SHUTDOWN CALLED IN ZO TERRITORY OVER MISINFORMATION SPREAD BY GOVERNMENT OF MANIPUR
September 28, a day that marks the 1949 merger of the modern-day Manipur with the Union of India Given the current ethnic conflict in the State of Manipur, this date is allegedly claimed by the State of Manipur as to represent the date of a plausible armed onslaught by “900 armed (Kuki) militants against Manipur.”
TRIBAL PERSPECTIVE
While the concocted threat of ‘900 militants’ to Manipur is a flimsy one given the denial by central forces of such looming attacks, the Security Advisor’s vague comments on these lines had him ‘arm twisted’. This is because the security establishments in Manipur cannot prove the veracity of such vague claims, and the denial by central forces of such threats nullified the pretext which Meitei terrorists earnestly cultivated to obtain the slightest of reasons to be on an armed offensive against the Zo people, that too on a significant day of 28 September, which Meitei populous had been in denial ever since Manipur became an entity which is an integral part of the Indian union.
This not only is an attempt to create a fertile ground for Meitei attacks on tribal Zo hills once again, but is also another failed attempt of vilification of the Zo people after similar attempts - such as the branding and tags of Zo people as ‘narco-terrorists, illegal immigrants, etc.’ The disinformation spread by the State of Manipur is termed by experts as an attempt to demonise the legitimate constitutional demands of the Zo people.
This is the ongoing narrative that has been on the ascendancy in Manipur amid ongoing conflict between the Zo people and the Meiteis. Fuelled by the callous remarks of the Security Advisor to the CM, this narrative acted as a spark to ignite the fire of Meitei terrorists waiting for the slightest pretext to go on a full offensive against the Zo people on a date which contributes to the signifier that India is a Union of States.
Meanwhile, the Zomi Students’ Federation (ZSF), issues a Press Release on the 27th of September, 2024 which calls for a total shutdown of the tribal areas. ‘The Shutdown is necessitated by the need to demonstrate against not only the circulation of fake news to defame and vilify the Zo (Zomi-Kuki-Hmar) people and to project them as militants but as a precaution against the true intentions of the state government and Armed Meitei Groups who intend to use the fake news as a pretext to launch well planned and large scale attacks in the Hill Districts inhabited by the Zo people,’ says the ZSF.