CCpur, October 12, 2009: As the State is gearing up for the observance of the sixtieth years of existence under the Indian Union, Kuki National Organisation (KNO) expressed concern over the increasing militarization by the world's largest democracy - the swarming of 'outsiders' from one of the most populous nations and 'gross human rights violations' in the name of counter insurgency operations in the land.

Lenin H Kuki, the information and pub licity secretary of the KNO observed in a statement that on.

The fateful day of Sep tember 21, 1949 at Shillong, the Hinduised Meitei Maharaja Budhachandra; with the pressure and support of the Nikhil Manipuri Hindu Mahasabha, signed away the sovereignty of the Meiteis along with that of the Kuki Zalengam (ancestral land of the Kukis).

Even before the signing of the treaty, the Kuki chiefs thronged the palace gate in Imphal so as to prevent the Maharaja from signing the merger agreement, but to no avail.

Yet the assemblage of hundreds of Kuki chiefs clearly indicated their sense of patriotism, love for freedom and self-rule.

The statement noted, it is a historical, and yet irrefutable, fact that the land of the Meiteis was known by various names like Muwapalli, Poirei Meeteileibak, Meitrabak, Cassay, Kathe, Mahe, Mekley, et al before the embracing of the Sanskritic term 'Manipur' in the early eighteenth Century.

The imposition of Vaishnavism as the state religion in 1714 AD by the then Maharaja Gharib Niwaz @ Pamheiba was totally unacceptable upon the Kuki people as the Kukis and Meiteis lived separately within their respective domains with distinct cultures, belief systems and traditional governance - Kingship and Chieftainship.

However the shared colonial experiences by the Meiteis and the Kukis is clearly manifested in their fight against the British separately for the protection of their respective sovereignty and lands in the Khongjom War (1891) and the Kuki Rising (1917-1919).Unfortunately, despite the provision of the right to self-determination under UN's Charter and other Conventions to those "conquered states and subjugated nations" the colonized Kuki people were denied their 'right to self-determination' leave alone to call a lebensraum of their own when the colonial British empire shattered and left them, ripping them apart in North-west Burma, Southern part of NE India and Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, the KNO statement added.

Drawing the attention of the people, Lenin Kuki asserted that the present peace deal in the name of SoO shall not be construed as a sign of weakness or lack of political ideology on the part of the Kuki militants; rather it must be realized that the Kukis desired for a peaceful and democratic solution of the "Kuki Question".

However if SoO is not utilized in a more meaningful and constructive ways by both the entities, the ultimate consequences would be an irremediable loss and the national security and integrity of India would be much more jeopardized than the present volatile scenario as a serious threat perception arises intermittently from the land of Dragon, China.

As the Kuki people yearn for a lasting peace and development, the KNO, as of now, believes that a negotiated peaceful solution within the democratic framework of the Constitution of India would blossom out of the 'peace deal' made with the State and Central governments, Lenin H Kuki observed.

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