Imphal:

The Manipur government has asked the police to hand over the case of attack on the ancestral house of a key Thadou tribe leader and BJP spokesperson to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The state government in a letter to the police chief said the case filed over the attack on the house of T Michael Lamjathang Haokip in Churachandpur district, where his elderly parents and some internally displaced people live, should be forwarded to the NIA as soon as possible.

“In view of the serious nature of the matter, DGP (Director General of Police), Manipur is kindly requested to submit the proposal for forwarding this case to the NIA at the earliest,” the state government said.

NDTV has seen a copy of the letter.

Mr Haokip’s house was vandalised and set on fire in Kuki-dominated Churachandpur on August 31 in the third attack at his house since the Meitei-Kuki ethnic violence began in May 2023. The attack happened on a day the Kuki tribes held protests against Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who they said was responsible for the crisis, citing a leaked audio tape which the state government had called “doctored”.

Six days earlier, on August 25, over two dozen people, some of them armed, had vandalised Mr Haokip’s house and also fired shots in the air.

In a first information report (FIR), Mr Haokip had named 15 people as “directly or indirectly” responsible for the attack on his property and family. He also named two people who allegedly asked members of a WhatsApp group to kill him. One of the two promised to give “village land” to anyone who kills the state BJP spokesperson.

Mr Haokip has said the attacks and threats came as a result of him raising awareness about his tribe, Thadou, being inaccurately referred to as a Kuki tribe amid the ethnic tension in Manipur.

READ | “Kill Him, Will Give My Land…”: Manipur BJP Spokesperson’s FIR Over Death Threats, Attack On House

Mr Haokip, the Thadou Community International (TCI) and the Thadou Students’ Association (TSA-GHQ), of which he is a key leader, have sought to draw attention to the tribe’s “inaccurate” reference by leaders and the media, and to spread awareness that “the Thadou tribe is distinct and any confusion with other tribes surmount to being racist, abusive, disrespectful, traumatising and it puts the Thadou tribe in poor light”.

“… There’s hope the perpetrators’ intentions and masterminds will be exposed, and justice will be served to all the victims of the horrible crime and injustice, including Michael Lamjathang, his family and Peniel villagers,” the TSA said in a statement on Friday, welcoming the decision of the Manipur government to hand over the investigation to the NIA.

Letter To Kuki National Organisation (KSO)

The TSA on September 15 wrote to the heads of the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), seeking their cooperation in identifying suspects who attacked Mr Haokip’s house twice last month. TSA spokesperson Vicky Thadou in the letter said that Peniel village, where Mr Haokip’s senior citizen parents live in their ancestral house, falls within the operational area of KNO, and are dominated by KNA, KNFMC, KNF-S, KNF-Z, and KLA – the five constituents of the KNO.

“… We hold the KNO and the local civil organisations morally responsible for the attacks,” the TSA said in the letter addressed to the KNO president and vice presidents.

The Kuki National Front (Samuel), or KNF(S), in a statement refuted the TSA’s allegation and requested people to “stay away from this misinformation and blatant accusation.” “… The blatant accusation that the incident took place within the operational area of the organisation is nothing, but the act of tarnishing the image and reputation of KNF(S),” the KNF(S) said in a statement, referring to the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement.

The TSA in the statement on Friday acknowledged the KNF(S)’s response and pointed out that only one of five armed groups under the KNO has responded.

“… The fact that other groups have neither condemned the repeated terror attacks nor clarified on the matter only strengthen the suspicion of their involvement in the attacks, which would clearly amount to gross violation of the ground rules of the Suspension of Operations agreement between the groups and the government,” the TSA said.

The KNO is one of the two umbrella organisations of 23 Kuki-Zomi-Hmar insurgent groups that have signed the controversial tripatriate SoO agreement with the state government and the Centre. The other is the United People’s Front (UPF). The KNO and the UPF represent these 23 Kuki-Zomi-Hmar insurgent groups.

