Various Meitei civil society organisations and groups have called for justice and restoration of normalcy and peaceful coexistence in Manipur, which has witnessed violence, death, destruction for a year.
The CSOs, in a joint release on Friday, recalled the conflict that erupted in the state a year ago, on May 3, 2023, in which international cross-border Kuki terrorists clad both in combat fatigue and civilian garb, concealed themselves within the apparent cover of a mass solidarity peace march, and allegedly dramatically unleashed a premeditated reign of terror in the state.
The day marked the beginning of a mayhem, a vicious cycle of Kuki terroristic offensives and Meetei defensive retaliations, not only to avenge the communal attack but also to prevent further infiltration by the terrorists, it stated and added that it is an onset of a dark era, the likes of which the present generation of Manipuris had never witnessed. The militants organised premeditated attacks on the State government and carried out ethnic cleansing of the Meeteis, it stated.
Kuki masterminds’ secret agenda of creating an exclusive Zale’n-gam, their long term geo-political agenda of terroristic offences, the collusion of cross-border clan based warlords, the modus operandi of funding terrors, selection and timing of targets, forms and course of terror, physical holocausts and psychological damages on people, and threats to India’s internal security and international borderland trade were allegedly covered up by coordinated propaganda of a sinister web of lies worldwide projecting the Meetei as culprits attacking them, in order to garner solidarity and support from misinformed sections in India and beyond, it maintained.
It lamented that India allegedly remains either ignorant or mute spectator to the blatant terrorism on its soil by cross-border Kuki settler colonialists, mostly funded by narco-business cartels and international agencies, and armed with smuggled weapons from the West. The propaganda of lies has unfairly portrayed the Meeteis who are the real victims of cross-border terrorism as culprits, it stated.
It went on to say that high profile Indian fifth columnists, armed chair liberals and leftists, and a clique of opposition have allegedly failed to stand for peace but instead indulged in sectarianism and propaganda of lies. The war-torn state has been isolated, at least for a year, from the dominant mainstream perceptions and agenda that can help neutralise cross-border Kuki terrorists and thus restore rule of law, peace, democracy, and progress, it asserted.
The regime in power, while tacitly favouring leniency to Kuki armed groups protected by Suspension of Operations, compromises Manipur’ security (and by extension, India’s international border) from the elements of external aggressors, it mentioned. It pointed out that the security lapses have forced helpless citizens to rise up in self-defence, giving rise to armed militia and overall militarism at an unprecedented level despite the presence of thousands of central security forces personnel.
It also noted the existing dilemma as to by whom, when, and how the immediate victims of the violence and the most aggrieved sections affected by the mayhem would be adequately compensated and rehabilitated. The CSOs appealed to the ruling and the opposition, to prioritize delivery of swift justice to victims impacted by the prevailing crisis and further urged all the MLAs to work together with the public by initiating steps towards reconciliatory efforts to bring back peace and harmonious co-existence in the state.
The joint release was issued by DEMAS, Delhi Meetei Coordinating Committee, Global Manipur Federation, Karnataka Meitei Association, Meetei Yaipha Lup, Meitei Alliance, Meitei Diaspora in America, Meitei Heritage Society, NUPI, Souls Offered Unitedly for a Lustrated Society, Team Meitei Personalities and World Meetei Council, it added.
