Imphal: Rajya Sabha MP and Manipur’s titular king Sanajaoba Leishemba has lambasted the recently released Independent People’s Tribunal report on the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur, calling it “one-sided, biased and unprofound.”
Leishemba was speaking to reporters on Sunday on the sidelines of the birth centenary celebration of Manipuri writer and Sahitya Akademi awardee Elangbam Sonamani.
The 694-page report, authored under the chairmanship of former Supreme Court judge Justice Kurian Joseph and released by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), concluded that the violence which erupted on May 3, 2023, was “Not spontaneous but planned, ethnically targeted, and facilitated by state failures”.
It also recommended that “hate propaganda and inflammatory speeches” which led to the escalation of violence should be prosecuted, and action should be taken against authorities who “failed to exercise their powers to prevent it”.
According to PUCL, the report was prepared after a team of jurors and experts visited conflict-affected districts including Bishnupur, Churachandpur, Imphal East, Imphal West, Kakching, Kangpokpi and Senapati, followed by sittings in Delhi to record testimonies and submissions from survivors and stakeholders.
Reacting to the findings, Leishemba posted on his official X handle “Reports of People’s Union for Civil Liberties are totally Wrong, Biased, One-sided, Baseless, Ungrounded & Added fuel to the Peace Process. Demanded a Strong Probe against this PUCL.”
He told reporters that the PUCL report could mislead the Meitei community and insisted on a legal probe. “All civil society organisations, the legal fraternity and the people need to demand a legal investigation. I will consult legal experts regarding the biased report of PUCL,” he said.
On the tribunal’s reference to Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun as militant groups, Leishemba countered that both are “socio-cultural organisations” which took up arms only for self-defence during the initial stages of the violence. “They are not anti-national but were compelled to pick up arms for self-defence,” he stated.
“The violence could have been prevented if security forces had acted in time. Due to untimely action by the security forces, many innocents on both sides have taken up arms. Nobody wanted to pick up weapons, but village volunteers of both the Meitei and Kuki communities were compelled to do so. Picking up arms for self-defence is also legally acceptable,” the titular king said.
According to a PTI report, the Tribunal recommended a probe by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team into the role of armed and security forces in the conflict, including departmental inquiries and criminal action against personnel found guilty of either participation in violence or failure to act.
