Kuki-Zo body support Naga demand to rollback of 'arbitrary creation' of 7 new districts in Manipur

Imphal: In an important development, the Kuki-Zo community has expressed support for the Manipur-based United Naga Council's (UNC) demand to rollback the "arbitrary creation" of seven new districts in the state in December 2016 and the reinstatement of the status quo.

The World Kuki-Zo Intellectual Council (WKZIC), in a memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu, demanded a rollback of the creation of all the new districts of Manipur after 1972, and a return to the original names prior to 1972 for 'Justice' for all the three communities -- Meitei, Kuki-Zo and Nagas -- in Manipur.

Signed by five leaders of WKZIC including its President T.S. Haokip, the memorandum sought the President’s intervention to solve the long-pending “political issues and imbroglios” of Kukis, Meiteis, and Nagas in Manipur.

Copies of the WKZIC memorandum were sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.

Meanwhile, official sources said that an inconclusive tripartite talks on the UNC’s demand to roll back the creation of the seven new districts was held in New Delhi on October 12 between the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the state government and the Naga body.

A Manipur government official said that in the October 12 meeting, it was decided that the next round of talks would be held on November 15 in the Senapati district.

After the MHA’s notice for the tripartite talks, the UNC earlier announced the temporary suspension of its 48-hour shutdown from midnight of October 3 in support of their demand.

The UNC had on September 11 issued an ultimatum to Union Home Minister Amit Shah for redressal of the pending issue of the creation of seven new districts in Manipur in 2016 and warned of intense agitation if the matter was not resolved within 15 days.

A UNC statement said that seven new districts were created arbitrarily by bifurcating parent districts on December 8, 2016, during the Congress regime without any information, consent or knowledge of the stakeholders. It added that the seven new districts were created "dishonouring" the four memoranda between the government of Manipur and the Naga people besides the assurance from the Centre in 2011.

In support of their demand, Naga bodies organised a series of protests, hartals, and economic blockades on all the National Highways and as many as ten rounds of tripartite talks on the issue were held between the Centre, the Manipur government and the UNC. The Naga body had said that the last talks with the governments were held on March 9, 2019, with the assurance that a concrete proposal shall be placed by the Manipur government in the next round of talks, supposedly to be held by the last week of July 2019.

The UNC said that a missive had been sent to the office of the Special Secretary, Northeast, MHA, for resumption of the tripartite talks on January 22, 2024, and a prompt reminder was sent on February 23 but received no response as of yet. Naga people mostly inhabit six Manipur districts -- Tamenglong, Chandel, Ukhrul, Kamjong, Noney and Senapati -- which are along the Nagaland and Myanmar borders. During the 17-month-long ethnic unrest in Manipur between the non-tribal Meitei and the tribal Kuki-Zo community, the Naga-inhabited areas remained peaceful.