Political deception, appeasement: TIM on Guwahati meet
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IMPHAL, Mar 23: The Thadou Inpi Manipur (TIM) has categorically stated that the meeting held between Chief Minister Y Khemchand and Kuki-Zo Council (KZC) at Guwahati on March 21 was a calculated act of political deception, selective Kuki appeasement and a blatant betrayal of the people of Manipur.
TIM has also unequivocally rejected and condemned Chief Minister Khemchand’s recent meeting with the illegitimate and unmandated “Kuki-Zo Council” (KZC).
By engaging a body the State Government previously declared non-existent, the Chief Minister has exposed the collapse of credibility, consistency, and integrity in governance while surrendering to an illegitimate, non-indigenous militant group that seeks to permanently destroy and annihilate the social fabric, integrity and indigenous identity of the people of Manipur, TIM said in a statement.
On December 18, 2024, the Government of Manipur officially declared: “There is no organisation called Kuki-Zo Council… its origin and authenticity are highly questionable.”
Today, the Chief Minister is legitimising this phantom entity through closed-door talks outside the State. This is not governance—it is political opportunism of the worst kind. Such a brazen reversal demands not explanation, but accountability, it said.
TIM said that the so-called Kuki-Zo Council has no democratic mandate, no customary legitimacy, and no acceptance among the very communities it claims to represent.
The Thadou community has historically and categorically rejected the imposed “Kuki” identity and has already built grassroots pathways for peaceful coexistence with the Meitei community.
Zomi (a nomenclature for several non-Kuki tribes of Manipur, Hmar, Mizo, Lushai and Ralte), and several others have repeatedly rejected and disowned the “Kuki-Zo” label, it said.
KZC is nothing more than a loose front of self-appointed actors and militant-linked interests attempting to manufacture legitimacy where none exists. It is a hollow construct— and the Chief Minister knows it, TIM asserted.
The Chief Minister admitted the term “Kuki-Zo” was “confusing,” yet extended recognition and engagement without clarity, framework, or accountability, it alleged.
Past engagements involving this same entity—whether linked to highway reopening claims or arrangements involving militant groups—have yielded nothing but failure, exposing the Government’s repeated reliance on ineffective and questionable intermediaries, it remarked.
Genuine grassroots peace efforts between Thadou and Meitei communities have been deliberately ignored by both the State and Central Governments, TIM said.
Thadou IDPs, especially those outside Manipur, continue to suffer in silence while selective and opaque benefits are extended elsewhere.
The Guwahati meeting was exclusionary, opaque, and devoid of legal or democratic legitimacy, it said.
TIM has demanded full and immediate disclosure of the Guwahati meeting’s agenda, participants, and outcomes; a public justification for the Government’s complete policy reversal since December 2024; formal acknowledgment that KZC has no legitimate representational standing in Manipur; immediate, equitable, and transparent rehabilitation for all IDPs, including every Thadou IDP, backed by publicly accessible data.
It further demanded recognition and institutional support for existing grassroots peace initiatives, and a transparent, inclusive peace process conducted within Manipur—not behind closed doors outside the State.
By legitimising the illegitimate, the Chief Minister has not advanced peace—he has undermined it, TIM added.
TIM has also unequivocally rejected and condemned Chief Minister Khemchand’s recent meeting with the illegitimate and unmandated “Kuki-Zo Council” (KZC).
By engaging a body the State Government previously declared non-existent, the Chief Minister has exposed the collapse of credibility, consistency, and integrity in governance while surrendering to an illegitimate, non-indigenous militant group that seeks to permanently destroy and annihilate the social fabric, integrity and indigenous identity of the people of Manipur, TIM said in a statement.
On December 18, 2024, the Government of Manipur officially declared: “There is no organisation called Kuki-Zo Council… its origin and authenticity are highly questionable.”
Today, the Chief Minister is legitimising this phantom entity through closed-door talks outside the State. This is not governance—it is political opportunism of the worst kind. Such a brazen reversal demands not explanation, but accountability, it said.
TIM said that the so-called Kuki-Zo Council has no democratic mandate, no customary legitimacy, and no acceptance among the very communities it claims to represent.
The Thadou community has historically and categorically rejected the imposed “Kuki” identity and has already built grassroots pathways for peaceful coexistence with the Meitei community.
Zomi (a nomenclature for several non-Kuki tribes of Manipur, Hmar, Mizo, Lushai and Ralte), and several others have repeatedly rejected and disowned the “Kuki-Zo” label, it said.
KZC is nothing more than a loose front of self-appointed actors and militant-linked interests attempting to manufacture legitimacy where none exists. It is a hollow construct— and the Chief Minister knows it, TIM asserted.
The Chief Minister admitted the term “Kuki-Zo” was “confusing,” yet extended recognition and engagement without clarity, framework, or accountability, it alleged.
Past engagements involving this same entity—whether linked to highway reopening claims or arrangements involving militant groups—have yielded nothing but failure, exposing the Government’s repeated reliance on ineffective and questionable intermediaries, it remarked.
Genuine grassroots peace efforts between Thadou and Meitei communities have been deliberately ignored by both the State and Central Governments, TIM said.
Thadou IDPs, especially those outside Manipur, continue to suffer in silence while selective and opaque benefits are extended elsewhere.
The Guwahati meeting was exclusionary, opaque, and devoid of legal or democratic legitimacy, it said.
TIM has demanded full and immediate disclosure of the Guwahati meeting’s agenda, participants, and outcomes; a public justification for the Government’s complete policy reversal since December 2024; formal acknowledgment that KZC has no legitimate representational standing in Manipur; immediate, equitable, and transparent rehabilitation for all IDPs, including every Thadou IDP, backed by publicly accessible data.
It further demanded recognition and institutional support for existing grassroots peace initiatives, and a transparent, inclusive peace process conducted within Manipur—not behind closed doors outside the State.
By legitimising the illegitimate, the Chief Minister has not advanced peace—he has undermined it, TIM added.