The Association of Premier State College Seniors (APSCS), Manipur, while raising various issues related to the crisis in Manipur, have vehemently stated that no Kukiland can be granted as that land belongs to the state.
The association appreciated the visit of the Parliamentarians to assess the ground situation and termed the “visit just like visiting the bereaved family of the mother Manipur with whom you had a close family relation”.
In a release, AK Chishti, general secretary of APSCS stated that the so-called Kuki-Meitei conflict was, in fact, never an issue.
People of Manipur have been coexisting and caring for their motherland as the members of the same family, all shouldering responsibility of protecting the territory of Manipur without the help of others and they are the native/indigenous Manipuris of the Kingdom, AK Chishti said.
However, the genesis of the problem lies with series of enrolment of many Kuki migrants/foreigners to the electorate rolls of the state with an eye on the capture of political power, he said, adding that it can be easily verified as it is the migrants in question but with voting right now claim Kukiland.
Ultimately, the situation is beyond the control of the state government and the Centre and the conflict involves the Centre/Parliament for not protecting the territory in time, he said.
“We demanded constitutional protection after making due amendments to article 3 as in duty bound. Manipur governments: were solely responsible for keeping it buried for such a long period of over 70 years. The innocent people of Manipur have thus become the ultimate victims of circumstances”, he stated.
Of the omissions and commissions, the signing of the FrameWork Agreement of 2015 in order to show the great hearts of the ruling legends - the Agreement was signed with no involvement of the concerned States, Manipur in particular and foresight, AK Chishti further stated.
The Pattaders/Land Owners of Manipur had no knowledge of the proceedings. The act was questionable, he added.
He also questioned why the agreement was not made public. It is still doubted by us that the demand for a separate administrative Arrangement of the Tribal areas was granted that it could not be made public, he added.
The present demand for a separate administrative arrangement for tribal areas it seems, was already raised and agreed by the Centre For the execution of that they are now creating havoc for us that the Centre is also caught in the quagmire they created, AK Chishti said. Why not Meetei & other community areas in Cachar/Silchar, Guwahati Nongong, Simaluguri etc. of Assam and other places of Myanmar and Bangladesh are handed over to Manipur simultaneously. It is not tenable, he said.
This is because when we purchased a piece of land from the Govt. (authority) no community name was necessary or used for the settlement (for building homestead or farmland) - this is the law of the land. As such there can't be a land for Kukis alone, for that matter any community or any religious community, he said.
No Kukiland can therefore be granted: there is no law to deal with such cases, the general secretary of APSCS said, adding that the land belongs to the state. This does not violate the inherent rights and privileges of a bonafide citizen of the State and our August House of Parliament must deal with this demand firmly and purposely before it is too late, he said.
