Dimapur, May 22 (MExN): In the back drop of the recent news report about the Kuki armed organisation coming together against their ‘common enemy-the Nagas’, the Kuki National Organisation reiterated the age old cordial relations between the Nagas and the Kukis and added that the KNO continues to cherish the bond between the two communities.
Reiterating this view of Kuki-Naga friendship, the Under-secretary, Publicity and Information, T Stephen Kuki in a press release, while presenting a clarification and rectification of the news item published on May 5 in The Morung Express about the Kuki groups joining hands to fight the ‘common enemy-the Nagas’, Stephen Kuki termed the news item as most regrettable.
He said that ‘from 1992, the Tangkhul led NSCN (IM)’ carried out the infamous Kuki genocide which let over 900 killed, 350 villages up rooted and more than 50,000 rendered refugees.
Stephen Kuki said that during the course of 1992 to 1997, the Tangkhuls through media manipulations used erroneous term ‘Naga-Kuki conflict’ and brain washed and used the other Nagas, particularly in Manipur. ‘They also managed to influence old Kukis from Chandel district in Manipur to act against their own people, the so-called new Kukis’ Stephen Kuki said and added that this division among the Kukis on the basis of old and new Kukis originated with the British colonialist and now being perpetuated by the NSCN (IM).
All these have made it difficult to single out Tangkhuls from Nagas, which unfortunately led to the common usage ‘Nagas’, said Stephen and added that many people have a clear idea of the implicit meaning of the usage of the word ‘Naga’, and also to avoid any ambiguity, the KNO have on several occasion released articles, including a statement in the press distinguishing Tangkhul from Naga, Stephen said.
The KNO Under Secretary of Publicity and Information also said that the KNO would like to state, in no uncertain terms, that it is NSCN (IM), which is concerned with targeting Kuki militarily and politically to sabotage their movement.
“It is in this regard, for example, that they harbour and instigate the united Kuki Liberation Front (UKLF) and Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA) against the Kuki people” stated Stephen Kuki. After stating all this, the KNO reiterated the age-old cordial relations between the Nagas and the Kuki and the added that they continues to cherish the bond between the two communities exemplified in the memorandum submitted to the Simon Commission in 1929.
Further, citing another instance of the Naga-Kuki brotherhood, Stephen Kuki said that another historic event marking ‘our’ peoples brotherhood is the symbolic act of sharing ‘ju’ from the barrel of a flintlock, breaking of an animals’ skull and pulling apart its intestines which signifies that whomsoever breaks the agreement of peace and unity would face the barrel of gun, have his skull broken and the intestines pulled apart which was done by the Angamis and the Kukis in Nagaland, stated Stephen and added that the event was repeated in 1929 at Khonoma village, symbolizing the ongoing peaceful relations.
It may be mentioned that the NDTV, on may 5, carried an exclusive news item about the different Kuki armed underground faction joining hands and coming together to fight against a common enemy-the Nagas’. The same news also carried in the local dallies.
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