Ten Kuki-Zo MLAs in Manipur have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah seeking their intervention in connection with a move to replace two Assam Rifles battalions in the strife-hit state with the CRPF.

The MLAs said they had learned that there was a plan to withdraw the 9th and 22nd battalions of the Assam Rifles from their “current sensitive deployment at Kangvai and Kangpokpi, following pressure from the communally biased elements in the state government”.

The Kuki-Zo MLAs, who had submitted their memoranda on Friday, said “the un-biased service of the Assam Rifles in the fringe areas has been instrumental in the prevention of further escalation of violence till date” and the “unwholesome decision to replace the aforementioned AR Battalions with CRPF at this critical juncture is nothing but a sinister design to expedite the Meitei majoritarian ethnic cleansing campaign against the Kuki-Zo community”.

Manipur has a BJP-led government since 2017, headed by chief minister N. Biren Singh, a Meitei. Both the Meitei
and Kuki-Zo communities have been in conflict since May 3, 2023.

The Meiteis are for the withdrawal of the Assam Rifles for allegedly not acting against Kuki-Zo miscreants/militants. The Kuki-Zos are opposed to any move to replace the “neutral” Assam Rifles personnel who are seen by them as “saviours” against the Meiteis.

Seven of the Kuki-Zo MLAs are from the BJP. The Kuki-Zo MLAs are staying away from the ongoing Assembly session because of security reasons.

On Friday, two tribes-based organisations — Manipur Tribals’ Forum, Delhi, and the Zo United — requested the Prime Minister to “reconsider” the move to replace the Assam Rifles with the CRPF in Manipur because it could lead “to a significant escalation
of violence”.