It has been known that they would strike at Jiribam after Moreh. The recent move by Kuki-Zo militants in Jiribam district completes the strategy and conspiracy of bringing Manipur to heel. And now, the ball is in the court of New Delhi. The repeated assurances of maintaining Manipur’s territorial integrity is meaningless when these two important gateways are in the hands of a community, whose leaders constantly swear by a separate administrative set-up.
The southern districts of Churachandpur and Pherzwal are already gone. Moreh is a besieged border town. Meiteis were among the first settlers of the two border outposts of Moreh and Jiribam, as there was frequent interactions between Manipur and Cachar in the west and with the Burmese in the east. In fact, these two border outposts served as the gateway to Manipur. In the olden days, Jiribam and Cachar in Assam was reached through the Old Cachar route or Tongjei Maril. The Old Cachar Road has a history of its own and it was Manipur’s gateway to the outside world on the western flank. The route once connected the erstwhile kingdom of Manipur with other princely states.
Former kings of Manipur depended on the route for trade and commercial purposes. It was through the Old Cachar Road that disaffected brothers and uncles of Manipur had launched rebellions with Cachar as the sanctuary and also Shantidas Gosain, a Vaishnavite preacher had come from Bengal to Manipur to preach Hinduism in the kingdom. During British rule in Manipur, many English political agents had come to the state via this route. The last of the English to escape the palace rebellion in 1891 was Rose Grimwood, the wife of the then political agent who was killed during the rebellion.
The road which was used to travel on foot or horseback by the king's men was widened by the Chap force in 1942, between July to September. The Chap force included 150 officers and men from the 82 Anti-Tank regiment of the Royal Artillery. The force was led by Lt Col GP Chapman. With the development of the new Jiribam-Imphal national highway, Tongjei Maril was left abandoned only to be remembered at times of crisis and blockades on the new highway. The old highway which passes through the districts of Bishnupur, Churachandpur, Senapati, Nungba and Tamenglong is only 100 kms while the new Jiribam highway is 220 kms.
Manipur is connected in the Indian railway system through Jiribam and the line has reached Khongsang village in Tamenglong district. In the coming days, it will reach Imphal and further go upto Moreh border. The other important gateway lies in Mao in Senapati district. Previously known as the Imphal Dimapur road is now being rechristened as Asian Highway stretching up to Moreh bypassing Pallel. The strategic highway, however, passes through several Kuki dominated areas including Kangpokpi.
In short, all the important gateways and highways are going to be controlled by the Kuki-Zo community thereby maintaining a stranglehold on the valley and the Naga dominated districts as well. The Nagas are more or less silent on the grand design of the Kuki-Zo fraternity. They think, denouncing the separate administration demand of the Kuki-Zos would tantamount to compromising on their aspirations for Naga integration or ‘Alternative Arrangement’.
They do not understand that the Kuki-Zos have an altogether design perspective. They chose to vote enmasse for the Congress candidate instead of the Naga Peoples Front (NPF) candidate in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. NPF represented the political aspirations of the Naga fraternity. But it was checkmated by the Kuki-Zo politicians through their warlords, even as the peace talks with the Government of India remain unresolved. On the other hand, geo-political considerations of the Indian establishment seem to be more aligned with a community which had always been compliant with its designs in the Indo-Myanmar region throughout history. Now is the time to think hard and choose which path to take in the quest to preserve their roots.
