Manipur: Kuki groups allege police atrocities in Moreh, demand withdrawal of forces

Imphal: Several tribal organisations in Manipur on Friday claimed that hundreds of men, women and children fled their villages in Moreh in Tengnoupal district, due to the police commandos' search operation and "unprofessional conduct, atrocities and inhumane excesses" in the areas bordering Myanmar.

Two leading tribal organisations, the Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) and the Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF), urged the Union Home Ministry to intervene immediately and ensure the withdrawal of all Manipur Police commandos deployed in Moreh and other Kuki-Zomi-Hmar tribal-inhabited areas. They also demanded that the commandos be replaced with neutral central forces.

KIM and ITLF alleged that the Manipur Police Commandos launched the search operation in the aftermath of the killing of Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Chingtham Anand Kumar by suspected militants. They said that the search operation was accompanied by the "unprofessional conduct, atrocities and inhumane excesses" of the commandos, which forced hundreds of people to flee their villages.

The tribal organisations also alleged that the commandos were responsible for the death of a civilian named Lamyanba Kipgen, who was allegedly shot by the commandos during the search operation.

The tribal organisations also expressed their lack of faith in the state forces, which they said was "stemmed from the innumerable instances of their direct involvement in attacking Kuki-Zomi-Hmar inhabited villages during the current conflict".

"We have been voicing the serious concern and apprehension our people have against deployment of Manipur Police Commandos at various forums, including the Central government, and requesting for their non-deployment in the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar dominated districts of Manipur. Despite that, more commandos have been deployed to Moreh resulting in fresh disturbances and violence," the tribal organisations said in a statement.

The tribal organisations also demanded punishment of all erring state police and commando personnel "involved in the atrocities".

The Tengnoupal district branch of the Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) also in a separate memorandum to Union Home Minister Amit Shah sought his immediate intervention to stop the "inhuman torture and excesses by the Manipur police commandos".

The KIM in its memorandum to Shah said, "The incident occurred at a time when the Kuki-Zo people were in the hope of celebrating their annual harvesting festival 'Chavang Kut'. The ruthless atrocities committed by Manipur Police commandos ruined the celebration and terrorised the villages and towns inhabited by Kuki-Zo tribals in Tengnoupal district."