Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks in Parliament about Kuki immigrants from Myanmar contributing to tensions building in Manipur, drew sharp reactions from Kuki groups — both in India and in Myanmar — on Thursday.
The Manipur Tribals’ Forum, Delhi (MTFD), called Mr. Shah’s remarks a “disheartening blow” and the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) called it “plain wrong” to blame “helpless and deprived” refugees. Further, the Kuki National Organisation (Burma) wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, clarifying that there was no Kuki outfit in the country called the Kuki Democratic Front, as claimed by Mr. Shah in his speech.
The Kuki National Organisation (KNO), in its letter, noted that while they are “constantly under tremendous pressure to indulge in other distractions like the ethnic problem in Manipur”, it has its hands full fighting the junta in Myanmar and could not afford to “look for adventures in India”. The KNO said that its Kuki National Army (Burma) is the only Kuki outfit fighting the junta in Myanmar and it is grateful to India for providing “temporary shelter” to their fleeing people. Insisting that there was no movement of any of its units from Myanmar into Indian territory, the president of the KNO requested the Lok Sabha Speaker to clarify this to the Indian Parliament.
