Imphal: The Kuki Students’ Organization (KSO) City Branches are deeply appalled at the remarks made by the Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta in the Supreme Court on August 1, that “most of the unclaimed bodies are those of infiltrators …,” said KSO.
“We would like to ask the Solicitor General on what basis he is making such insensitive partisan remarks? This is not only an affront to the Kuki-Zo, the mourners of the departed, it is unbecoming of the Solicitor General of the country who is the second senior most law officer in the country.”
It is essential to know whether he has personally seen the bodies or met with the families of the deceased. Since the Solicitor General made this statement in the Supreme Court, it is presumed that he speaks on behalf of the Government of India. Labelling any Indian citizen as an infiltrator without substantial evidence is a grave matter, misleading the court, and compromising the integrity of one of the country’s highest law offices, the student body said.
The prejudiced view falls in line with a larger xenophobic narrative perpetuated by the dominant community in colouring the Kuki-Zo as illegal immigrants. It seems as if a chaotic bloodthirsty mob systematically targeted “foreigners” which defies all logic, It added.
“The ground reality of the hill-valley divide remains. Unclaimed bodies lying in the morgues in Imphal are painfully inaccessible as for a Kuki-Zo to travel to Imphal means certain death”.
“We reiterate the demands made by the Kuki-Zo community, urging that these bodies be brought to Churachandpur. This would allow the families to perform the last rites and give a dignified burial to the innocent victims of the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur.”
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