Broadly, the SoO agreement says the insurgents are to stay at designated camps and their weapons kept in locked storage, to be monitored regularly. Every year, a joint monitoring group reviews the SoO agreement and decides whether to end or renew it. The agreement lapsed on February 29 this year – the same day the Manipur assembly unanimously passed a resolution asking the Centre to scrap the agreement. The 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs did not attend the assembly session.

The Manipur government has alleged some Kuki insurgents who are part of the SoO agreement have been participating in the ethnic conflict, thus violating the ground rules.

READ | End Ceasefire With All Kuki-Zo Insurgent Groups: Manipur Assembly Unanimous Resolution

Leaders of the Kuki tribes have also accused the state government headed by Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who is from the valley-dominant Meitei community, of looking the other way when insurgents of the Meitei group United National Liberation Front (Pambei), or UNLF(P), allegedly participated in the violence. The UNLF(P) last year signed a peace deal with the Centre and the state government, after which its personnel came overground.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis – a term given by the British in colonial times – who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, has killed over 220 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

Imphal/New Delhi:

The Thadou Students Association (TSA-GHQ) has written to the heads of the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), seeking their cooperation in identifying suspects who attacked the house of Thadou leader and Manipur BJP spokesperson T Michael Lamjathang Haokip in Churachandpur district twice last month.

TSA spokesperson Vicky Thadou in the letter said that Peniel village, where Mr Haokip’s senior citizen parents live in their ancestral house, falls within the operational area of KNO, and are dominated by KNA, KNFMC, KNF-S, KNF-Z, and KLA – the five constituents of the KNO.

“… We hold the KNO and the local civil organisations morally responsible for the attacks,” the TSA said in the letter addressed to the KNO president and vice presidents.

NDTV has seen a copy of the letter.

The Kuki National Front (Samuel), or KNF(S), in a statement refuted the TSA’s allegation and requested people to “stay away from this misinformation and blatant accusation.”

“The organisation is constrained to clarify that it is not involved in any violent act since the signing of SoO and that it has no knowledge of the said incident. Moreover, the place of the incident is not within the operational area of KNF(S). So, the blatant accusation that the incident took place within the operational area of the organisation is nothing, but the act of tarnishing the image and reputation of KNF(S),” the KNF(S) said in the statement, referring to the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement.

Mr Haokip told NDTV that except for KNF(S), the rest have not responded.

Mr Haokip is also one of the key members of the TSA-GHQ. The association in the letter said Mr Haokip’s family or the village deserves no cruel treatment and persecution from any group, and requested the KNO to identify the suspects who set his house on fire last month.

“The Koitelui Area Chief Association (KACA)… reported and dismissed any knowledge about the perpetrators. They also stated that even the local organisations including Kuki Inpi Churachandpur, Kuki Chiefs’ Association Churachandpur, and Kuki Village Volunteers Churachandpur have denied any knowledge about the perpetrators,” the TSA said.

Mr Haokip’s house was last vandalised and set on fire on August 31 in the third attack at his house since the Meitei-Kuki ethnic violence began in May 2023. Before that, on August 25, over two dozen people, some of them armed, had vandalised Mr Haokip’s house where his parents and four families displaced by the violence live. The attackers also fired shots in the air.

READ | “Poured Kerosene, Fired In The Air”: Attack On Manipur BJP Spokesperson’s Churachandpur House

Mr Haokip had told NDTV that the brazen daylight attack on August 31 – despite the police having filed a first information report (FIR) naming several individuals as suspects in the previous attack – showed the “Kuki supremacists take India’s laws as jokes.”

Mr Haokip has said he has been raising awareness about his tribe, Thadou, being inaccurately referred to as a Kuki tribe amid the ethnic tension in Manipur. This had angered “Kuki supremacists” as they do not want to accept the Thadou tribe’s distinct identity, Mr Haokip alleged.

In mid-August, three MLAs from among the 10 who have been demanding a separate administration carved out of Manipur had clarified they want their own tribes to be called by their correct names, instead of being associated only with the term “Kuki-Zo”.

