The Kuki-Zo community in Sadar Hills, Kangpokpi District, has launched a two-day total shutdown as a reaction to ongoing propaganda and violence that erupted on May 3, 2023. Organized by the Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), the shutdown began at 6:00 a.m. today, halting all business operations and school activities in the region. The shutdown has restricted vehicle movement, allowing only essential services to operate. Volunteers, primarily Kuki-Zo women, monitored key locations, including National Highway 2 at the Kangpokpi District Headquarters and Gamgiphai. Exemptions for medical services, airport operations, religious activities, and media are enforced, requiring valid documentation for passage.
This protest underscores the community’s condemnation of what they describe as “recurring ethnocentric propaganda” by the Meitei-dominated state government, aimed at marginalizing the Kuki-Zo people. “The continuous false claims labeling the Kuki-Zo as outsiders have become intolerable. We are indigenous to this land, not immigrants,” asserted a protest leader. Recent allegations from the Chief Minister’s Office claiming that 900 Kuki militants had infiltrated Manipur from Myanmar have further fueled the protests. Despite the Director General of Police (DGP) and the state’s Security Advisor publicly denying these assertions, tensions remain high.
“This struggle transcends politics; it is about our survival,” stated another leader, emphasizing, “How much longer can we endure these fabrications that only serve to bolster majoritarian rule and vilify our community?”Kuki-Zo women are advocating for complete separation from the current governance system, seeking a Union Territory with its own legislature. They argue that under the prevailing armed militia dominance and biased governance, the rule of law has collapsed. “Without a separate administration, the Kuki-Zo people are left with no assurance of safety, security, or justice,” one leader proclaimed.
