Hundreds of Kuki-Zo people, including schoolchildren, held a protest for “restoration of normal public life” in the border town of Moreh in Manipur on Saturday and sent a memorandum to Union home minister Amit Shah demanding “complete withdrawal” of Manipur state police commandos, the “main obstacle in the restoration of normalcy” in Moreh bordering Myanmar.

Schoolchildren who participated in the protest were seen with placards that read “We want peace, not Commando”, “Remove commandos so we can go to school” and “We want reopening of schools”.

Moreh, a Kuki-Zo majority area in the Tengnoupal district, has been witness to some violent clashes between armed miscreants and security forces since December-end leading to injuries to several security personnel.

The trigger for the protest was the burning down of three schools and several houses in Moreh by the Meitei police force, a local resident claimed, something which was also mentioned in the memorandum.

The ongoing ethnic clash between the Kuki-Zo and the Meitei communities that started on May 3 last year has not only claimed at least 205 lives but also displaced over 67,000 from both communities and fanned deep distrust and animosity for each other.

While the Kuki-Zo people do not trust Meitei police personnel, the Meiteis want the Assam Rifles personnel replaced by other central forces because they are seen as siding with the Kuki-Zo people.

Police said on Saturday night that one individual was killed in a firing incident between armed miscreants at Satang Hill Range in Kangpokpi district. The deceased was from the Kuki-Zo community and the site of the incident was a Kuki-Zo village, according to Kuki-Zo organisations.

Saturday’s protest was organised by the Moreh units of the Kuki Women Union & Human Rights and the Kuki Students’ Organisation besides the Moreh Private Schools Association. They were supported by other Moreh-based organisations.

In the two-page memorandum to Shah, besides detailing why they “keep demanding” the removal of the “Meitei State Force (Manipur State Police Commando)” from Moreh, the three organisations claimed: “Deployment of additional central security forces may help restore normalcy to some extent but the most effective restoration lies in the complete withdrawal of the Meitei State force that is akin to violence”.

The memorandum also appealed to the Centre through Shah to reign in “the communal Manipur State Government and ensure the return of normal public life in Moreh border town”.

They also said that it was impossible for schools to function in Moreh because of the prevailing situation and how their future was at stake.