GUWAHATI: The Nagas, who remained silent all along on the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur, came down heavily on the Kuki-Zo community on Monday for allegedly distorting the history of Manipur.
The United Naga Council (UNC), Manipur’s apex Naga organisation, said the name “Kuki” was first heard sometime between 1830-1840.
“Historically, the advent of British in the history of Manipur has brought about many unwanted changes. One of the many problems that we inherit from the British colonial rule is the issue of the planting of the Kuki tribe in the Naga hills,” the UNC said in a statement.
It said as a mercenary tribe, the British found the Kukis quite useful. Their total lack of attachment to any land and landscape was immediately recognised by the British, thus making them instrumental to crushing the indigenous communities of Manipur.
“The UNC would like to set the record straight that the recent blatant attempt of Kukis at distorting history of Kuki rebellion of 1917-1919 as Anglo-Kuki War to legitimize their imagined Kuki homeland within Naga ancestral homeland is one of the classic examples of their habitual lies,” the UNC said.
It said the Kuki rebellion of 1917-1919 was a “savage” episode of murdering, torching houses, plundering and enslaving women and children of indigenous Naga community in Ukhrul, Chandel and Tamenglong in Manipur.
“Thus, it was never a war but a mere rebellion with the colonial power as there is no record of Anglo-Kuki War in the history of India (MHA),” the UNC said.
It also said that the Nagas were taken aback by the “blatant lies, lopsided history and fabricated information” contained in every statement and memos issued by the Kuki-Zo community which was tantamount to distortion of Naga history and insult to the Nagas.
The UNC opposed the demand of Kuki-Zo community for separate administration incorporating two new districts carved out of Senapati and Chandel districts. It said the two districts were created by the then Congress government as part of its appeasement policy.
“The Kuki-Zo people’s representation to the Union government, Israel’s Prime Minister, European Parliament, UNO, etc. is on false territorial foundation and an attempt to befool those authorities because in the context of Manipur, the name Kuki was first heard sometime between 1830-1840 and therefore, ‘Kuki hills’ that appear in the fourth para of the mentioned memo to the Prime Minister of Israel is a non-existent and Utopian concoction,” the UNC said.
It said the memorandum submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the 10 Kuki MLAs demanding the creation of the posts of chief secretary and director general of police or equivalents, other posts in Kuki-Zo areas was nothing but a “mere different tune sung out of the same lyrics” – separate administration.
The UNC claimed Manipur was now flooded with illegal immigrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh. It said villages were expanding and new villages were being built at a rapid pace.
“Columns of illegal camps are being built in alarming rate near the town of Moreh and its surrounding areas to facilitate the settlement of those intruding Kukis from Myanmar. If the flow of illegal immigrants is not stopped by the Government of India and the Government of Manipur, the day will not be long when the Indigenous population will be reduced to a minority,” it warned.