Ukhrul, September 8: The Liangmai Naga Council, Eastern Zone (LNC-EZ), has issued a stark warning against reported plans to shift the Kuki militant camps “Thingsat” and “Ebenezer” to Kharam Vaiphei and J. Thomkholui villages under Kangchup Police Station in Kangpokpi Sub-Division, to be renamed “Lhangkichoi” and “Natheljang.”
Calling the move “a calculated provocation,” the council declared the two sites are ancestral Naga territories and warned of “unavoidable bloodshed” should the camps be established.
Also read Naga District Apex Bodies in Manipur Back UNC Trade Embargo from Sept 8
“It has been barely a month since the State Government urged us to withdraw our democratic agitation with assurances of due consultation and respect for Naga territorial rights. We complied in good faith. Yet now we are faced with a backdoor attempt to provide safe haven to foreign militant elements in the very heart of our land,” the statement read.
The LNC-EZ cautioned that “any such move will invite serious communal unrest, and for this, the State and Central Governments shall bear full and sole responsibility.” It also vowed to completely seal the road linking Churachandpur and Kangpokpi if their territory is compromised, stating that “every illegal Kuki settlement within our ancestral territories, without the consent of indigenous Naga landowners, will be identified and evicted without delay or negotiation.”
Also read From Kangla to Churachandpur, Manipur Spruces Up for Mystery VVIP
Accusing “Kuki refugees and militants” of misusing Naga land for “drug trafficking, arms smuggling, and other criminal activities,” the council blamed lax oversight by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the State Government for allowing “vast illegal wealth” to turn “into weapons of oppression against indigenous peoples.”
Reaffirming its resolve, the LNC-EZ declared, “Our land is not a political commodity. It is our identity, inheritance, and lifeblood, and we will defend it at all costs. We have endured enough betrayals, encroachments, and deceits. This time, we will not back down.”