Manipur’s Naga Groups Allege Kuki Volunteers Assaulted Students Body Members

Imphal: Several civil society organisations of the Naga tribes in Manipur have condemned alleged assault on members of a student’ body of their tribes in Manipur’s Senapati district.

The Senapati District Students’ Association (SDSA) in a statement said their members were “brutally assaulted and harassed” by Kuki volunteers in Gamgiphai in the district on Sunday night.

The SDSA alleged their members were subjected to “aggressive physical attacks and abusive words spitted out to the leaders, in spite of repeatedly asserting the volunteers that they were executives of the SDSA.”

The official car of the students’ association was vandalised, the SDSA said.

“… SDSA questions the intention of the Kuki community as to why after repeated MoUs signed between NPO and CoTU for mutual respect and coexistence, the Kukis can’t keep up the agreement in letter and spirit,” the SDSA said in the statement, referring to the agreement signed between the Naga People’s Organisation (NPO) and the Kangpokpi-based Kuki group Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU) on November 21.

The Mao Students’ Union, and the Poumai Naga Tsiidoumai Me (PNTM) in separate statements also condemned the assault on the SDSA members.

“… These leaders, who bear the responsibility of representing and advocating for the community, were brutally attacked and harassed by Kuki volunteers stationed at the post… Such violent acts are utterly unacceptable and represent a grave threat to the harmony and cooperation we strive to maintain between communities,” the PNTM said.

The Mao Students’ Union said the “vandalism of official property further illustrates the malicious intent to degrade and intimidate”, and asked the authorities to act swiftly in holding the perpetrators accountable. It called on all communities “to reject such disgraceful behaviour, fostering a spirit of respect and unity.”

While the Manipur ethnic violence is between the Kuki tribes and the Meitei community, the situation has often led to tension building up among other communities in sharing road networks, logistics, and passenger transport.

The Naga and the Kuki tribes had been involved in ethnic clashes between 1992 and 1999.