The KNO is one of the two umbrella organisations of 23 Kuki-Zomi-Hmar insurgent groups that have signed the controversial tripatriate SoO agreement with the state government and the Centre. The other is the United People’s Front (UPF). The KNO and the UPF represent these 23 Kuki-Zomi-Hmar insurgent groups.

Broadly, the SoO agreement says the insurgents are to stay at designated camps and their weapons kept in locked storage, to be monitored regularly. Every year, a joint monitoring group reviews the SoO agreement and decides whether to end or renew it. The agreement lapsed on February 29 this year – the same day the Manipur assembly unanimously passed a resolution asking the Centre to scrap the agreement. The 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs did not attend the assembly session.

READ | “Prosecute Manipur Chief Minister”: 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs To Probe Panel On ‘Audio Clip’ Leak Row

The Manipur government has alleged some Kuki insurgents who are part of the SoO agreement have been participating in the ethnic conflict, thus violating the ground rules.

Leaders of the Kuki tribes have also accused the state government headed by Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who is from the valley-dominant Meitei community, of looking the other way when insurgents of the Meitei group United National Liberation Front (Pambei), or UNLF(P), allegedly participated in the violence. The UNLF(P) last year signed a peace deal with the Centre and the state government, after which its personnel came overground.

Manipur BJP President Writes To Amit Shah

Manipur BJP chief Adhikarimayum Sharda Devi has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking security and safety for Mr Haokip. In the letter, Ms Devi said that Mr Haokip, “a young and dynamic youth leader of the Thadou tribe and spokesperson of the BJP, Manipur Pradesh” has the right to express his views without fear.

She requested the Union Home Minister to direct the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to take up the cases of attacks on Mr Haokip’s ancestral house.

“Provide adequate security for Mr Michael and his family, given the serious threats against him,” she said.

Thadou Students’ Association Seeks Answers

The TSA-GHQ in a fresh statement on Monday expressed disappointment over what it claimed was the state government’s inaction and failure to arrest the suspects who attacked Mr Haokip’s house multiple times.

“TSA is aghast at the failure of the government authorities to arrest the perpetrators of the crime and the masterminds till now. This is possibly due to the weakness of the local police and district administrators to enforce laws on the ground despite the will of the state government,” the TSA said in the statement.

“But there can be no excuse for allowing injustice on repeated acts of terror and crime, and therefore, TSA reminds the state government to hand over the case to the NIA without any further delay,” it said.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis – a term given by the British in colonial times – who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, has killed over 220 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

Imphal/New Delhi:

The Thadou Students Association (TSA-GHQ) has written to the heads of the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), seeking their cooperation in identifying suspects who attacked the house of Thadou leader and Manipur BJP spokesperson T Michael Lamjathang Haokip in Churachandpur district twice last month.

TSA spokesperson Vicky Thadou in the letter said that Peniel village, where Mr Haokip’s senior citizen parents live in their ancestral house, falls within the operational area of KNO, and are dominated by KNA, KNFMC, KNF-S, KNF-Z, and KLA – the five constituents of the KNO.

“… We hold the KNO and the local civil organisations morally responsible for the attacks,” the TSA said in the letter addressed to the KNO president and vice presidents.

NDTV has seen a copy of the letter.

The Kuki National Front (Samuel), or KNF(S), in a statement refuted the TSA’s allegation and requested people to “stay away from this misinformation and blatant accusation.”

“The organisation is constrained to clarify that it is not involved in any violent act since the signing of SoO and that it has no knowledge of the said incident. Moreover, the place of the incident is not within the operational area of KNF(S). So, the blatant accusation that the incident took place within the operational area of the organisation is nothing, but the act of tarnishing the image and reputation of KNF(S),” the KNF(S) said in the statement, referring to the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement.

Mr Haokip told NDTV that except for KNF(S), the rest have not responded.

