10 Kuki-Zomi MLAs write to Amit Shah for reinstating suspended officers

The three Kuki officers were recently suspended by Manipur government after they had given NOC for affiliation of 25 schools in the hills for CBSE affiliations

Guwahati: Ten Kuki-Zomi-Hmar MLAs in conflict-hit Manipur on Monday wrote to Home Minister Amit Shah seeking reinstatement of three Kuki officers, who were recently suspended by the state government for their action for CBSE affiliation of 26 schools in Kuki-dominated areas.

The MLAs, including seven belonging to the ruling BJP, in a memorandum to Shah said the Kuki officers serving in the state education department had given No Objection Certificates (NOC) for CBSE affiliations in the best interests of the students following the ethnic violence.

"They had given the NOCs for CBSE affiliations as under the Manipur Board of Secondary Education, there have been many instances of gross negligence and injustice to many deserving schools and students," said the memorandum.

The state education department last month suspended the three Kuki officers saying the state government did not authorise them to issue the NOCs for CBSE affiliations of the schools. The CBSE also cancelled affiliations of the schools in Kuki-dominated Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts after the state government objected to it. An NOC from the state education department is necessary for CBSE affiliation.

The officers are: Zonal Education Officer (ZEO) Jangkhohao Haokip, Kangpokpi ZEO Lingtinneng and district inspector of school, Churachandpur, L TaiTaithul.

Ethnic divide:

The ethnic divide between the Meitei and the Kuki-Zo people widened due to the violence since May last year in Manipur in which nearly 200 people have been killed and over 60,000 have been displaced. As the schools in the Kuki hills were allegedly neglected by the state board, the students in the Kuki hills suffered.

"...the students could not pursue their studies for the past eight months. There have been glaring cases of discrimination and injustice meted out to the students meted out to the deserving students in recent months. The blatant downgrading/tempering of marks of many bright students of Rayburn College in Churachandpur by Manipur University recently is a case in point," said the memorandum submitted by the MLAs.

The MLAs have extended support to the demand for a "separate administration" for the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar dominated areas in Manipur hills. They also abstained from the session of the Manipur Assembly recently.

"The suspended officers have merely been discharging their official duties at the behest of the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar MLAs in utmost interest of the affected schools and the affected students under extraordinary circumstances that our people are painfully subjected to even till today," they further said.

The MLAs also urged Shah to restore the CBSE affiliations of the 26 schools.