Imphal/Guwahati. 10 Kuki MLAs of Manipur Assembly have demanded that AFSPA should be implemented in the entire state for the recovery of looted weapons. These MLAs also include seven MLAs from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance in the state. The Center on November 14 re-imposed the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in six police station areas of Manipur, including violence-hit Jiribam. The Union Home Ministry has said that this decision was taken in view of the ‘continued unstable situation’ there.
In a joint statement, the 10 Kuki MLAs said, “There is an urgent need to review the imposition of AFSPA as per the orders dated November 14, 2024 to actually extend the Act to the remaining 13 police jurisdictions.” Stressed that AFSPA should be implemented across the state to recover over 6,000 sophisticated weapons looted by Meitei rebels since May 3 last year as it is long overdue to stop the violence. There is action.
The ethnic violence between the Meitei and Kuki communities began on May 3, 2023, after ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organized in the hill districts of the state in protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. More than 220 people have been killed in the violence since then. The resolution passed by the MLAs of Manipur’s ruling BJP-led NDA was also criticized by tribal MLAs.
The resolution calls for a ‘mass campaign’ against Kuki militants responsible for the killing of three women and three children in Jiribam district within seven days. Kuki MLAs alleged that the proposal was ‘divisive, one-sided and communal’. He also claimed that the resolution seeking handing over the cases related to the deaths of six civilians to the NIA ‘smells of a communal state’. “We recommend that the investigation of all civilian killings in both the valley and the hills be handed over to the NIA from May 3, 2023,” he said.
