GUWAHATI: Naga organisations in Manipur have petitioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that foreign-based militants operating under the cover of the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement and the Myanmar-based Kuki National Army-Burma (KNA-B) are carrying out a campaign of invasion, demographic aggression and ethnic cleansing in what they described as the Naga ancestral homeland.
The allegation from the United Naga Council, Naga Women’s Union and All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur, followed a series of violent incidents in Naga-inhabited areas of the state, particularly an attack on Thursday in three Naga villages close to the India-Myanmar border in Manipur’s Kamjong district.
Two civilians reportedly sustained bullet injuries, while over a dozen houses were allegedly burnt down.
The Naga organisations alleged that the “state” had not only failed to protect the people, but that its “silence, appeasement, and partisan conduct of its forces” had emboldened the aggressors.
“When Naga homes are bombed, people kidnapped by foreign terrorists, and National Highways blocked, the national security stands broken and breached. This memorandum is, therefore, not a petition for favour. It is a demand for justice, a reminder of constitutional obligation, and an earnest call to honour the Framework Agreement before the frontier is seized by foreign intrusion,” the memorandum addressed to Modi read.
The Framework Agreement was signed between the central government and the Isak-Muivah faction of the rebel group National Socialist Council of Nagalim or NSCN-IM in 2015.
The Naga organisations alleged that the SoO agreement, signed with various Kuki rebel groups, had become a licence for territorial expansion.
“SoO cadres and KNA-B militants operate in tandem, engaging in targeted killings of Naga civilians, burning of ancestral villages, highway terrorism and systematic extortion,” the Naga bodies wrote in the memorandum.
They further claimed that the Kukis had entered Manipur only in the 1840s during British colonial rule and were not indigenous to the hills.
According to them, the current narrative of a ‘Kuki ancestral land’ is a post-facto fabrication, allegedly engineered to legitimise the occupation of Naga territory.
“For decades, the Nagas have stood as the sentinels of the eastern frontier, unarmed villagers guarding an international border. Today, these borders are penetrated by foreign elements. The threat to the Naga villages – the sentinels of the frontier – is a threat to the security of India too,” the memorandum read.