As long as Inner Manipur MP Bimol Akoijam was attacking and cornering BJP; there was nothing wrong :::: But now .... KNO targets Congress party's Meitei lawmaker

An umbrella body of several Kuki armed groups in Manipur; Kuki National Organisation (KNO) targets Congress party's "Meitei lawmaker"  Bimol Akoijam.

As long as the Inner Manipur MP was attacking and cornering BJP both within Lok Sabha and outside; there was nothing wrong. 

The issue relates to a 'report' prepared by pro-Left liberal (often dismissed as urban Naxals)  the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). 

The Kuki National Organisation (KNO) has expressed its deep concern over the recent remarks made by Bimol Akoijam against the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) report on the two-year-long violence in Manipur.

Notably, the KNO constituent groups are now under the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with the Government of India -- that is a ceasefire arrangement aimed at political dialogue.

Manipur saw unprecedented Kuki-Meitei clashes in 2023 

KNO spokesperson Seilen Haokip pointed out that the PUCL Tribunal, chaired by former Supreme Court judge Justice Kurian Joseph and supported by three eminent experts, comprised 14 distinguished members — none of them from Manipur — in order to ensure impartiality and credibility.

“The report has been rightly hailed by the minority Kuki-Zo people as fair and just, but predictably dismissed as partisan by the MP representing the majority community, which has been widely acknowledged as the primary perpetrator of this prolonged violence,” Seilen said. 

Apex Kuki-Zo Council (KZC) also hailed the release of the 'People’s Tribunal Report' on the Manipur conflict by PUCL.  

The KZC also said it “deeply appreciates the effort and courage of PUCL in establishing such an independent tribunal to record the voices of the victims, survivors, and stakeholders of this conflict.” 

The KZC added that when narratives are often “distorted or silenced,” such third-party fact-finding initiatives “provide the nation with an unbiased understanding of the ground reality.”  

The executive summary given at the beginning of the PUCL report maintained that "the violence (in 2023) was not spontaneous but orchestrated, enabled by armed Meitei vigilante groups like Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun, and facilitated by state complicity and law enforcement failures." 

This remains largely unacceptable to the Meitei civil society and intellectuals forget he BJP or any other political party. 

BJP leader and ex-Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh has charged that the report "serves only to deepen divides and prolong mistrust and it may even promote misunderstanding." 

An influential organisation - the Human Rights International Federation - has threatened to file a criminal defamation case against PUCL.

The Human Rights International Federation in a statement alleged the "independent people's tribunal" report on the Manipur ethnic violence by the PUCL "fails the test of neutrality as it presents a narrative exclusively from the perspective of one side of the conflict, acting not as a reporter of news but as a partisan protagonist."  

Meitei civil society organisations and people from the valley community living in relief camps after they lost their homes in Kuki-dominated hill areas have strongly criticised the report over what they called a perceived silence on the role of heavily armed and well-trained Kuki militants who participated in gunfights and recruited teens under the name of 'village volunteers'.

They also alleged the report's narration of the sequence of events leading to the outbreak of ethnic clashes and hostilities in May 2023 heavily relied on information supplied by Kuki organisations, leaders and professors.  

They also alleged key issues missing from the report, such as politicians especially from the controversial Any Kuki Tribes (AKT) category who allegedly instigated Kuki mobs before clashes began on May 3, 2023, and the use of language seen to be biased and partisan ("Kuki-Zo communities were 'driven' out of the valley. Meitei communities 'left' tribal-dominated hill areas.")

The former chief minister Biren Singh also said:

"I believe many right-minded organisations are preparing to follow with legal actions against the biased and divisive organisation like the PUCL for attempting to divide Manipur through its obnoxious report. 

At a time when Manipur needs healing, reconciliation and unity, such publications serve only to deepen divides and prolong mistrust and it may even promote misunderstanding".   

Interestingly, Inner Manipur MP of Congress party Bimol Akoijam now faces a new ground reality.

Understanding the deep consequences of the PUCL report, he has now sharply criticized the People’s Union for Civil Liberties for the report on the conflict.

He called it “biased, insensitive, and an attempt to malign the Meitei community". 

In a letter to PUCL president Kavita Srivastava, he alleged the report was based on “prejudiced narratives” rooted in “racist Orientalism,” ignoring the complexity of the crisis and risking further divisions in the troubled state. 

Since his election in 2024 Congress MP had made a virtue of attacking the BJP for the imbroglio in Manipur and now he probably finds himself in a difficult situation and hence had to attack the PUCL report. 

ends