IT News
Imphal, April 5:
The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) has issued a strongly worded statement rejecting the meeting between representatives of the Meetei and Chin-Kuki-Mizo-Zomi-Hmar communities, facilitated by officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi. The statement, issued by Laikhuram Jayenta, Convenor of the IPR Sub-Committee of COCOMI, described the meeting as a “stage-managed spectacle” orchestrated to legitimise the “misleading narrative” put forth by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Parliament.
COCOMI asserted that the portrayal of the Manipur crisis as a mere “ethnic conflict” between the Meetei and Kuki communities is a gross distortion of reality. It argued that this narrative overlooks the deeper and more dangerous dynamics of a proxy war allegedly perpetuated by the Government of India through its continued patronage of Chin-Kuki armed groups operating under the Suspension of Operations (SoO) Agreement since 2005. The organisation reiterated that any peace initiative lacking acknowledgment of the government’s active role in the conflict is “a hollow exercise designed solely for political optics.”
In previous engagements with central officials, including a meeting in Imphal, COCOMI had clarified that the people of Manipur do not see the Union government as a neutral mediator. The latest meeting in New Delhi, they said, was hastily arranged with selective participation and aimed more at furnishing talking points for the Home Minister’s parliamentary speech than at addressing the root causes of the ongoing violence. COCOMI accused the government of failing to initiate a single sincere step towards resolution, while continuing to shield separatist forces and evade accountability.
The group reiterated key demands for restoring normalcy, including the enforcement of the rule of law across Manipur, dismantling militant strongholds in the hills, ending the SoO Agreement, ensuring free access to highways, prosecuting those violating peace efforts, and directly engaging with SoO group leadership, whose own representatives have claimed decision-making powers over elected officials.
COCOMI stressed that true civilian dialogue can only begin when the government dismantles the infrastructure of narco-terrorism and armed coercion. It further alleged that the government is using the crisis for a divide-and-rule strategy, counterinsurgency operations, and geo-political manoeuvring along the Indo-Myanmar border. Appealing to citizens of India and the global community, COCOMI urged vigilance against what it termed a deceptive narrative, reaffirming its commitment to justice, peace, and the preservation of Manipur’s territorial integrity.
