CoTU held a sit-in protest in Kangpokpi District, Manipur against the horrible video of parading 2 Kuki-Zo womens

Filled with immense pain and agony, the people of Kangpokpi district under the aegis of CoTU held a sit-in protest today at Leikop village in Champhai Sub Division of Kangpokpi District against the shocking act of molestation and gang-rape of the Kuki-Zo women.

A horrible video of parading Kuki-Zo women naked, and repeatedly molesting them that went viral yesterday shocked the entire nation and the whole world beyond expression.

Dismay over the heinous and inhumane act which never happened before in the state of Manipur, the people of Kangpokpi, mostly women held a sit-in-protest under the aegis of CoTU condemning the incident and slamming the gross constitutional violations and infractions of human rights. The sit-in-protest was also held demanding the Central Government to expedite the process of a “Separate Administration” during the Kuki-Zo political talks to be held on July 26 with the UPF and KNO.

The mammoth protestors shouted slogans, “We Want Justice”, “Book the Culprits”, “We Want Separate Administration”, etc.

They also hold placards that read, “Punishment for Rape should be nothing but death”, “Rapists are nothing but monsters in a human face”, “the world’s most horrible crime committed against women”, “Barbaric acts never witness before”, “Worse than a Vietnam War”, “Address the Kuki-Zo problems”, “No Solution, No Rest”, etc.

A mother, who is also one of the women’s organizations’ leaders, said that every mother and daughter’s heart is bleeding and broken, and we are filled with pain and agony to witness the barbaric and inhumane act committed to our sisters. “Even such crime has not been committed by the animals. The Meitei mobs are losing their human nature. We have never seen such a crime before”, she added. The Kuki-Zo women will not remain silent unless justice is done to our sisters and the perpetrators and rapists are all booked and punished.

Reacting strongly against the gruesome crime against the Kuki-Zo women, the CoTU General Secretary warned that if all the culprits are not booked within 48 hours, CoTU will be compelled to launch a series of intense agitations.

The CoTU also submitted a memorandum to the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah through Deputy Commissioner Kangpokpi later in the afternoon. The CoTU’s memorandum demand a Separate Administration for the Kuki-Zo Tribal and stringent punishment as per the law against the culprits involved in the outrageous act of molestation and gang-raped of the Kuki- Zo Women. The CoTU’s memorandum stated that there is a conspiracy to annihilate the entire ethnic Kuki-Zo communities in Manipur, which you are very much aware of through the innumerable number of documents, video footages, and other mass media evidence, which have also substantiated that a group of politicians in the helms of the present Manipur government has conspired and executed against the Kuki- Zo communities in Manipur by using all available machineries at the state’s disposal.

To wipe out the entire Kuki-Zo populace in Manipur, plans had also been executed politically and administratively for decades.

The majority Meiteis have now set the stage for separating by drawing political and administrative boundaries via ethnic cleansing and forced dislocation of the Kuki- Zo communities from Imphal valley. Our people have been forcefully wiped out from Imphal valley through massacre, arson, razing of houses, rape, and molestation of our women folks by Meetei Leepun, Kangleipak Kanba Lup, Arambai Tengol, World Meetei Council and Schedule Tribe Demand Committee. They have created a situation in such a way that no Kuki-Zo will ever step foot into Imphal Valley again. Under such circumstances, it will be impossible for the Kuki-Zo people to return to Imphal valley again.

It also stated that there shall be no better conductive time than now to separate the backward tribal and the advanced Meiteis permanently. This shall be the only lasting solution for the Kuki-Zo ethnic groups for peace and development in the Northeastern regions of India, it added.

While urging the Union Home Minister to acknowledge the process of a separate (Political, Geographical, and administrative) administration, CoTU also demands immediate solution and justice for the victims of an outrageous act of molestation and gang-raped of Kuki-Zo women by the Meitei mobs.

A series of agitations have been lining up in the district over the recent viral video, which shocked the entire nation and the world.

Tomorrow, the Kuki Women Union in collaboration with the CoTI and various other women’s bodies including human rights bodies will be organizing another protest at Kangpokpi.