Any unauthorised Kuki settlement established within Naga ancestral territories, without the consent and knowledge of indigenous Naga landowners, is to be identified and evicted without delay, the Liangmai Naga Council, Eastern Zone (LNC-EZ), warned on Wednesday.
The LNC-EZ said it shocked them that, in an area that indisputably falls within the ancestral domain of the Naga people, they learnt of the confirmed establishment of an unlawful Kuki militant camp in Kharam Vaiphei village in the Saitu Gamphazol subdivision of Senapati district, Manipur.
“This encroachment is not merely an intrusion but a deliberate provocation and a direct affront to the very existence of the Naga community,” said a statement. The LNC-EZ expressed doubts at the silence and inaction of the state’s commitment to its own assurances and responsibilities. The LNC-EZ reminded the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Government of Manipur that Naga land is not a political bargaining chip.
It warned that it would be compelled to take necessary measures to remove the illegal militant structures at Kharam Vaiphei if the government fails to immediately dismantle such illegal militant structures.
“We will not tolerate further deception wherein Kuki refugees and militant groups misuse our land as a shield for drug trafficking, arms smuggling, and other illicit activities that undermine regional stability. These criminal networks, allowed to flourish under the watch of both the Ministry of Home Affairs and the state government, have generated vast illegal wealth now being used to threaten indigenous peoples and distort demographic realities,” the LNC-EZ further stated.
It maintained that in recent months, the state government, under the guidance of the Governor, appealed to the Foothills Naga Coordination Committee (FNCC) to suspend the democratic agitation, assuring the safeguarding of Naga territorial rights against a relentless expansionist agenda.
