NEW DELHI: A Meitei civil society organisation has written to PM Modi flagging concerns over letters sent by a Chin Kuki Zo group to foreign govts and United Nations bodies, warning that such outreach could undermine India’s sovereignty, judicial authority and national security amid the ongoing Manipur crisis. It urged Centre to review security policy, re-examine Suspension of Operations agreements and pursue a lawful, permanent resolution that protects all indigenous communities and Manipur’s territorial integrity. Copies of the memorandum were also marked to home minister Amit Shah.In a memorandum dated January 3, Meitei Heritage Society said communications issued by the Kuki Alliance for Nampi Awakening Movement (KANAM) seek to “delegitimise and internationalise” an order of NGT directing an immediate halt to construction of an allegedly illegal road in Manipur’s hill areas. The road — popularly referred to as the German Road or Tiger Road — was built without statutory approvals or mandatory environmental clearance and is “allegedly used by Chin Kuki Zo militants or armed groups for drug trafficking and weapons smuggling,” the memorandum said.The society argued that portraying a judicial order as “institutional violence” and “collective punishment,” and projecting it as grounds for foreign intervention, challenges India’s constitutional framework. “Such actions risk setting a dangerous precedent whereby internal judicial processes are selectively escalated to foreign govts and multilateral bodies,” it stated.The Meitei Heritage Society urged the PM to take note of the foreign communications, direct the ministry of home affairs to undertake a comprehensive policy and security review, re-examine SoO agreements with Chin Kuki Zo militant groups, and pursue a “permanent, just and lawful solution to the Manipur crisis that protects all indigenous communities and preserves Manipur and India’s territorial integrity.”Placing the issue in context, the memorandum said the Manipur crisis, which erupted into large-scale violence on May 3, 2023, has increasingly been framed through competing international narratives. It alleged that Chin Kuki Zo organisations and individuals have previously approached the UN, the US and other foreign actors with what it described as “fabricated, one-sided narratives,” while “masquerading as tribal bodies by using misleading tribal names.”The memorandum said such groups have received financial and logistical support, training and backing from foreign Christian organisations and former US military personnel, raising questions over compliance with FCRA norms and calling for scrutiny by India’s security agencies. These actions, it alleged, contributed to radicalisation and militarisation, exacerbating crisis.