Mr Haokip is also one of the key members of the TSA-GHQ. The association in the letter said Mr Haokip’s family or the village deserves no cruel treatment and persecution from any group, and requested the KNO to identify the suspects who set his house on fire last month.

“The Koitelui Area Chief Association (KACA)… reported and dismissed any knowledge about the perpetrators. They also stated that even the local organisations including Kuki Inpi Churachandpur, Kuki Chiefs’ Association Churachandpur, and Kuki Village Volunteers Churachandpur have denied any knowledge about the perpetrators,” the TSA said.

Mr Haokip’s house was last vandalised and set on fire on August 31 in the third attack at his house since the Meitei-Kuki ethnic violence began in May 2023. Before that, on August 25, over two dozen people, some of them armed, had vandalised Mr Haokip’s house where his parents and four families displaced by the violence live. The attackers also fired shots in the air.

READ | “Poured Kerosene, Fired In The Air”: Attack On Manipur BJP Spokesperson’s Churachandpur House

Mr Haokip had told NDTV that the brazen daylight attack on August 31 – despite the police having filed a first information report (FIR) naming several individuals as suspects in the previous attack – showed the “Kuki supremacists take India’s laws as jokes.”

Mr Haokip has said he has been raising awareness about his tribe, Thadou, being inaccurately referred to as a Kuki tribe amid the ethnic tension in Manipur. This had angered “Kuki supremacists” as they do not want to accept the Thadou tribe’s distinct identity, Mr Haokip alleged.

In mid-August, three MLAs from among the 10 who have been demanding a separate administration carved out of Manipur had clarified they want their own tribes to be called by their correct names, instead of being associated only with the term “Kuki-Zo”.

The KNO is one of the two umbrella organisations of 23 Kuki-Zomi-Hmar insurgent groups that have signed the controversial tripatriate SoO agreement with the state government and the Centre. The other is the United People’s Front (UPF). The KNO and the UPF represent these 23 Kuki-Zomi-Hmar insurgent groups.

Broadly, the SoO agreement says the insurgents are to stay at designated camps and their weapons kept in locked storage, to be monitored regularly. Every year, a joint monitoring group reviews the SoO agreement and decides whether to end or renew it. The agreement lapsed on February 29 this year – the same day the Manipur assembly unanimously passed a resolution asking the Centre to scrap the agreement. The 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs did not attend the assembly session.

READ | “Prosecute Manipur Chief Minister”: 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs To Probe Panel On ‘Audio Clip’ Leak Row

The Manipur government has alleged some Kuki insurgents who are part of the SoO agreement have been participating in the ethnic conflict, thus violating the ground rules.

Leaders of the Kuki tribes have also accused the state government headed by Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who is from the valley-dominant Meitei community, of looking the other way when insurgents of the Meitei group United National Liberation Front (Pambei), or UNLF(P), allegedly participated in the violence. The UNLF(P) last year signed a peace deal with the Centre and the state government, after which its personnel came overground.

Manipur BJP President Writes To Amit Shah

Manipur BJP chief Adhikarimayum Sharda Devi has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking security and safety for Mr Haokip. In the letter, Ms Devi said that Mr Haokip, “a young and dynamic youth leader of the Thadou tribe and spokesperson of the BJP, Manipur Pradesh” has the right to express his views without fear.

She requested the Union Home Minister to direct the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to take up the cases of attacks on Mr Haokip’s ancestral house.

“Provide adequate security for Mr Michael and his family, given the serious threats against him,” she said.

Thadou Students’ Association Seeks Answers

The TSA-GHQ in a fresh statement on Monday expressed disappointment over what it claimed was the state government’s inaction and failure to arrest the suspects who attacked Mr Haokip’s house multiple times.

“TSA is aghast at the failure of the government authorities to arrest the perpetrators of the crime and the masterminds till now. This is possibly due to the weakness of the local police and district administrators to enforce laws on the ground despite the will of the state government,” the TSA said in the statement.

