Kuki women beg paramilitary forces not to leave village

NT Correspondent

Imphal: More shocking images continued to emerge from violence-ridden Manipur as a video of Kuki women begging Assam Rifles (AR) troops to not leave their village has gone viral.

Activists said that hundreds of Kuki women staged a 12-hour-long ‘dharna’ in Gamgiphai village, about 17km from the Kangpokpi district headquarters. They begged AR paramilitary forces to not leave because it would leave them vulnerable.

Some women even held the feet of the troops. The protesters pointed out that their village bordered the Meitei-majority west of Imphal valley and the “untimely” exit of the paramilitary forces would make them sitting ducks to militant non-state actors from the majority community.

The women said that they didn’t feel safe having only the Manipur police, alleging that the state law enforcement had sided with the Meitei mobs and militant groups.

The issue cropped up when the state government ordered the AR company to move 110 kilometres to Churachandpur, which is a district in the hills of the state, which accounts for about 90 per cent of the land mass of Manipur.

Moreover, it is where the largely Christian KukiZos (16 per cent) and Naga tribes (24 per cent) are concentrated.

Meanwhile, the mostly Hindu Meiteis (53 per cent) are concentrated in Imphal Valley, which is about 10 % of the state.

Assam Rifles company agrees to stay

According to activists quoted by The Telegraph, the dharna started in the wee hours of Thursday and ended at 2:30pm the next afternoonon assurances from AR personnel that the order to move troops to Churachandpur had been cancelled.