GUWAHATI: Three Kuki-Zo persons were killed in a gunfight with Naga groups in Manipur’s Noney district on Saturday, hours before thousands of Meitei and Naga protesters brought Imphal, around 60 km away, to a standstill with a rally against the “Centre’s proxy war using Kuki SoO militant groups.”The killings were reported near 𝐓𝐚𝐣𝐞𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐢𝐩𝐡𝐮𝐧 village in the Rongmei Naga-majority hill district around 9 am.Meanwhile, the death toll in the Oct 19 Sanalok incident has risen to four, after the fourth Meitei woodcutter, Sorokhaibam Ibomcha, succumbed to his injuries at RIMS Hospital on Saturday morning.Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) condemned the deaths and alleged that cadres of NSCN-IM and ZUF(K) were behind the “unprovoked assault”. It accused govt of failing to provide adequate security to vulnerable Kuki-Zo villages and demanded justice, accountability and immediate action.KIM accused the authorities of “complicity through deliberate negligence” and of tolerating NSCN-IM operations, which it described as “a proxy instrument for vested political agendas.” It said govt bears full responsibility for the bloodshed.At the rally, protesters sought an end to the alleged “proxy warfare”, abrogation of the Suspension of Operations pact, dismantling of its camps and verification of cadres’ weapons. Their six-point resolution also called for the resettlement of displaced people, withdrawal of Assam Rifles from border and conflict-hit areas, deployment of a neutral force, an NRC with 1951 as the base year, and removal of deputy chief minister Nemcha Kipgen.Kipgen belongs to the Kuki-Zo community and is married to Thangboi Kipgen, who heads the Kuki National Front (President) faction — recently renamed the Thadou National Front — which is a signatory to the tripartite Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement.The rally was jointly organised by the Meitei civil society umbrella group, Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (Cocomi), Joint Tribe Council Manipur, Foothill Naga Co-ordination Committee, Naga Peoples’ Union, Imphal, Inpui Naga Union and Naga Humanitarian Aids Committee, Manipur, and was endorsed by United Naga Council.“We seek the resignation of the present govt for its failure to protect the lives and properties of the indigenous people of the state. This is a historic rally. People are raising their voice against policies and programmes which are against the indigenous people,” Cocomi convener Y Dhiren told the media.Naga bodies also held simultaneous marches in Senapati and Chandel.Speaking at a National Unity Day event in Imphal, chief minister Y Khemchand Singh said, “A state cannot be governed by prioritising the interest of only one community.” He added, “Community-centric ideas cannot bring integrity, a peaceful atmosphere or economic progress in the state.”In Kuki-Zo-majority Kangpokpi district, thousands marched seeking the safe release of two boys from the community who were abducted on Oct 28. The rally, organised by Committee on Tribal Unity, accused cadres of NSCN-IM and ZUF (Kamson group) of being behind the incident.The SoO pact, signed by the Centre, the state and Kuki-Zo groups in 2008, expired on Sept 4 without renewal. Security forces recently took over a camp and, finding only one of its 159 registered cadres present, plan to audit all 14 camps.
