Imphal, Dec 31: The Kuki Human Rights Council (KHRC) on December 30 issued a sharp condemnation of comments made by former United National Liberation Front leader Ningthemcha Sanayaima, popularly known as RK Meghen, accusing him of spreading misleading and provocative narratives about the ethnic conflict in Manipur.
In a strongly worded statement, the council said it was outraged by Meghen’s remarks delivered at an event marking the 169th birth anniversary of Bir Tikendrajit in Berimura, Tripura. The KHRC alleged that the comments attempted to wrongly place responsibility for the violence on the Kuki community while minimising the scale of atrocities committed against them since the conflict began.
The council described the ongoing unrest in Manipur as a campaign of “brutal ethnic cleansing” targeting the Kuki minority. It alleged that the violence was fuelled by what it termed state-backed actions and armed Meitei extremist groups, naming organisations such as UNLF, PLA, Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun. Any depiction of Kukis as instigators of violence was rejected as a deliberate misrepresentation that disrespected victims, the statement said.
According to the KHRC, the conflict has claimed more than 260 lives, destroyed vast stretches of ancestral land and reduced properties worth thousands of crores of rupees to rubble. The council highlighted the severe humanitarian toll, stating that women, children and elderly people have endured immense physical and psychological trauma amid prolonged displacement and insecurity.
The organisation further asserted that relations between the Meitei and Kuki communities had suffered irreversible damage. It argued that lasting peace would only be possible through clearly demarcated territorial boundaries and administrative separation to prevent further violence.
Reaffirming its long-standing stance, the KHRC said the demand for a separate Kuki state or Union Territory had become “non-negotiable” in the present circumstances. It also called for accountability, insisting that those responsible for what it described as acts of genocide must be brought before the law.
While appealing for restraint and caution against inflammatory rhetoric, the council said its struggle for justice, dignity and self-determination for the Kuki people would continue without compromise.
