Bring entire Imphal Valley under Afspa and demand 10 Kuki MLAs | India News – Times of India

GUWAHATI: Manipur’s 10 Kuki legislators, including seven from the BJP, on Thursday urged the Center and the state government to initiate political dialogue to restore peace in the violence-hit state. Their call came in response to an eight-point resolution passed at a meeting of NDA ministers and legislators convened by CM N Biren Singh on Monday. The Kuki MLAs boycotted the meeting.
They accused the state government of escalating tensions for political motives. “The malfeasance seems to be coming from certain quarters to save CM’s shaky seat,” they said.
Tackling the Center reintroduction of Afspa on November 14, Kuki lawmakers said it “needs immediate review.” The 1958 law gives soldiers special powers during counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations.
The Kuki MLAs advocated expansion of Afspa to the remaining thirteen police jurisdictions in the Imphal Valley to “facilitate the recovery of over 6,000 sophisticated weapons looted by Meitei militia since May 3 last year, when ethnic violence broke out in the state. “This is a long overdue action necessary to contain the violence,” they said.
Monday’s meeting had earlier decided to request the Center to review the re-imposition of Afspa in areas under six police stations.
The MLAs criticized the resolution to “carry out mass operations against Kuki militants responsible for the killing of six innocent women and children in Jiribam”, calling it “biased” as it targeted a single community. “Mass operations must be carried out across the state to recover all illegal weapons from all militia groups,” they stressed.
They also opposed the resolution to declare the alleged perpetrators of the Jiribam killings as an unlawful organization. “This should be preceded by the declaration of the Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun as unlawful organizations under the relevant laws,” they said.
They responded to the killing of ten Hmar men during a CRPF operation on November 11 in Jiribam. While the armed forces branded them as militants, the Kuki-Zo community claimed the men were village volunteers.