The 48-hour total shutdown called by the Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU), Sadar Hills affected lives in Kangpokpi district with all normal activities coming to a standstill.
The shutdown which began at 6 am on Saturday (November 11) will end at 6 am on November 13.
CoTU had announced the total shutdown considering the alleged objectionable events and keeping the sentiments of the public intact, with the sole demand of rationalizing the implementation of law and order for both the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zo.
Earlier, the Kuki-Zo people held a massive rally at Kangpokpi District Headquarters and demonstration in front of the SP Kangpokpi office where they demonstrated the whole night till the total shutdown began at 6 am
Later, thousands of Kuki-Zo people, mostly women, across the district congregated at Kangpokpi town and Gamgiphai and strictly enforced the total shutdown.
All shops, business establishments, and educational institutions remained closed while the vehicular movement came to a standstill along the National Highway-2.
Emergency services, press, and CoTU units were, however, exempted from the purview of the shutdown.
Kangpokpi district has been back to a burning situation after the Kuki-Zo intensified their mass movement protesting the alleged ‘Selective injustice and selective enforcement of the law’ by Biren-led government as it intensified their demand for the release of the two Kuki-Zo individuals arrested by Manipur police.
CoTU’s decision to impose a 48-hour total shutdown was taken in an emergency late Friday night meeting with all of its units/departments, and various civil society organizations at Kangpokpi District Headquarters following intense pressure from the public.
CoTU’s Media Cell stated that the Kuki-Zo community is seriously disturbed by the selective injustice through discriminatory enforcement of law and order.
It alleged that the display of anarchy by terror groups such as Arambai Tenggol in the public sphere and the inaction of the state police in apprehending those outfits; the looting of church offerings in Kuki-Zo villages; the attempt to re-settle only the displaced Meiteis in Kuki-Zo areas; the biased security deployment for harvesting and the brutal killings of innocent Kuki-Zo civilians with the support of the state have affirmed that the law and order are apparently one-sided.
CoTU further stated that in case of negligence and inattention to our legitimate demands, the future course of action will be determined by the committee in consultation with the public.
