On Friday, the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), the apex body for the Meitei community, once again urged Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to replace Assam Rifles in Manipur with any other central force and take action against the Kuki militants. A COCOMI delegation, led by Group Captain B.N. Sharma (retd), met the Defence Minister and informed him that the Union Home Ministry had already banned Meitei insurgent outfits before 2000, thus legal action had been taken against them.
However, no action has been taken against the Kuki militant outfits under the pretext of Suspension of Operations (SoO) and Kuki militants are firing from hills and killing farmers. The COCOMI delegation claimed that the protests of Meiteis were dealt with baton charges, rubber bullets, tear gas, and even live bullets, but the protests of Kukis were not handled in the same manner, leading to a sense of biased treatment and causing anxiety and fear among the Meitei community.
The leaders requested the Defence Minister to ensure that the Assam Rifles (AR) and Army treat both communities equally since the army comes under his ministry and AR officers are from the army. Furthermore, they noted that the Kuki community had submitted a memorandum to the United Nations and the Prime Minister of Israel, seeking help in the formation of a separate state or separate administration for the tribals in Manipur, thereby embarrassing India.
The delegation told the Defence Minister that the Kukis in their memorandum had leaked sensitive information to foreign nations, including the names of Meitei army officers and their location of duties, as well as sensitive databases of the Indian government.
