An Open Letter to the PUCL Tribunal: Why Their Report Breaks My Heart

I write this letter with a heart weighed down by grief and betrayal. When I testified before your so-called “Independent Public Tribunal,” I did so in the hope that my words, and the pain of countless other victims, would help uncover the truth behind the tragic violence that tore apart our lives. 

I had believed that your effort was sincere, that it was aimed at fact-finding, justice, and closure. 
But after reading your report, I feel heartbroken, shattered, and deceived.

When the report came out, I saw media report how it was biased but didn’t pay much heed. But when I was approached to be part of the rebuttal signed by the respected personalities of Manipur and CSOs across the world, me and our team of missing families went through the report. It was then I realized what truly the PUCL team was up to. 

Your report, under the guise of independence and impartiality, has indulged in selective picking, omissions, and biased interpretations. It has deliberately crafted a one-sided narrative, conveniently framing the Meitei community as the instigators of the violence. To see testimony and the pain of my people twisted, ignored, or omitted in favor of a prejudiced version of events has left me devastated. I felt cheated and exploited.

This feeling has prompted me to write this open letter.

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I feel a deep sense of guilt for having participated in this process. I had placed trust in you, believing that you would honour the truth. Instead, our testimonies were used merely as tokens, manipulated and discarded to fit a predetermined conclusion.

You chose narratives and testimonies that suited your prejudiced view, while ignoring those that proved otherwise, even if those are facts clear as daylight. This is not just an act of bias—it is a cruel perpetuation of injustice against those of us who are already suffering.

While mobs and armed groups may have been misled by vested interest groups during the violence, what is truly heartbreaking is that you, under the name of an independent tribunal, have committed an even colder act—deliberate manipulation of truth. 

Unlike the mob violence fuelled by frenzy, your actions were a calculated, cold-blooded attempt to malign and target Meiteis. I don’t know what your motivation and interest are. You forget the innocent Meiteis or that matter Kuki victims are not items to be used for your vested agenda.
I couldn’t believe the bias until I saw that the report actually said the “Kuki-Zo communities were driven out of the valley” while the “Meitei communities left tribal-dominated hill areas” and that violence started in valley.

I personally do not expect a withdrawal of your report, because when you can make the above conclusion despite the universally accepted fact that the violence started in Churachandpur with the Kuki Militants and armed group attacking Meitei settlements, it is clear that it is not out of ignorance but a well-thought-out decision to reach a biased conclusion. One cannot change a conscious bias.
As a victim, I can only appeal to you and to others who may attempt such exercises in the future: do not deepen our wounds for your sinister agenda. Do not use our testimonies and miseries as instruments for your prejudice. 
Please show some humanity.
 

The author is the wife of missing journalist Atom Samarendra Singh, who has remained untraceable since May 6, 2023. She testified before the PUCL Tribunal.