Manipur violence: COCOMI demands action against organisations aspiring for 'separate administration'

The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), has asserted that the violence that erupted in Manipur on 3rd May 2023 was allegedly engineered and pre-planned by Chin Kuki Narco Terrorists and spearheaded by called Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) and Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU). 

In a press statement, the joint body of Meitei civil society organisations stated, "Their long nurtured dream of achieving a separate administration, Independent state or country had been shaping up in phase wise manner by earning huge profit from poppy cultivation and extortion on highways, looting and tax collection etc. 

Their call for the establishment of self-government / separate administration in Kuki-Zo dominated areas of Manipur will only worsen the prevailing volatile situation and thereby upsetting the peaceful co-existence of the Kuki-Zo people themselves and would hinder the further settlement of Kukis in Manipur."

Also Read: Manipur government denounces ITLF's 'self-rule' proclamation as unlawful and baseless

The body further claimed that it is a well-known fact to both the Centre and the State government that illegal immigrants are primarily responsible for the Manipur violence. 

Adding that External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishanker had also stated in New York that a large influx of immigrants led to the present crisis in Manipur. 

Further, the Meitei body also demanded the government of India and the State to take up befitting action against those people or organisations who have been demanding separate administration or self-Government and the responsibilities of the turmoil and ethnic violence in Manipur should also be borne by ITLF and CoTU.