2 months ago
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An apex assemblage of Kuki civilian nine organisations (CSOs) has refused to assertion the bodies of 2 Kuki men allegedly killed by Nagas successful Manipur’s Kamjong territory connected Wednesday (March 12, 2026) until the perpetrators are identified, arrested, and punished.
Announcing a “total shutdown” on the Imphal-Ukhrul Road to protestation the sidesplitting from Friday (March 13, 2026), the Ukhrul territory portion of the Kuki CSO Working Committee has besides demanded the relocation of each Kuki villages from the Tangkhul Naga-dominated Ukhrul territory to the Kuki-majority Kangpokpi district.
According to the committee, the bodies of the 2 slain men, Thenkhogin Baite and Thangboimang Lunkim, were recovered successful a jungle adjacent Thawai village. They were blindfolded with their hands tied down their backs, and their bodies bore signs of battle with crisp objects earlier being shot.
Thawai colony is successful Kamjong district, hardly 1 km from Shangkai, different violence-hit colony successful the adjoining Ukhrul territory and disconnected the Imphal-Ukhrul road.
The committee said the bodies were recovered astir 8.30 a.m. connected Wednesday by a associated hunt squad comprising villagers from Shangkai and Thawai and Border Security Force personnel. The bodies were reportedly taken to Imphal for post-mortem introspection connected the evening of March 12 nether constabulary escort, it added.
The committee alleged that the authorities and information forces failed to marque superior efforts to find the 2 men who went missing connected March 11, portion prioritising the information and evacuation of 21 Tangkhul travellers. Kuki groups reportedly held these 21 people, including women and children, captive successful retaliation for attacks connected Kuki villages successful what Naga organisations claimed was an anti-poppy cultivation drive.
“The bodies of the deceased volition not beryllium claimed until the perpetrators are identified, arrested, and awarded the decease penalty… The probe should beryllium handed implicit to the National Investigation Agency to guarantee transparency and impartiality,” the committee said.
The committee further said that the Kukis successful Ukhrul territory consciousness profoundly threatened aft coexisting peacefully with the Tangkhul Christian community. It, therefore, demanded the relocation of each Kuki villages successful Ukhrul to Kangpokpi territory to guarantee the information and extortion of its people.
“Until these demands are met, the assemblage has announced a full shutdown on the Imphal-Ukhrul road,” it said, informing of intensified agitation “until justness is delivered”.
Unlike 2 arterial highways that walk done Kuki-majority areas, the circuitous Imphal-Ukhrul roadworthy has been the lone harmless transition for the question of radical betwixt the Imphal Valley and the state beyond since the taste clashes betwixt the Kuki-Zo and Meitei communities broke retired successful May 2023. The struggle claimed much than 260 lives and displaced astir 62,000 people.
Manipur is virtually partitioned among the 3 large communities: Meiteis, Nagas, and Kuki-Zos.
