Ten Kuki-Zo MLAs from Manipur on Sunday said that the Union government had lied in the Supreme Court about Chief Minister N Biren Singh meeting the legislators to resolve the crisis and bring peace to the state, reported The Hindu.

On November 8, the Supreme Court was hearing a petition by an organisation named Kuki Organisation for Human Trust, which was seeking a court-monitored investigation into an audio clip claiming to feature the chief minister taking credit for “how and why the conflict started”.

The Manipur Police had said in August that the clip was doctored.

During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta reportedly told the court that Singh was meeting all Kuki-Zo MLAs and that peace in Manipur had come at a huge cost.

On Sunday, the MLAs, including those from the Bharatiya Janata Party, issued a joint statement, saying that they had not met Singh since May 3, 2023, when the ethnic conflict in the state started.

Stating that they don’t intend to meet the chief minister, they also accused him of being the “mastermind behind the violence”.

Manipur has been gripped by ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities since May 2023. At least 237 persons have died and more than 59,000 persons displaced since the beginning of the clashes.

“We, the undersigned ten MLAs, have come to know that during the Supreme Court hearing held on November 8, 2024, the Solicitor General of India submitted that ‘CM is meeting all Kuki MLAs and trying to bring the situation down to get peace’,” said the MLAs. “In this connection, we hereby categorically state that this submission is a blatant lie and tantamount to misleading the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.”

They also referred to the killing of a woman by suspected Meitei militants in Zairon Hmar village of the Jiribam district on Thursday.

“We strongly condemn the barbaric killing of a defenseless woman by the Meitei militias inspite of heavy deployment of security forces in Jiribam district,” they said. “We also condemn the Solicitor General’s unprofessional conduct of submitting arguments before the Supreme Court, without cross checking the facts.”

The Supreme Court had told the Kuki Organisation for Human Trust to produce materials proving the authenticity of the audio clips.