Kuki-Naga Bhai Bhai??

- Carey Suante

While many still sit tight waiting to see what will happen next after the Moreh incident last week the NSCN (IM) are quick to take advantage of the circumstances. The NSCN (IM) in their rather timely press release extended their friendship and goodwill to the Kukis and condemned the acts of those responsible for the killings. What is interesting is the timing of the press release and their claim that ‘Kukis in Nagaland are very much Nagas and within the Naga fold’. They however failed to mention or acknowledge their own distruction of the Kuki villages and the killings of the hundreds of Kukis during the 1990s.

However the KNO are quick to point out that whilst it lauds the gesture of friendship by the NSCN(IM) it must first of all relent and acknowledge their own mistake in its Kuki genocide campaign in the 1990s.

The KNO’s reply was not unexpected and rather an appropriate one.

Firstly of all, if NSCN (IM) wants to sincerely extend their friendship it was too soon after the Moreh incident and it should first and foremost acknowledge their mistake and seek the latter’s blessing. Their motive is therefore rather suspicious.

Secondly, the NSCN (IM)’s condemnation of the killing seems to somehow show their true colour and their double-standard approach towards the Kukis. They were the ones who killed hundreds of Kukis within and without Nagaland. They were responsible for of all for the circumstances and the social anarchy that exists within the Kukis today. In short, they are the ones responsible for the plight of the Kukis be it in Manipur and elsewhere.

Hence the KNO has every reason to be rather suspicious if they sound too careful in their reply to the press release.

However as KNO pointed out it is never too late to begin a new era of friendship and harmony for the two warring tribes. The KNO should also, as it did, appreciate the strength and willingness of the NSCN (IM) to join hands in friendship and in partnership. The KNO will also be welladvised if they read the political situation of Manipur that their is another party in the horizon whose intent is rather clear from the Moreh incident that this new threat to their society maybe kept in check by such “friendship”. That the Kukis need not be Nagas but reap the fruits of their friendship in this troubled times. The Kukis need all the help it can garner to fight off this new threat and the Nagas need partners to further their cause in Manipur. What better way to make friends than have a common enemy? When better time than when one is in need of a friend. Let bygones be bygones. Kuki-Naga, Bhai-Bhai??

Source: http://www.careysuante.tk/