Manipur BJP MLA asks Centre to take action against Kuki militants

 IMPHAL: Prominent Manipur BJP MLA Rajkumar Imo Singh on Friday urged the Central government not to hold any talks with the Kuki militants as they, according to him, violated the ground rules of Suspension of Operations (SoO) and were part of the ethnic violence in the state. Singh, son-in-law of Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, also demanded strict action against the Kuki militants for violations of the ground rules and their involvement in the over three-month-long ethnic violence. The BJP MLAs accusation and demand come a day after the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an apex body of the Meitei community, strongly objected to the Central government's plans to talk with the Kuki militant outfits and urged the Centre not to hold any talks with them.

The COCOMI said that the Central government planned to hold talks with the umbrella "organisations of immigrant Chin Kuki Narco Terrorists-the United Peoples' Front (UPF) and Kuki National Organisation (KNO). The UPF and KNO, which are conglomerates of 23 underground outfits, signed a SoO with the government on August 22, 2008, and then there are 2,266 Kuki cadres who have been staying in different designated camps in Manipur. The Congress was in power in Manipur when the SoO was signed.

Imo Singh refused to make any comments on the state government or the Chief Minister's knowledge about the Centre's talks with the Kuki militants. "If there is a conclusion to the talks, then the state government would surely be consulted as a major stakeholder, and when consulted, the state government would not accept those terms and conditions, which would be detrimental to the state. Any terms regarding the talks have to be mutually acceptable to all parties, for which all stakeholders have to be properly consulted and discussed minutely," the MLA said. Sources said that the first round of talks between the Centre and the Kuki militant groups was held in New Delhi on July 26, when the outfits raised the demand for a separate administration for the tribals in Manipur. (IANS)

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