A Kuki-Zo group on Wednesday opposed a “march to the hill districts” of Manipur proposed by an Imphal valley-based civil society organisation.

On Tuesday, the Federation of Civil Society Organisations said it will launch a peace march to the hills. The march is scheduled to take place on Saturday.

The announcement came three days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah directed officials to ensure free movement on all roads in Manipur from March 8 and warned of strict action against any attempts to obstruct them.

Manipur has been mired in ethnic conflict between the Meitei and the Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities that broke out in May 2023 and has left at least 258 dead and displaced more than 59,000.

While the Kukis are in majority in the state’s hill districts, the Meiteis dominate the Imphal valley.

The Federation of Civil Society Organisations, which comprises 20 groups, said that the objective of its march is to deliver messages of peace to the “buffer zones” and the villages in the hills.

“After discussing Home Minister Amit Shah’s directive, we decided to launch this expedition to visit the hills where the Meitei people have not been able to go since May 2023,” The Hindu quoted the organisation’s president as saying.

On Wednesday, Village Volunteers - Eastern Zone, the Kuki group, opposed the proposed march saying that the “relentless injustices, inhumane atrocities and systematic oppression committed against our people cannot be ignored or brushed aside under the pretence of peaceful marches”.

The group added: “There will be no free movement in Kuki-Zo areas before the establishment of a separate administration/Union Territory with a legislature for the Kuki-Zo people.”

The valley-based organisations will not be allowed free passage “into our lands” until a “just and lasting solution is reached”, the Kuki group said. “Any attempt to infringe upon our rights or forcefully enter our areas will be met with strong resistance,” it added.

In response to the statement by the Kuki group, the Meitei Heritage Society said the opposition to the peace march was disturbing, The Hindu reported.

“These responses put beyond any doubt what was always suspected, that the Manipur violence was engineered and is a means to an end of a decades-old larger design, which is to split Manipur,” the Meitei Heritage Society was quoted as saying. “The demand for a separate administration is not a result of the ongoing violence.”

Shah’s order to officials to ensure free movement came after President’s Rule was imposed in Manipur on February 13 after Bharatiya Janata Party leader N Biren Singh resigned as the chief minister.

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