‘Settle Kuki case first’

KORH petitions RN Ravi to settle Kuki case before NSCN-IM inks an agreement with Delhi

EMN IMPHAL, NOVEMBER 1 The Kuki human rights group has urged interlocutor of the Government of India for Naga peace talks RN Ravi to settle the cases of ‘heinous crimes’ committed by the NSCN-IM before any agreement is inked between New Delhi and the Naga outfit. "Before any kind of agreement is reached with the NSCN-IM, please understand the clear stance and demand of the Kuki Inpi (Traditional Government) to settle first the ‘heinous crimes’ committed by the Naga underground outfit in the proper law court of the country to show law and order is maintained by the Government of India", the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights (KOHR) has said in a memorandum to RN Ravi. KOHR alleged that 905 innocent Kukis including children, women and aged persons were murdered, 360 Kuki villages uprooted and seized their lands, and over one lakh Kukis were rendered homeless ‘in their ancestral homeland’ by the NSCN-IM in the 1990s. The memorandum signed by KOHR chairman T Lunkim said the ‘likely agreement’ between New Delhi and NSCN-IM will damage the image of the Government of India if the cases of ‘heinous crimes’ committed by the Naga militant group against the ‘indigenous Kukis’ are not settled first in the proper law court. Twenty-four pictures of murder, several memorandums and a well-documented book “The Plight of the Indigenous Kuki People” published by Kuki Movement for Human Rights which were enclosed with the latest memorandum submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be sympathetically read and understood for the sake of justice and peace in the country and North East in particular, the memorandum urged RN Ravi. It said the then BJP Government at the Centre headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee promised to take appropriate action through proper court to deliver justice during a meeting with representatives of Kuki social organisations on July 21, 2001, adding that the meeting was also attended by former Union Home Minister LK Advani and former interlocutor for Naga talks, K Padmanabhaiah. The memorandum also said that the organisation is confident that the present BJP Government at the Centre would fulfill the promise made by former Prime Minister AB Vajpayee through the able guidance of RN Ravi in the hope to bring justice and peace in the country.