Editor’s Note: As part of our ongoing commitment to serve as an advocacy platform for peace in Manipur, we continue to welcome opinion pieces from all communities. We encourage individuals to use this space to express their perspectives with sincerity and responsibility. We urge contributors to refrain from language that could be interpreted as inciting violence or hatred. In line with this initiative, we present a write-up by Ricky Haokip, former president of the Kuki Students’ Organization. Please mail your write-up at: novinkn@gmail.com. Thank you, Navin Upadhyay
BYÂ Ricky Haokip
Member of Parliament Prof. Bimol Akoijam, Convenor of the Coordination Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) Khuraijam Athouba, and former Chief Minister Biren Singh share a common zeal to preserve the territorial integrity of present-day Manipur. They also express similar angst over the Meitei offensive—initiated by radical members of their community—against the minority Kuki Zo community, which began on May 3, 2023, in Imphal, the capital of Manipur.
The latest manifestation of this jingoism emerged on May 20, when security forces removed a signage from a ‘Manipur State Transport’ bus carrying journalists to Ukhrul to cover the 5th Siroi Lily Festival. The incident occurred as the vehicle attempted to cross the Buffer Zone into Kuki Zo territory at Gwaltabi.
These ethno-centric personalities and their supporters have, in effect, separated the Kuki Zo community from Manipur both physically and emotionally. They invoke the Constitution selectively, using its provisions on state autonomy to serve majoritarian interests rather than those of the tribal communities. Victims of what is seen as a state-sponsored genocide, the Kuki Zo people now await political recognition from the Centre, seeking constitutional safeguards under a model akin to Article 3.
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Over the signage issue, Akoijam blamed it on the ‘…systematic erosion of Manipur’s autonomy,’ while staying completely silent on the state’s authority being blatantly exercised to shoot Kuki Zo civilians and bombard village folks across the Buffer Zone. N. Biren Singh called the signage incident ‘shameful’ and a ‘blow to Manipur’s dignity,’ while, as Chief Minister, he watched as mute spectator as the state machinery allegedly tried to ethnically cleanse the Kuki Zo community from  Imphal , and further beyond the Buffer Zones surrounding the valley.
Athouba, who has repeatedly issued statements that could be construed as calls for the “annihilation of all Kuki-Zo,” self-righteously objected—earning praise from the Meitei community—to the participation of Dr. Seilen Haokip, a Kuki-Zo academic and spokesperson for the Kuki National Organisation, as a panelist at the Delhi University Literature Festival held at Shri Ram College of Commerce in February 2025. What a striking display of contradictions.
Symbolism vs Silence: Manipur’s Uneven Outrage Over Press Freedom https://t.co/6G0HOU2IDk #JusticeForLaba #PressFreedom #SelectiveOutrage #ManipurMediaCrisis #StandWithJournalists
— Navin Upadhyay (@Navinupadhya) May 22, 2025
These Meitei personalities mentioned above are not common people; they are luminaries of the state. They represent a good many like-minded individuals in each of their class and category. Alongside them are Leisemba Sanajaoba, the Meitei’s titular king and Member of the Rajya Sabha, and Arambai Tenggol, his so-called  armed militia, besides another armed group, Meitei Leepun, patronised by the powerful political class of the valley. While all of them  do everything to spread  ethno-centric sentiment, their condescending attitude and deep hatred towards Kuki Zo vary only in degree: ‘Meitei can shoot and kill Kuki Zo; but Kuki Zo have no right to retaliate because they are monkeys’ (paraphrased, origin: N. Biren Singh). Altogether, they form a formidable bulk that the civilised and rational-minded Meitei populace will not dare oppose.
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Notwithstanding this dire predicament, a section of decision makers in Delhi still y think that the Kuki Zo cannot be given any Constitutional safeguards, but must ‘reconcile’ with the Meitei and return to the status quo—horror of horrors! This section , who  have not been subjected to the inhuman savagery the radical elements from the valley meted out against the Kuki Zo, and who do not have to live with them, appear to have no qualms about sending the ‘lambs to the lion’s den.’
Since 2023, over 250 Kuki-Zo individuals have been killed—many in brutal, dehumanizing ways. More than 7,000 concrete homes, built over lifetimes of savings and lived in for generations in Imphal, along with hundreds of villages on the borders of the valley and hill districts, were looted and razed. Women were raped and killed, often alongside children. Today, over 45,000 people remain displaced, forced to flee their homes and live as Internally Displaced Persons. Adding to this humanitarian crisis is the blockade of medical supplies and essential goods to the hills, loss of access to education, exclusion from government job recruitment processes held in Imphal—where Kuki-Zo individuals cannot safely be present—and the diversion of central funds meant for development in the Kuki-Zo hill districts. The list of injustices and deprivations continues to grow.
Two years of extreme subjection under most horrific conditions within our own country, and still ongoing, with no relief in sight—think twice, Think Tank of India, before thinking of subjecting the Kuki Zo to remain under the same administration, under the Manipur state. A day delayed in providing Constitutional safeguards is a day added to the miseries, especially of the IDPs.
The author, former President of Kuki Students Organisation, can be reached at Ricqypt@rediffmail.com
