Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh during the 78th Independence Day celebrations at the Secretariat in Imphal on August 15, 2024. Photo: X/@NBirenSingh via PTI
Manipur’s 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs on Wednesday (August 21, 2024) issued a statement, saying they had taken note of the leaked voice clippings, alleged to be of Chief Minister N. Biren Singh purportedly admitting to his complicity in the ethnic conflict.
They said it established his complicity “beyond an iota of doubt”, demanding that the Commission of Inquiry set up by the Centre to probe the violence expedite its process to prosecute the Chief Minister of Manipur “for his crimes if his guilt is established”. The MLAs also called for his removal as Chief Minister so that he can be stopped from “influencing the outcome of the probe against him”.
“The complicity of the Chief Minister in the state-sponsored ethnic cleansing, which we have always maintained since day one, has now been established beyond an iota of doubt,” the MLAs, who include two Ministers in Mr. Singh’s Cabinet, said in their statement.
They further claimed that the authenticity of the tapes had been confirmed by one Rojendro Nong, who the MLAs said was Mr. Singh’s brother. The MLAs argued that Mr. Nong had confirmed the authenticity of the tapes by “threatening those who sold out such sensitive tapes to others on Facebook”.
The clippings, leaked on social media weeks ago, and then submitted to the Commission of Inquiry set up by the Centre under Justice Ajay Lamba, have been dubbed “Manipur Tapes”.
While the Manipur government had initially claimed the clippings were doctored and being investigated, it has only doubled down on this claim since news website The Wire reported the contents of the tapes after reporting that they had been submitted as evidence to the Justice Lamba Commission along with an affidavit revealing the circumstances under which they were recorded.
Ethnic conflict
The ethnic conflict between the valley-based Meitei people and the hills-based Scheduled Tribe Kuki-Zo communities has continued for over a year now. More than 220 people have been killed, thousands injured, and tens of thousands internally displaced in the conflict so far, according to official figures.
In their statement, the Kuki-Zo MLAs said the tapes showed him “candidly boasting about his role in the ethnic persecution of the tribal Kuki Zo community”. They added that there were also segments where he allegedly admitted to being chastised by Union Home Minister (UHM) Amit Shah for using bombs in Kuki-Zo areas “and how after the UHM had left, he had instructed the police top brass to use bombs clandestinely going forward, defying the UHM’s directions”.
The MLAs went on to cite the contents of the tapes from the news websites reports, which included instances of the Chief Minister allegedly seeking credit for preventing the arrests of those involved in the looting of around 5,000 weapons from State armouries.
“He can also be heard appealing that Kukis can throw abuses at him, and rightly so because he had caused the death of about 300 of them, but that Meiteis should not throw abuses at him. These and many more self-incriminating statements can be clearly heard from the leaked tapes, which have been submitted to the judicial commission headed by Justice Lamba,” the MLAs’ statement said.
In the letter, the MLAs once again appealed to the Union government to expedite the Kuki-Zo people’s demand for a union territory with legislature to be carved out of Manipur for themselves.
Meanwhile, the Churachandpur District Bar Association has called for a sit-in protest on Thursday (August 22, 2024) against the Chief Minister’s remarks on the clippings, allegedly alluding that Kuki-Zo judges were allegedly biased towards people of their ethnicity. The Kangpokpi District Bar Association has also expressed solidarity with their counterparts in Churachandpur.
Further, the Bar Association in Kangpokpi has written to the Judicial Magistrate First Class of Kangpokpi, requesting that all matters for the day be adjourned to protest the Chief Minister’s remarks against judges of a particular ethnicity. A similar request has been made to the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Senapati, which happens to be located within the boundaries of Kangpokpi District Headquarters.
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