UKLF celebrates 16th year of its inception
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, March 29 2011:
United Kuki Liberation Front (UKLF) today accused New Delhi of doing precious little for the success of the much feted trilateral SoO signed between the State government of Manipur, Union government and the two bodies of Kuki militant groups, KNO and UPF, the process of political dialogue is still stuck in a limbo.
TL Jacob Thadou, secretary, UKLF, convener UPF and member of Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) stated this today in a media briefing in the 16th raising day celebration of UKLF at its designated Nazareth Camp, Muvanphoi, in Chandel district of Manipur.
He has appealed to the government to initiate a joint meeting with the two umbrella groups of the Kuki militants who are under the SoO while maintaining that the Union government has so far met the two groups only separately.
He expressed his desire for the two groups to sit across the table in the process of reaching a possible political solution.
Except the meeting in New Delhi on August 22, 2010, with both the groups separately, for the extension of the SoO, the Union government has remained silent and has not taken the initiative to set the process rolling for political dialogue, he added, saying that the process of achieving any semblance of political solution is therefore slight.
The government is only concerned about the violation of the ground rules of SoO by its cadres, but its stoic indifference to the welfare of the cadres who are finding it extremely difficult to subsist on the meager stipends of ' 3000 to the lower cadres and ' 5000 to
officer ranks.
The issue has also been raised in the JMG meeting by the SoO signatories but it has been fallen on deaf ears, alleged Jacob, adding that the accusation by the government that its cadres move out of the designated camps against the ground rules of SoO is a lame excuse.
"If the government does not provide sufficient rations at the camps, the cadres are wont to venture out to their respective homes to find food," he said.
While the demand for separate state within the Union of India has been foreclosed in the agreement signed under SoO, the Kuki civil society and the UKLF have found an alternative demand for the Kuki society under the banner of Kuki (Khulmi) Development Council Demand Committee.
In this regard, TL Jacob Thadou stated that Kuki Development Council is the only pragmatic way to usher in prosperity and development in Kuki areas at par with developments in the valley districts of Manipur.
He has urged the government to initiate a JMG sitting of the two Kuki militant groups who are signatories to the SoO .
The 16th raising day ceremony of UKLF was celebrated in the presence of representatives from Kuki Chief Association, Kuki Peoples' Forum, Kuki Women Human Right body, Kuki Students' Organization, Thadou Students' Association, Thadou Tribe Council, MDCs and nearby villagers.
A grand feast marked the end of the festivity.