UKHRUl: The Kuki Students Organisation, in collaboration with the Kuki Women’s Union, staged a sit-in protest at Shangkai Village, Ukhrul, highlighting a series of grievances affecting the Kuki community on Wednesday.
The protest was organised to draw attention to the alleged failure to implement the 19 March Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which organisers said has severely impacted students and deepened the humanitarian crisis faced by the community. Protesters also condemned what they described as administrative neglect of Kuki students, the alleged kidnapping of three Kuki-Zo students and 11 other Kuki-Zo men by members of SDSA and NSCN-IM, and “systemic atrocities” against Kuki-Zo people in Ukhrul and Kamjong districts.
Children dressed in school uniforms participated in the demonstration, holding placards bearing messages such as “We want our school not a relief camp”, “Our future is not a waiting game”, “We want our school not a church building as a classroom”, and “Release the 14 Kuki men”.
Addressing the gathering, Mercy Khongsai, vice-president of KSO-Ukhrul, said the protest was a reflection of the community’s mounting frustration over continued injustice and silence surrounding their plight. “Today we sit here not because we are weak, but because we are tired of injustice, tired of silence and tired of watching our people suffer while the world looks away,” she said. Khongsai further alleged that the abduction of the 14 Kuki men was carried out by SDSA and NSCN (IM).
In a strong appeal to authorities and armed groups, Khongsai declared, “We refuse to be silenced. We refuse to live in fear. We refuse to let injustice become normal.” She further asserted that the Kuki-Zo people were “not asking for sympathy” but demanding “justice, dignity, security, and our rightful existence”.
The protest concluded with renewed demands for the immediate release of the abducted men, implementation of the MoU, and an end to atrocities against the Kuki-Zo community.