IT News
Imphal, Aug 26:
The ten Manipur Legislative MLAs who have been demanding Separate Administration for Kuki Zo people on ethnic lines have stated that they were never in touch with Chief Minister N. Biren Singh since the outbreak of the violence on May 3.
The clarification comes in response to the statement given by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh to national media on August 25, in which he stated that he is in regular touch with the 10 Kuki-Zo-Hmar MLAs who have demanded a separate administration for hill districts.
The statement signed by the 10 MLAs said, “At this politically critical juncture, we do not have any intention to communicate with the CM N. Biren Singh. His claim of communicating with the Kuki–Zomi–Hmar MLAs may be a ploy to sow seeds of mistrust and disunity between the Kuki-Zomi-Hamr MLAs and their people”. The 10 MLAs said that on August 16 they submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister of India demanding a separate Chief Secretary and Police Chief for the affected Hill districts as temporary measures pending the ongoing political dialogue of SoO groups / KNO-UFP with the government of India.
Mentioned may be made that Chief Minister N. Biren Singh who had visited New Delhi to meet Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday had stated that he is in regular touch with the 10 Kuki-Zo-Hmar MLAs who have demanded a separate administration for hill districts reiterating his government stand that there can be no division of Manipur.
N. Biren also claimed that the violence that erupted on May 3 was pre-planned, that his government is not against Kukis, and that the recent face-off between Assam Rifles and the state police was a misunderstanding.
The Chief Minister also narrated indirectly, the genesis of the conflict. He said, “When we started the process to identify immigrants, I formed a committee. The chairperson of that committee is Letpao Haokip, a Kuki MLA. I am only trying to get illegal immigrants deported legally. We had to launch a crackdown on drugs as Manipur is the gatekeeper of the Golden Triangle. It was the government’s duty to stop drugs. I want to reiterate that the government is not against Kukis.”
