Centre reviews ground rules with SoO groups

NEW DELHI, Aug 23
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs is reviewing the ground rules applicable to the Kuki-Zo insurgent groups in Manipur, which are in a Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with the Government since 2008. One of the measures proposed by the Union Government is removal of SoO camps from locations close to the valley districts which are dominated by the Meitei people.
The camps are proposed to be relocated further inside the hills, said a source.
The issue was also discussed on June 17 when Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the security situation in Manipur with State Government officials without Chief Minister N Biren Singh. Meitei groups have been demanding the removal of the camps.
Mr Singh has called for the abrogation of the tripartite pact, extended periodi- cally in the past two decades. On February 29, the Manipur Government refused to send a represen- tative to a meeting called by Ministry to extend the SoO pact with Kuki-Zo insurgent groups, leaving the agreement in a limbo.
Since August 19, three rounds of meetings have been held between three members of the Kuki-Zo insurgent groups and AK Mishra, Adviser (North East), the Ministry and Intelligence Bureau officials to discuss and review the ground rules.
After a peace pact is signed with an insurgent group, the cadres are to stay in earmarked camps and weapons and ammunition are accounted for and regular checks are conducted by a monitoring agency decided by the State Government.
According to an estimate, around 2,200 cadres of the SoO groups live in 14 designated camps in the hill districts of Manipur.
Ethnic violence between the Kuki-Zo and the Meitei people erupted in Manipur on May 3, 2023 after a tribal solidarity march to protest a Court order turned violent in Churachandpur, a hill district. At least 224 people have been killed and more than 60,000 people displaced from their homes in the past 15 months.
In the days before the violence broke out in the State, the SoO groups United Peoples’ Front (UPF) and the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) had reached a political settlement with the Ministry to end the decades-old issue. The groups had agreed for a self-governance model in the form of a Territorial Council for the Kuki-Zo in the State of Manipur after several rounds of negotiations. Post-violence, they revised their demand to “separate administration” for the Kuki-Zo people.
Another source said that the present round of meetings, held for the first time since the NDA Govt was sworn-in in June, did not discuss the political demands.  The Hindu