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IMPHAL, Dec 18 NNN: Recent references to the Kuki people as ‘foreigners’ and ‘migrants’ by a nondescript international body in various newspapers has become a matter of grave concern for the Kuki Students Organisation-General Headquarters (KSO-Ghq).
The apex Kuki students’ body said such despicable statements can get out of hand and embroil the people in chaos and the land in a state of anarchy. The historical account propagated by the International Meitei Forum (IMF) does not hold any waters as it lacks scholarly and rational explanation, the KSO dismissed. The claims made by the IMF are a concocted story of the naiveté minds, it further negated.
According to the KSO, the Kuki people like any other ethnic group in the state of Manipur, are indigenous people who inhabited the hills of Manipur since time immemorial. “Why some people chose not to accept the Kuki people as an aboriginal tribe is nothing but merely a conspiracy to alienate the Kukis by trying to appease a certain group that is engaged with the government in peace talks and negotiations. The people at IMF are advised to stop indulging in such whimsical ideas. They should realize that there are no takers for their outrageous assumptions. Like it or not, the fact is, the Kukis are as much indigenous to the hill region as the Meiteis are to the valley region,” the KSO claimed.
The KSO then said the constant allegation of Kuki influx is ridiculous. “Tagging them as immigrants is preposterous.
There may be some Kuki villagers who have migratory tendency, yes, but they are nowhere near to be called ‘nomads’ in the
truest sense. Migrations amongst Kukis were confined to short distances only, which is well within their realm or sphere
of influence. Just as the Meiteis who had at one point of time settled in the vastness of Shan state, Kabaw, and Cachar,
the Kukis were likewise indigenous people who settled in the vast expanse of land that stretched across the length and
breath of countries, which includes the northeastern region of India, western part of Myanmar, and the Chittagong hills of Bangladesh. The present Manipur just happens to be their ancestral land where their settlements are highly concentrated. The migratory culture found among some Kuki villagers was also due to practice of ‘jhum’ cultivation, which was their mainstay. So it was imperative that they shifted their village location in tandem with the ‘jhum cycle’. At the end of the day, they always come back and resettled the land when the fertility of the soil got restored,” the Kuki students’ body explained.
The IMF proclaimed its opposition for enactment of the Sixth Scheduled in Hill region of the State. After labeling the Kukis as foreigners, this is adding fuel to fire. The Kukis, after independence have become Indian citizens just as the Meiteis and the Nagas. The Constitutions categorized the Kukis and Nagas as Scheduled Tribes, while the Meiteis belongs
to other categories. India is a democratic and welfare State which provides constitutional protection for the weak and backward tribes. It is civilized that they should be protected from exploitation and suppression from majority ethnic groups. Per se the Sixth Scheduled is our birthright as guaranteed under the Indian constitution. The IMF has no right to oppose the 6th Scheduled meant for the tribal people. The tribal people of Manipur have been marginalized and exploited for many decades now. It is time a semblance of emancipation is bestowed upon them. If there can be Nagaland for Nagas, Mizoram for Mizos, Bodoland Teritorial Council for Bodos, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration for Gorkhas, why not a Kuki State for the Kukis? It is logical, as it is everybody’s aspiration to have a State of their own so that he can live with pride and dignity, and be free from exploitation. The spirit of freedom and self-determination are inherent human trait. As humans, if the pursuit of happiness is end and State the mean, nobody is to be blamed for clamoring for a State.
The Kukis protected this land that we called Manipur. Except for the strong opposition put up by the Kukis, Manipur should have been bifurcated long ago. It is because of the Kuki’s opposition for South Nagaland that the boundary of
Manipur is still intact. It was not the vocal ‘June Uprising’ but the ‘silent war’ of the Kukis’ defending their territory that saved and protected Manipur all along.
According to the KSO, in 1949, it was the Kuki chiefs and soldiers who came out to guard the king in a bid to prevent the signing of the ‘merger agreement’. The Kuki chiefs made an all-out effort to defend the independence of Manipur at the time of ‘merger to India’. This is awfully lamentable, the irony being that it was the valley people who forced their own king to sign over Manipur’s independence to India, it added.
The KSO then claimed that the Kukis fought the British in the Kuki Rebellion (1917-19) to defend their land and freedom.
Although they were defeated, their territory was not annexed by the British. Instead the lands remained with the Kuki chiefs after they accepted the surrender terms, it added. However, these lands were given away during Manipur’s merger
with India. Wherever land the Kukis claimed today are those lands that they shed their bloods for to protect it but signed away to India by others. If not for their land why Kukis should fought a long and protracted war against
colonialism and suffered immense hardships. It should be noted that the Kuki Rebellion or Kuki Rising was one of the longest wars fought in this part of the world. The Kukis had fought the British to uphold and defend their freedom for three long years. The lands they defended with their lives rightfully belongs them, the KSO asserted.
The KSO also said unto this moment the hills of Manipur belong to Kuki and Naga tribes. If the Nagas wants to get
separated from Manipur the Kukis have no choice but to do the same in order to protect their territory. The Kukis definitely can assert their right to live as citizens of their own territory. If there can be a ‘Naga solution’, why not a ‘Kuki solution’? Kukis have suffered long enough to deserve a protected territory of their own, it added.
It then advised that the IMF should get its statistics correct before hurling allegation of influx in a futile bid to label the Kukis as foreigners or immigrants. “It is trying to foment ethnic animosity by confusing people with wrong facts and figures. In 1881 census the population of Old Kukis was 8200 and that of the New Kukis was 27000, together it was 35850 Kuki populations. In that census the Meitei population totals 1,32,400. The 2011 census depicts the Kuki population at around 4.58 lakhs (not 8 lakhs as quoted by the IMF) and the Meitei population at 16 lakhs. Here, the percentage growth of the Kuki and Meitei population over the decades is more or less the same. Therefore there is no
question of the Kuki population growing rapidly due to immigration and influx. One must remember that the population of
the Meitei people during the ‘Seven Years Devastation’ was around 5000 only. Rather it is their population growth which should be questioned, not of the Kukis,” the KSO opined.
“The IMF talked about civil war being invited by the Kukis. ‘Civil war’ is a big word which should not be taken lightly.
If the IMF wants to take the people to a situation where there are no victors but only losers, who are to stop them? They should abstain from making provoking statements in future unless they meant it. The Kukis want no civil war or any war of the sort,” the KSO stated.
The Kukis forsake vast tract of ancestral lands in Tamenglong district and Ukhrul district in the aftermath of the ethnic clash in the interest of peace and mutual co-existence. Thus, the Kukis do not claim any part of land other than the areas they inhabited today. Everybody should see some sense in this and learn to do the same, it added.
“To conclude, the KSO would like to make it clear that the ‘foreigner’ tag given to the Kuki people is unsolicited and objectionable. There is no ‘Kuki influx and immigrants’ as claimed by IMF. If the IMF or any other body should choose to use these words again, the KSO will no longer take it lying down. If they so badly want the Kukis to be called ‘foreigners’, then all the Kuki inhabited lands will become a land ‘as foreign as it gets’ to the IMF and its people,” the apex Kuki students’ body stated.

Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/kso-reacts-to-meitei-forums-statement/