Manipur | After Kuki Inpi hardens stance, signs of fissures among groups demanding separation

Kuki-Zou CSOs divided on specifics of separation from Manipur. ITLF seeks separate State/UT, Zomi Council wants to discuss specifics in negotiations. Hmar Inpui re-affirms identity, tilts towards Zomi Council

After Kuki Inpi Manipur’s (KIM, the apex body of Kuki tribes) statement specifically seeking a separate State under Article 3 of the Constitution in light of the ongoing conflict in Manipur, signs of fissures are starting to appear among Kuki-Zou civil society organisations (CSOs) and councils about the specifics of how they want to be separated from the State of Manipur. 

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) in a meeting on Monday decided to specify that they too are seeking a separate State, or a Union Territory if a State is not agreeable, according to their spokesperson Ginza Vualzong, while the Zomi Council (apex body of Zou tribes) has taken the position that specifics of autonomy can only be discussed once dialogue begins with the Union government. It added that it is not part of the ITLF. 

The 24 Suspension of Operations (SoO) groups (which includes Kuki and Zou groups) under the umbrella of Kuki National Organisation and the United People’s Front have taken a similar position as that of the Zomi Council and have chosen to distance themselves from the Kuki Inpi’s statement, just as the Zomi Council has. 

Meanwhile, the 10 Kuki-Zomi MLAs of Manipur, who had initiated the fresh demand for a separate administration within weeks of the ongoing conflict beginning, have also said that discussing specifics of the separation is “best left for commencement of the negotiations”. 

However, all of these groups reiterated that a consensus will soon be developed on how the separation should occur, and that they remained united in their demand for separating from the Manipur government. 

The ethnic conflict in Manipur began on May 3 between the dominant Meitei people (valley-based) and the Kuki-Zomi people (one of the two hills-based Scheduled Tribe groups — the other being the Naga tribes — for which the immediate trigger is said to be a Manipur High Court order that directed the State government to recommend ST status for Meiteis. Within the first few weeks of the violence, Kuki-Zomi people were forced to leave the valley and Meitei people were forced out of the hills — essentially separating the two populations geographically. 

This had resulted in 10 Kuki-Zomi MLAs of the State first raising the demand for separation, who were joined by virtually all Kuki-Zomi groups across Manipur, including independent councils and CSOs for sub-tribes within the larger Kuki-Zomi group of tribes such as the Hmar Inpui, the Zomi Council, and others.