Imphal, March 4, 2025: The Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU), representing the Kuki-Zo community in Manipur, has openly defied the Union government’s directive to ensure unrestricted movement on state roads. This comes after Union Home Minister Amit Shah instructed security agencies to restore free movement across Manipur by March 8.<\/p>\n
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COTU, in a statement issued on March 3, declared that no free movement would be allowed in Kuki-Zo areas unless their demands for a separate administration were met. The tribal body reiterated its stance that the demand for a Union Territory with a legislature is \u201cfinal and non-negotiable.\u201d The resolution also warned against any attempts to enforce peace without addressing their political aspirations, threatening a complete boycott of the ruling government. Additionally, they opposed any arrests of Kuki-Zo volunteers, stating that such actions would be met with consequences.<\/p>\n
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This defiance comes amid ongoing ethnic tensions between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei communities, which have been locked in conflict since May 3, 2023. The unrest has resulted in large-scale violence, displacement, and continued blockades on key highways. COTU has previously imposed road blockades as a protest against what they call \u201cselective targeting\u201d by Meitei groups.<\/p>\n
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The Union government\u2019s efforts to de-escalate the situation face significant hurdles, with COTU\u2019s latest declaration adding to the complexities. While the Home Minister’s directive aims to restore normalcy in Manipur, the tribal body\u2019s firm stand signals continued resistance, further challenging peace efforts in the region.<\/p>\n
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Imphal, March 4, 2025: The Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU), representing the Kuki-Zo community in Manipur, has openly defied the Union government’s directive to ensure unrestricted movement on state roads. … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2248,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,33,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inn","category-state","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9200,"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2246\/revisions\/9200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ichelnewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}