Delhi meeting on Manipur: Meitei group COCOMI calls it ‘symbolic gesture’

Imphal, Apr 5 (PTI) The COCOMI, an umbrella body of several Imphal Valley-based civil society organisations, described Saturday’s meeting between warring Meitei and Kuki communities called by the Centre in Delhi as another “symbolic gesture” to solve the state’s ethnic problems.

The Meitei organisation also called for finding out the real causes of the crisis.

It demanded unimpeded access to highways and vital roadways, in line with Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s declaration, and prosecution of individuals and groups defying the peace overtures to restore public confidence in the President's Rule imposed in February.

In a statement issued here on the day the meeting was held in Delhi, the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) accused the Centre of “repeatedly employing symbolic gestures to create a facade of resolution, with no sincere or substantive steps to address the root causes of this crisis.” The Meitei group claimed that it declined to participate in the meeting as it was a "ploy" to validate the statement of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Parliament earlier this week.

During a debate on Manipur in Lok Sabha on Thursday, Shah had said that the Ministry of Home Affairs had held separate meetings with different organisations from both the Meitei and Kuki communities and now it would convene a joint meeting.

The latest meeting was “hastily convened with a handful of individuals from both sides”, the COCOMI claimed.

A six-member Meitei delegation comprising representatives from the All Manipur United Clubs' Organisation and the Federation of Civil Society Organisations attended the meeting. The Kuki delegation comprised about nine representatives.

The COCOMI demanded enforcing rule of law across the state, and "neutralisation of all hostile elements in the hill areas, including the SoO groups”.

The Suspension of Operations (SoO) pact was signed by the Centre, the Manipur government and two conglomerates of Kuki militant outfits – Kuki National Organisation and United People’s Front in 2008 and was extended periodically thereafter.

The COCOMI also demanded that the government "hold accountable those who openly defy peace initiatives, including the unlawful occupation of territories and blockade of highways by Chin-Kuki militant groups".

About 260 people have lost their lives ever since the ethnic violence broke out between the Imphal valley-based Meitei and neighbouring hills-based Kuki communities in May 2023.

The clashes began after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' organised in the hill districts to protest against an order of the Manipur High Court on the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe status.

President's rule in Manipur was imposed on February 13 after the then chief minister N Biren Singh resigned on February 9.

The state assembly, which has a tenure till 2027, has been put under suspended animation. PTI