Manipur Peace Talks: Why Kuki-Zo Groups Demand a Separate Union Territory

MHA’s Adviser, North-East A.K. Mishra, officials of the Manipur government and representatives of Kuki-Zo armed groups under SoO -- the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and the United People’s Front (UPF) -- held the tripartite meeting on December 12 in the national capital.

The KNO and the UPF, in a joint statement, said that discussions focused on the demand for a Union Territory with a Legislature for the Kuki-Zo tribal people in Manipur.

The MHA in the first round of meeting held on November 6-7 in New Delhi had virtually rejected the demand of Kuki-Zo tribal organisations and militant groups for the creation of Union Territories with Legislature for the Kuki-Zo community in Manipur.

The KNO and UPF in their joint statement said that deliberations during the second round of talks primarily focused on land-related issues and governance in the hill areas inhabited by Kuki-Zo tribals.

During the discussions, the UPF and KNO representatives informed that tribal land rights in the hill districts of Manipur are historically and customarily vested in tribal village chiefs.

The statement said that emphasis was on the traditional practice that this foundational principle of hill governance has been systematically undermined by successive policies of the Manipur government.

It was also stressed that the logical and constitutionally consistent future for the Kuki Zo population is to have its own governance mechanism under a Union Territory with a Legislature, which would provide the necessary institutional framework to safeguard their traditional land rights.

UPF and KNO further stressed that a Constitution-based political solution for the Kuki-Zo hill areas is no longer a question of administrative reorganisation but an existential necessity, the statement said.

It said that the total physical separation of populations since the ethnic violence broke out on May 3, 2023, the overt weaponisation of state machinery against the tribal citizens and the systematic obliteration from the Imphal Valley are self-evident facts that are on record.

UPF and KNO have claimed that it is clear that the Manipur government abdicated its constitutional responsibilities.

“Reintegration under the existing state administrative framework is no longer possible, and a separate political solution remains the only viable path to normalcy, peace and stability. It was also pointed out that the violence of 2023 was not isolated, but the culmination of decades of aggressive land policies and political bullying aimed at dispossessing tribal communities of their ancestral lands,” they said.

The two tribal organisations said that a Union Territory with a Legislature would have the authority and neutrality required to enact and enforce laws capable of halting this long-standing process of dispossession.

The statement said that the social contract between the Kuki-Zo people and the state of Manipur has broken down beyond repair.

Article 371C failed in practice, as the Hill Areas Committee has been repeatedly bypassed and rendered ineffective in preventing either the violence or the policies that were engineered, it said.

The UPF and KNO claimed that the Kuki Zo people cannot be governed by a government that has enabled its ethnic cleansing. Creation of a Union Territory with a Legislature remains the only constitutional and viable solution for ensuring justice, security, normalcy and lasting peace, the tribal organisations said.

The UPF and the KNO, which are a conglomerate of 23 underground militant outfits, signed the SoO with the government on August 22, 2008. Around 2,266 cadres of the militant outfits have been staying in different designated camps in Manipur’s hill regions.

- IANS