Meitei ST Demand Committee submits affidavit to Manipur violence probe panel

STDCM submits affidavit to panel probing Manipur's ethnic conflict; Meitei/Meetei ST demand unrelated to violence.

GUWAHATI: The Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee of Manipur (STDCM) on December 29 submitted its affidavit to a panel probing Manipur’s ethnic conflict.

The affidavit was submitted at the Imphal office of the Commission of Inquiry headed by Ajay Lamba, a retired judge who served as the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court. The main office of this panel is in New Delhi.

“The demand for inclusion of the Meitei or Meetei people in the list of Scheduled Tribes of India had no connection with the ethnic violence that erupted in Manipur on May 3,” Dhiraj Yumnam, the STDCM president who submitted the affidavit on behalf of the committee, said.

The committee engaged Manipur High Court advocate, Ningombam Bupenda Meitei and his legal team in the matter.

The ethnic clashes between the non-tribal Meitei people and the Kuki-Zo tribal group has largely been attributed to the ST demand by a section of the Meitei people.

Close to 200 people have been killed and about 60,000 people displaced in the violence over the past eight months, although Manipur has shown signs of reconciliation in recent weeks.

The Meitei people dominate the Imphal Valley while the Kuki-Zo people are spread across a few hill districts around.