Manipur’s Meitei body to hold protests demanding action against Kuki rebels

NEW DELHI/IMPHAL: The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), the main civil society organisation of the Meitei community, will organise a protest demonstration in New Delhi on August 6 de-manding action against the Kuki militants and protest the move to divide Manipur. Delhi Meitei Coordination Committee (DMCC) Convener Seram Rojesh and Spokesman Khuraijam Athouba said that Indians must know that threat to Manipur integrity is against the national interest of India and India’s unity is in its diversity. “India should stand against all forms of terrorism, be it religious or narco- terrorism. Manipur hills can’t be another Golden Triangle,” he said while strongly opposing the division of Manipur on ethnic lines. Various Kuki tribal organisations and ten Manipur tribal MLAs, including seven from BJP, have been demanding separate administration (equivalent to separate state) for the tribals.

The COCOMI leaders said that the Kuki militants, who are under Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with the government, are backing the drugs trade, and poppy cultivation. The COCOMI also demanded annul the SoO and to replace Assam Rifles from Indo-Myanmar Border Management with more disciplined force. “Assam Rifles has failed to protect Manipur from cross border narco-terrorist aggression. Security forces have failed to pro-tect the Meitei farmers from attacks of Kuki militants,” the COCOMI statement said. The COCOMI appealed to all residents, students, professionals and others who are in Delhi to take part in the August 6 sit-in demonstration at Jantar Mantar. “This event would also convey the message to the Central government and all the parliamentarians to help in resolving the crisis on the basis of truth and not on vested politics. As the nation and the world is being fed with lies, misinformation, and concocted stories, the gathering would also expose everything to the world,” the CO-COMI statement said. (IANS)

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