A global body of civil society organisations of Manipur’s Meitei community has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to scrap an agreement signed with insurgent groups of the Kuki tribes. The Meitei alliance has said that Kukis were primary instigators of the violence that erupted in Manipur in May 2023 and continued for several months.
The violence erupted after Manipur High Court recommended Scheduled Tribe status for Meiteis, an order that has since been modified.
The Meitei alliance said, “These armed groups, which have been the primary instigators and escalators of violence in Manipur since May 3, 2023, have used the SoO (Suspension of Operations) as a cover to pursue a vested agenda.”
As per an NDTV report, the Meitei group added, “Since the initiation of the SoO agreement in 2008, these militant groups had exploited the arrangement as a shield for engaging in acts of terror… They committed repeated and blatant violations of the SoO ground rules, amounting to terrorism.”
The Meitei alliance statement comes amidst speculation that a decision on the status of SoO may be taken soon.
