Kuki-Zo bodies turn to Mizoram for Naga talks, urge Centre to defuse Manipur crisis

With efforts to start a dialogue between Kuki-Zo tribes and Tangkhul Nagas in Manipur making little headway, Kuki civil society groups are now hoping that an intervention from Mizoram can help break the deadlock.

A delegation of Kuki-Zo Church leaders is headed to Aizawl to meet church authorities there and urge them to impress upon Naga church leadership in Manipur and Nagaland to facilitate dialogue aimed at ending the ongoing Naga-Kuki conflict.

“We have tried to reach out to the United Naga Council for a dialogue, but it has not been successful. So, a delegation of the Kuki-Zo Church is heading to Aizawl to talk to church authorities there. A meeting is scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday). We hope that the church in Mizoram can impress upon the Naga church authorities in Manipur and Nagaland to engage in dialogue,” Kuki Zonal Council (KZC) chairman Henlienthang Thanglet told The Indian Express.

The outreach to Mizoram comes even as Kuki civil society organisations intensified their engagement with the Centre in Delhi, pressing for what they described as “equal justice” for the community, restoration of humanitarian access to affected areas and an expedited political solution to the larger ethnic conflict in Manipur.

The KZC and the Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM), another influential Kuki body, were in Delhi over the weekend and Monday, where they met the Centre’s North East interlocutor Ajit Lal and Director of Intelligence Bureau Mahesh Dixit. The delegations also submitted a memorandum to Union Home Minister Amit Shah detailing what they described as a worsening humanitarian and security situation in Kuki-dominated areas.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi on Monday, KZC spokesperson Ginza Vualzong said the suffering of the Kuki-Zo community in the ongoing Naga conflict had not received the same attention as other incidents.

“Everyone is talking about the six Naga hostages. People don’t know about the suffering the Kuki-Zo are going through. Fifteen Kuki-Zo people have been killed at the hands of NSCN(IM) and other armed groups and 14 villages have been burnt down. We condemned the killing of the Naga hostages, but justice must be equal. We are also victims,” he said.

Around two dozen people have been killed in the Naga-Kuki clashes since January this year, while several villages belonging to both communities have been torched. The latest violence comes nearly three decades after the 1990s Naga-Kuki conflict.

Vualzong alleged that Kuki villagers in Kangpokpi district were facing shortage of food, medicines and fuel because supplies routed through Senapati had been disrupted. “Our right to live is being denied. In some villages people are not allowed to buy food. Half a bag of rice costs Rs 3,500 and a litre of petrol costs Rs 250. We are requesting the government to ensure uninterrupted movement of essential commodities and guarantee access to healthcare,” he said.

The organisations reiterated that the humanitarian crisis reinforced their demand for a separate administrative arrangement for the Kuki-Zo people. Vualzong said the organisations had urged the Centre to expedite political dialogue with the Suspension of Operations (SoO) groups.

KIM president Ch Ajang Khongsai said the memorandum submitted to Shah sought “immediate intervention on the grave security and humanitarian crisis facing the Kuki-Zo people”. “We have asked the Government of India to ensure immediate protection of the lives, properties and ancestral lands of the Kuki-Zo people, order an impartial investigation into the killings and village burnings, restore uninterrupted movement of food, medicines and fuel, and take decisive constitutional and administrative measures for a durable political solution,” he said.

Thanglet said the organisations had also handed over to Lal a list of villages they considered vulnerable to attacks and areas facing acute shortages because of disrupted supplies.

Referring to allegations over the killing of six Naga hostages earlier this month, Thanglet said the Kuki leadership had apologised immediately after it emerged that the incident had occurred in a Kuki area. “But it was rejected. We want a peaceful solution. We have approached the UNC, but it has been of no use,” he said.

The Kuki organisations also reiterated their willingness to engage in dialogue with both the Naga and Meitei communities. “During the time of (former advisor to the MHA) A K Mishra, we had talks. We want to talk to both Meiteis and Nagas and find a solution,” Thanglet said.