The Kuki insurgent groups which signed a suspension of operations (SoO) with the Manipur government and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in 2008 are going to press for a separate administration and equal political status for the Kuki-Zo community, separate from Manipur but within the Union of India, one of the leaders told The Hindu.
On May 3, when ethnic violence swept Manipur, leading to the death of more than 70 people, the United Peoples’ Front (UPF) and the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) were holding talks with MHA’s representative A.K. Mishra in Delhi and had reached a settlement for the decades-old issue. The groups had agreed for a self governance model in the form of territorial council for the Kukis in the State of Manipur.
“We will not go back to the pre-May 3 conditions under which negotiations were being held so far. We want to seal our borders and want to be out of Manipur. Earlier we had almost settled the deal for territorial councils,” the leader said in condition of anonymity.
