TCI rejects KZC’s June 25 press conference
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IMPHAL, Jul 1: The Kuki-Zo Council’s belated, "boastful admission" that six innocent Naga civilians, including Pastors, were murdered in a barbaric manner out of "emotion" or as a "mistake"—while simultaneously using the derogatory term 'Kacha Naga'—exposes a Kuki supremacist attitude and a total disregard for human life, said Thadou Community International (TCI) in a statement.
The TCI flatly rejects the statements made by Kuki-Zo Council (KZC) chairman Henlianthang Thanglet on June 25 and termed it "arrogant".
"The KZC is merely another proxy and mouthpiece of the Kuki Inpi Manipur, the apex body of the controversial "Any Kuki tribes" and Kuki SoO militant groups," it added.
Far from an apology, the statement rubbed salt into a deep wound. "The victims' bodies were recovered mutilated and dismembered... This denotes calculated, premeditated slaughter, not emotional outbursts. This savagery mirrors the brutal August 2025 murder of Thadou martyr Nehkam Jomhao by Kuki militants, revealing a chilling, systemic pattern of extreme violence," it said.
The TCI further stated that it completely rejects the KZC narrative claiming that the three massacred Thadou Baptist Association (TBA) Pastors—Rev Dr V Sitlhou, Rev Kaigoulun Lhouvum, and Pastor Paogoulen Sitlhou—were Kuki. "These leaders were murdered on May 13, 2026, in a Kuki-militant-dominated area near an illegal Kuki Revolutionary Army/Kuki National Organisation check post between Kotzim and Kotlen, where an Assam Rifles post is also located. This false narrative is a malicious attempt to exploit deceased Thadou church leaders, advance a Kuki political agenda, and shield the real perpetrators—the Kuki militants," it added.
Furthermore, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) mislabeling of the Thadou Church leaders as Kuki—based blindly on a Manipur police handover note—is deeply alarming. It appears to be a deliberate strategy to protect the perpetrators and bury the truth, it said.
""Kuki" is not an inherent ethnic group or a collective of tribes, but an extremist, violent, and supremacist ideology, and those who subscribe to it. There is no Kuki in Manipur other than the "Any Kuki tribes" classification of 2003," it said.
Further, the blatant contradiction between the earlier denials by Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) and the recent admission by the KZC—which they bizarrely retracted the very next day—points to high-level orchestration, concealment, and obstruction of justice, it said.
Justice cannot be reduced to public relations stunts or press conference spectacles. Selective apologies and weaponised victimhood cannot shield those responsible for mutilation, desecration, and targeted assassinations, it said.
For too long, Thadous have been forced into silence by Kuki chauvinism. That silence must never be mistaken for consent, TCI said, asserting every Thadou must now stand up for their rights, reject the Kuki label, exit Kuki institutions, and completely disassociate from all Kuki organisations and activities.
The TCI flatly rejects the statements made by Kuki-Zo Council (KZC) chairman Henlianthang Thanglet on June 25 and termed it "arrogant".
"The KZC is merely another proxy and mouthpiece of the Kuki Inpi Manipur, the apex body of the controversial "Any Kuki tribes" and Kuki SoO militant groups," it added.
Far from an apology, the statement rubbed salt into a deep wound. "The victims' bodies were recovered mutilated and dismembered... This denotes calculated, premeditated slaughter, not emotional outbursts. This savagery mirrors the brutal August 2025 murder of Thadou martyr Nehkam Jomhao by Kuki militants, revealing a chilling, systemic pattern of extreme violence," it said.
The TCI further stated that it completely rejects the KZC narrative claiming that the three massacred Thadou Baptist Association (TBA) Pastors—Rev Dr V Sitlhou, Rev Kaigoulun Lhouvum, and Pastor Paogoulen Sitlhou—were Kuki. "These leaders were murdered on May 13, 2026, in a Kuki-militant-dominated area near an illegal Kuki Revolutionary Army/Kuki National Organisation check post between Kotzim and Kotlen, where an Assam Rifles post is also located. This false narrative is a malicious attempt to exploit deceased Thadou church leaders, advance a Kuki political agenda, and shield the real perpetrators—the Kuki militants," it added.
Furthermore, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) mislabeling of the Thadou Church leaders as Kuki—based blindly on a Manipur police handover note—is deeply alarming. It appears to be a deliberate strategy to protect the perpetrators and bury the truth, it said.
""Kuki" is not an inherent ethnic group or a collective of tribes, but an extremist, violent, and supremacist ideology, and those who subscribe to it. There is no Kuki in Manipur other than the "Any Kuki tribes" classification of 2003," it said.
Further, the blatant contradiction between the earlier denials by Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) and the recent admission by the KZC—which they bizarrely retracted the very next day—points to high-level orchestration, concealment, and obstruction of justice, it said.
Justice cannot be reduced to public relations stunts or press conference spectacles. Selective apologies and weaponised victimhood cannot shield those responsible for mutilation, desecration, and targeted assassinations, it said.
For too long, Thadous have been forced into silence by Kuki chauvinism. That silence must never be mistaken for consent, TCI said, asserting every Thadou must now stand up for their rights, reject the Kuki label, exit Kuki institutions, and completely disassociate from all Kuki organisations and activities.