The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) and the Zomi Council Steering Committee (ZCSC) on Wednesday strongly condemned the move to review the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status of certain Kuki-Zo communities in Manipur amid the ongoing ethnic conflict in the State.
The ITLF issued a statement where it referred to the Meitei community to say, “First, they tried to become like us… Now, they are trying to erase our status as tribals.”
The ZCSC sent a memorandum with its objections to the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Manipur Tribals’ Forum Delhi, another representative body of the Kuki-Zo community, also endorsed the ITLF statement.
New committee
This comes a day after The Hindu reported that the Manipur government had been asked by the Centre to examine a representation for delisting certain Kuki and Zo communities from the State’s ST list. Following this, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh told reporters in Imphal that a committee would be formed to look into this representation, which would consist of representatives of all 34 recognised STs of the State.
In its statement, the ITLF said, “The communal Biren Singh administration has now opened a new front by pushing for the removal of the Kuki-Zo community from India’s Scheduled Tribes list.”
The ITLF, a conglomerate of Kuki-Zo tribal bodies in Churachandpur district, alleged that this was a “well-coordinated” move by the Manipur government and the Meitei groups, while asserting that removing a community from the ST list is “no small task”.
Given that the representation called for review of criteria for STs as well and make indigeneity the principal requirement, the ITLF argued, “The Manipur government is now trying to push for changing the criteria in its attempt to displace and deprive Kuki-Zo tribals of their rights and their land.”
“Any further attempts by Biren Singh to use the State machinery to target the Kuki-Zo community will only escalate the conflict, which will ultimately be detrimental to him and the State,” it added.
In its memorandum to the PMO, the ZCSC called the move to trigger a review of ST status of Kuki and Zo communities a “blatant attempt to rewrite history to suit the majoritarian narrative”. “This would only end up widening the existing divide,” it added.
Border curbs
The Zomi body also opposed Mr. Singh’s request to remove the Free Movement Regime along the Myanmar border and the Union government’s “ready compliance”, calling it “nothing short of a fresh attempt to set up an iron curtain between the same people who have been divided by the British colonial rulers, and is one of the continued efforts of the Manipur government to shift the focus away from the root cause of the ethnic violence – the majority Meitei community’s hunger for ancestral tribal lands and privileges.”
The ZCSC further reiterated the demand for a separate administration for the Zo people in light of the ethnic conflict since May 3, seeking a Union Territory with a legislature within the framework of the Indian Constitution.
