Manipur Assembly should decide to abrogate SoO with Kuki militants, to implement NRC: COCOMI

Imphal: The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), has urged the government to take a unanimous decision in the forthcoming Manipur Legislative Assembly session to abrogate the SoO (Suspension of Operation) agreement with Kuki militants and to fully implement NRC in the state.

The Manipur Assembly session was scheduled to commence on February 28.

Coordinator of the committee, Somorendra Thokchom addressing reporters at UCM head office, here on Thursday said the Kuki militants violated the ground rules at the maximum and the central forces remained as silent spectators without taking necessary steps against them.

He said that in 2005, the Kuki militant groups signed the SoO agreement, however, they have been involved in the present crisis violating the ground rules.

“In the recent Churachandpur arson incident of DC office and SP office, the DC and SP of Churachandpur received life threat from ITLF (Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum). The DC of a district is an IAS officer and threatening an IAS officer is a threat to the nation. However, no individual has been arrested in connection with the arson case or threatening to DC and SP,” he added.

“On the contrary, the central forces are taking stringent action towards the agitators in the valley,” he added.

“We are suspicious if Manipur is a part of India, or it has become a lawless state,” Somorendro said.

He said that the entire MLAs and ministers belonging to Meitei, Meitei Pangal and Naga have no objection on full implementation of NRC in Manipur.

“Implementation of NRC in Manipur does no mean to filter all the Kuki population from the Manipur populace but to filter out the illegal immigrants. Full implementation of NRC can also decrease the tension among the communities,” he added.

COCOMI has been demanding for implementation of NRC with 1951 as the base year. However the state cabinet had decided the base year as 1961, he said.

He appealed to all the MLAs and ministers belonging to Meitei, Meitei Pangal and Nagas to take a unanimous decision on full implementation of NRC and abrogation of SoO with Kuki militant groups in Manipur.