The 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs of Manipur and the Kuki-Zo Council have voiced their opposition to the resolution adopted by the ruling NDA MLAs on “mass operations” against “Kuki militants” and “reviewing” the imposition of Afspa in six police station areas.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs said the November 14 reimposition of Afspa by the ministry of home affairs in six police station areas “indeed needs immediate review” so that it can be “extend(ed) to the remaining 13 police jurisdictions within Manipur/Imphal valley to facilitate the recovery of the more than 6,000 sophisticated weapons looted by Meitei militia since May 3, 2023. This is a long overdue action required to containthe violence.”

The MLAs, seven of whom are from the ruling BJP, said that to start a “mass operation against only one community is biased” and that such operations “must be conducted all over the state to recover all illegal arms from allmilitia groups”.

The Kuki-Zo MLAs hold chief minister N. Biren Singh, Meitei radical groups and militant outfits responsible for the nearly 19-month-long conflict between the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zos.

The NDA MLAs’ resolution — adopted during a meeting called by Biren Singh on November 18 to review the developing law and order situation in the wake of the abduction of the six relief camp inmates from Borobekra in Jiribam district on November 11 by suspected Kuki-Zo militants — had endorsed the cabinet decision to urge the Centre to declare the “Kuki militants” involved in the killings as “unlawful organisations” within seven days.

The resolution also included a recommendation to the Centre to review the Afspa reimposition and the launch of a mass operation against “Kuki militants” for the Jiribam killings. The decision was taken by the cabineton November 16.

The Kuki-Zo MLAs have said any declaration on the “Kuki militants” responsible for the Jiribam killings “must be preceded by the declaration of the Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun as unlawful organisations underrelevant laws”.

“Village volunteers are not an organisation but youth defending their villages from murderous attacks by Arambai Tenggol, the so-called G5 (a conglomerate of five underground outfits of the Meitei majority) aided by the state police and, in the case of Jiribam, by the CRPF,” the MLAs said. Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun are radical Meitei organisations blamed by the Kuki-Zos for the ongoing conflict.

Apart from the Kuki-Zo MLAs, the Kuki-Zo Council, an umbrella body of Kuki and Inpi tribes in the state, said through a statement that the “decision by the MLAs to reconsider” the November 14 MHA notification reimposing Afspa in the six police station areas “appears to be a blatant disregard for the urgent security concerns in the region”.

“It seems as though Biren Singh is more concerned about appeasing militant groups and bolstering his political position rather than prioritising the safety and well-being of the people.... The central government must reconsider this ill-advised resolution and prioritise the safety and security of the people above all else,” the council said.