Ration supplies withheld in relief camps since Feb 15, Kuki tribals tell Amit Shah

'The deputy commissioner has refused to release rations for the past two weeks, putting more than 17,000 displaced persons at risk of starvation,' the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), said in a memorandum submitted to Amit Shah.

Members of Kuki tribes on Monday alleged that ration supplied for the internally displaced persons living in more than 100 relief camps in Churachandpur has been withheld since February 15, when fresh violence broke out.

“The deputy commissioner has refused to release rations for the past two weeks, putting more than 17,000 displaced persons at risk of starvation. This is another form of discrimination, whereby the DC is punishing people who have already lost their homes by threatening to starve them,” the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), said in a memorandum submitted to Home Minister Amit Shah.

This comes after the ITLF asked the DC and SP of Churachandpur to leave the district holding them responsible for the killing of two persons in police firing during a protest on February 15.

The offices of the DC and the SP were set on fire by protesters, who demanded the withdrawal of an order suspending a police constable. The ITLF had also threatened to close all government offices if the DC and SP did not leave Churachandpur. But the diktat was later withdrawn.

On Monday, the ITLF also sought Shah’s intervention in the extension of the suspension of internet services in Churachandpur by another five days. The ITLF said the Manipur government extended the ban despite no other incident of violence after February 15. It described the decision as discriminatory by the “Meitei-controlled government” even as business and other activities were normal in the Churachandpur district.

It said the government did not take such a step in Imphal Valley, where several incidents of violence took place since February 13. The group mentioned the looting of weapons from an IR Battalion in Meitei-dominated Imphal East on February 13, a bomb blast and the burning of offices on February 23 in Imphal West.

Meiteis submit memo

The Coordination Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), representing the Meitei community, on Monday, submitted a memorandum to PM Modi reiterating its demand for abrogation of the Suspension of Operation agreement with Kuki insurgent groups alleging that the groups violated ground rules of the agreement.

The term of the ceasefire agreement expires on February 29 and the Kuki groups are awaiting an extension of the same.