Suspected members of a Naga militant group set a few houses belonging to the Kuki-Zo community on fire in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district on Monday.
The incident occurred at K Songlung-II village under Kangchup police station, police confirmed. While three houses and an SUV were set on fire, there have been no reports of any injuries, police said.
A team of police led by DIG S P Kangpokpi have rushed to the area.
While a faction of the Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF), an armed militant group, have claimed responsibility for the incident, a Kuki-Zo group has demanded action in the matter within 24 hours, threatening to shut down the highways.
Several videos of the incident, purportedly showing burning houses in a hilly area, have surfaced on social media platforms.
In an unsigned statement, ZUF, allegedly led by Kamson, who goes by only one name, said, “ZUF has intensified its decisive campaign against illegal poppy cultivation, narcotics trafficking, and unlawful encroachment by illegal immigrants within the ancestral, customary, and historical territory of the Zeliangrong Inpui Naga people.”
The statement further read, “Despite repeated public alerts and time granted for peaceful compliance, enforcement action was carried out at 12.15 pm… burnt the farm houses, farms and dismantled other essential materials against illegal poppy cultivation and unauthorised structures in the Waphong area of the Songnung Sadar Hills, Kangpokpi District, Manipur.”
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Many Kuki-Zo civil bodies, including the Indigenous Tribal Leader’s Forum (ITLF), Sadar Hills Chief Association (SAHILCA), Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU), among others, condemned the outfit.
The Kuki-Zo groups said that K Songlung-II village has never cultivated poppy, and the structures mentioned are permanent residential units and not mere farmhouses.
The Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU), a Kuki-Zo group based in Kangpokpi, issued an ultimatum to the Manipur government, demanding the arrest of those responsible for the incident within 24 hours. It threatened to impose a total shutdown of the only two lifelines of the state, the National Highway-2 and National Highway-37, from midnight January 27 to midnight January 28, if their demands are not met. The COTU, in a statement, said that it would not be responsible for any consequences arising from the blockade.
Earlier this month, a reported gunfight had ensued between the Naga outfit and an armed Kuki militant group over the poppy issue.