The last of 10 Kuki households, totaling 24 people, that were living in New Lambulane in Imphal has been relocated by the Manipur government. Even after ethnic violence broke out in Manipur four months ago, the families chose not to relocate.
Early on Saturday, these families were transferred to the Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi district on the northern side of the Imphal Valley because they had turned into ‘vulnerable targets,’ according to an official.
According to him, the last of the ten Kuki families received ‘safe passage’ to Motbung in the Kangpokpi district, around 25 km from Imphal.
Families from Kuki, however, claimed that they were forcibly relocated from their homes in the New Lambulane neighbourhood to Motbung.
In the intervening night of September 1 and 2, according to S Prim Vaiphei, one of the volunteers manning the Kuki locality in the centre of Imphal, ‘a team of uniformed armed personnel claiming to be acting under directions from the Home Department came to New Lambulane, Imphal and forcibly evicted the last remaining residents of the Kuki locality in Imphal from their homes.’
Since the ethnic violence started on May 3, approximately 300 tribal families that were residing in the New Lambulane area had already gradually departed the area.
‘Twenty-four of us were not given time to even pack our belongings and we were herded into vehicles with only the clothes we were wearing,’ Vaiphei said in a statement.
Expressing strong displeasure over the ‘forcible eviction,’ Kuki Inpi Manipur, an organisation of the Kuki tribes, in two statements, said, they stood ‘aghast at the dastardly attack against the last of the Kuki Zo volunteers (numbering about 24 men) who have been guarding the houses and properties of the Kukis at New Lambulane. The volunteers were later escorted by security personnel.’
The Kuki body reaffirmed its demand for a distinct government.
The Meiteis and Kukis are now completely divided. The earliest possible constitutional recognition of this division by the central government is essential, it stated.
Since the ethnic confrontations in Manipur began in early May, more than 160 people have died and hundreds have been injured. This is because a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was held in the hill regions to protest against the Meitei community’s quest for Scheduled Tribe (ST) designation.
The majority of Meiteis, who make up around 53% of Manipur’s population, reside in the Imphal Valley. A little over 40% of the population are tribal people, mostly Nagas and Kukis, who live in the hill districts.
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