inpi Manipur conveyed to the Governor to facilitate a meeting of Meitei and Thadou tribe leaders for community understanding. It said warring groups have unintentionally impacted numerous non-Kuki tribes in the Manipur crisis. The Thadou Inpi Manipur appealed to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Manipur Governor and other leaders to facilitate holding a meeting between the Meitei community and the Thadou tribe as soon as possible.
"The Thadou tribe will be represented by the Thadou Inpi Manipur. The Thadous have suffered rampant persecution and human rights abuses and are being forced to reject our own identity, our indigenous tribal name, Thadou," it said in the memorandum.
The memorandum was signed by leaders of the Thadou Inpi Manipur, Thadou Students' Association, Thadou Chiefs' Council, Thadou Elders' Association, and Thadou Human Rights Advocacy.
