Ukhrul, Mar 7: The Thadou Students’ Association (TSA) has strongly condemned the threats and intimidation issued by the armed Kuki militant group United Kuki National Army (UKNA) against the Thadou Inpi Manipur (TIM) and its leaders.
In a press statement, the TSA stated that it stands firmly in support of TIM’s efforts to promote peace, understanding, and cooperation with other communities, including the Meitei Alliance.
“The TSA denounces the UKNA’s attempts to dictate terms and impose their will on the Thadou people. We assert our right to self-determination, freedom of expression, and association,” the statement read.
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Further, the TSA also urged the UKNA to refrain from issuing threats and instead engage in constructive dialogue to resolve differences. Also, it urged the authorities, during the current President’s Rule, to take decisive action against anti-peace and anti-social elements perpetuating violence and disrupting harmony in the state.
Notably, the Meitei Alliance, a consortium representing Meitei organizations outside Manipur and Thadou Inpi Manipur, the apex body of the Thadou Tribe in Manipur, have scheduled a joint declaration for restoration of peace in Manipur in New Delhi today.
Meanwhile, the Kuki Students’ Organisation, Delhi & NCR (KSOD&NCR), ‘on behalf of the entire Kuki community–victims of state-engineered genocide in Manipur–unequivocally asserts that the Joint Press Conference of the Meitei Alliance and Thadou Inpi Manipur (TIM), scheduled for 7th March 2025 at Vishwa Yuva Kendra, Teen Murti Marg, Diplomatie Enclave Chanakyapuri, New Delhi-110021, lacks both legitimacy and locus standi to unilaterally determine the future of the Kuki people under the pretense of ‘Restoration of Peace in Manipur.’
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The KSOD &NCR stated that Thadou Inpi Manipur was a fringe organisation that persistently fomented division within the Kuki community in general and the Thadou tribe in particular, a body orchestrated by a select few with vested interests that run counter to the well-being of their own people. It added that the ‘organisation stands accused of deliberate betrayal, having forsaken its foundational commitments and opportunistically realigned itself with external entities solely to serve its own vested interests. This blatant act of defection comes at the direct expense of the legitimate mother organisation- Thadou Inpi General Headquarters, Manipur, of which it was once an integral part-and runs counter to the very interests of the community it falsely claims to represent.’
Further, the KSOD & NCR stated that any step initiated for a sustainable roadmap to peace in Manipur must be predicated on the fundamental principle of justice. Justice, in this context, necessitates the creation of a Union Territory with Legislature under Article 239A, per Article 3 of the Indian Constitution–a sine qua non for lasting stability and the unequivocal demand of the Kuki people, who have been the victims of a relentless genocidal campaign, it said.
Additionally, it stated that any resolution or framework concerning the future of the Kuki people in Manipur must be decided solely by the Kukis, without external interference. Any initiative or negotiation executed in their absence will be rejected, strongly contested, and deemed null and void.
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