Imphal, July 30: Manipur Police have urged a leading Naga organisation in the state to lift the shutdown and allow the safe passage to the people belonging to the Kuki-Zo community through the Naga-inhabited areas, officials said on Wednesday.
A police official said that a vital meeting between the senior police officials and the leaders of the Foothill Naga Coordination Committee (FNCC) was held on Tuesday at the police headquarters, which discussed the demands and grievances submitted by the committee.
“After a detailed deliberation on the issues raised, the Police Department assured the FNCC representatives that all genuine concerns would be examined with utmost seriousness. The Department reiterated its commitment to addressing the matters raised in a timely and appropriate manner,” the official said.
He said that in the interest of maintaining peace and public order, the government also appealed to the FNCC to lift the shutdown imposed in the Naga people inhabited mountainous areas, so that the matter can be resolved amicably through continued dialogue and cooperation.
The FNCC had called for an indefinite shutdown from July 18 on the movement of Kuki-Zo tribals within the foothill regions of Naga-inhabited areas. The FNCC had stated that the shutdown is a peaceful but firm protest against what it describes as threats to the ancestral land, identity, and security of the Naga people.
Secretary B. Robin Kabui, in a statement, had said that the first concern was the proposed construction of roads through Naga ancestral territories without prior knowledge or consent of the Naga people. The committee termed it a blatant disregard for traditional ownership rights. The Kuki-Zo Council (KZC), the apex body of the Kuki-Zo tribal community, earlier in a statement, had said that the German-Tiger road in the Naga people’s inhabited areas is a humanitarian lifeline that was initiated by Kuki-Zo civil society organisations out of sheer necessity.
KZC’s Secretary, Information and Publicity, Ginza Vualzong, had said that following the ethnic violence that erupted on May 3, 2023, it became unsafe and impossible for Kuki-Zo people to travel through Meitei-dominated areas.
“As a result, the community had no choice but to revive and upgrade an old inter-village track, now known as the German-Tiger Road, to connect the districts of Churachandpur and Kangpokpi. Similarly, as Sugnu is no longer accessible, we are compelled to depend solely on the Singheu route to stay connected with Churachandpur, Chandel, and Tengnoupal, despite the absence of a viable bridge,” Vualzong had said in a statement.
The KZC strongly condemned the ‘baseless and malicious accusations being circulated by certain Meitei groups branding the German-Tiger Road and Singheu Road as “drug routes.” “These claims are entirely unfounded and without any legitimate evidence. Such narratives are not only irresponsible but are clearly intended to malign the Kuki-Zo community and disrupt the already fragile connectivity between Kuki-Zo inhabited regions of Manipur,” the KZC stated. The KZC urged the Central government to reject these “divisive and baseless allegations” and, instead, take steps to improve the German-Tiger Road and Singheu Road as essential inter-district lifelines.
IANS