Imphal: Manipur Assembly’s 10 Kuki MLAs, including seven of the state’s ruling BJP-led alliance, have demanded that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) be extended to the entire state to facilitate the recovery of looted arms.
In a joint statement, the 10 Kuki MLAs said, “The imposition of AFSPA as per orders dated 14 November 2024 indeed needs immediate review to extend the Act in the remaining 13 police jurisdictions.”
They argued that AFSPA should be enforced in the entire state to aid the recovery of the “more than 6,000 sophisticated weapons” that were stolen by the Meiteis since May 3 last year as it is a long overdue action required to contain the violence.”
The Centre on November 14 reimposed the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in six police station areas of Manipur, including the violence-hit Jiribam district. In a notification, the Union Home Ministry stated that the decision to reimpose AFSPA was taken given the continuous volatile situation in the state owing to the ongoing ethnic violence.
Addressing the Centre’s reimposition of AFSPA, the Kuki legislators said it “needs immediate review.
The Kuki legislators urged the Centre and state governments on Thursday to initiate a political dialogue to restore peace in the violence-hit state.
Their call came in response to an eight-point resolution passed on Monday during a meeting of NDA ministers and legislators convened by CM N Biren Singh.
The Kuki MLAs boycotted the meeting and accused state govt of escalating tensions for political motives.
The MLAs criticized the resolution to conduct “mass operations” against Kuki militants responsible for the killing of six innocent women and children in Jiribam, calling it “biased” for targeting a single community. They said that mass operations must be conducted throughout the state to recover all illegal arms from all militia groups.
They also opposed the resolution to declare the alleged perpetrators in the Jiribam killings as an unlawful organisation. “This must be preceded by the declaration of the Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun as unlawful organisations under relevant laws,” they said.
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Ethnic violence between Meities and Kukis began on May 3, 2023, after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the state’s hill districts to protest the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. More than 220 people have been killed in the violence since then.