“But there can be no excuse for allowing injustice on repeated acts of terror and crime, and therefore, TSA reminds the state government to hand over the case to the NIA without any further delay,” it said.

There are many villages of the Kuki tribes in the hills surrounding the Meitei-dominated valley. The clashes between the Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes known as Kukis – a term given by the British in colonial times – who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, has killed over 220 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

Imphal/Guwahati/New Delhi:

Manipur BJP spokesperson and Thadou tribe leader T Michael Lamjathang Haokip has filed a police case after two dozen people, some of them armed, burned a portion of his house and fired shots in the air in Churachandpur on Sunday night.

In the first information report (FIR), Mr Haokip named 15 people as “directly or indirectly” responsible for the attack on his property and family. He also named two people who allegedly asked members of a WhatsApp group to kill him. One of the two promised to give “village land” to anyone who kills the state BJP spokesperson.

“… Suspect the involvement of the fake Thadou Tribe Council (TTC-GHQ) leaders and operatives, who have made violent rhetoric and provocative statements,” Mr Michael said in the FIR.

He attached printouts of the WhatsApp group’s screenshots which showed the discussions to kill him. The police and the cyber cell will check the phone numbers with their service providers, and if needed will take help from central anti-terror cybersecurity experts, Mr Haokip told NDTV. He declined to give further details.

In the purported screenshot of the WhatsApp group chat attached to the FIR, one of the members had written, “SA (separate administration) will not be acceptable without killing LJT (Lamjathang) first, even if the central government is willing to grant us.” Another member wrote, “I promise to give my village land if anyone kills Lamjathang.”

NDTV has seen a copy of the FIR, which shows some phone numbers in the WhatsApp group.

Mr Haokip said the attacks and threats came as a result of him raising awareness about his tribe, Thadou, being inaccurately referred to as a Kuki tribe amid the ethnic tension in Manipur. He said it was the second time his house in Churachandpur was attacked, allegedly by those who do not accept the Thadou tribe’s distinct identity.

The police case was filed a day after a new video threatening to kill the BJP spokesperson and Thadou leader was shared widely on social media. The video shows a man in black tactical wear surrounded by three in camouflage battle dress carrying AK series assault rifles. All of them wore masks.

“Lamjathang, if you speak against the community one more time or disgrace the community, we will kill you whether you are in  Guwahati or Delhi… Meiteis didn’t differentiate between Thadou, Kuki or Zomi,” the man in the middle said.

The four men cannot be village defence volunteers who usually carry licenced single-barrelled and small-calibre handguns, a retired police officer in Churachandpur said, requesting anonymity.

“They can only be insurgents, and this threat can’t be taken lightly, as they are openly claiming they can kill a civilian anywhere in the country. This would not be the first time someone from Manipur is facing a threat to life even while living outside the state,” the retired officer said.

NDTV couldn’t independently verify the video, though some members of the Thadou tribe said the video and the dialect heard in it are genuine, based on what their own sources told them in Churachandpur.

The TTC-GHQ which Mr Haokip alleged is a “fake” organisation has six advisers, and 10 executive members, according to the last published information of the group’s structure. The TTC did not take the consent of four of them before making them members of the “council”. The four have given in writing that they were not aware of their membership of the TTC. They requested anonymity for fear of attacks.

“My father’s consent was not there. Clarification already given,” the son of one of the four people said.

Calls to the TTC’s publicly available numbers went unanswered.

The TTC has been condemning Mr Haokip’s comments on the Thadou tribe not being part of Kuki. The TTC has said in a statement that it is the mainstream Thadou body and affiliated to the Kuki Inpi Manipur. “… Appropriate action shall be initiated if they continued to misuse Thadou again in future,” the TTC had said in a statement on July 21.

In its recent statement on August 20, the TTC criticised a new Thadou body called Thadou Community International (TCI) as not genuine and formed by some people “to collaborate with Chief Minister N Biren Singh”.

Mr Haokip is one of the key members of the TCI, a group that claims to be a global Thadou tribe platform to look into critical issues facing the community, particularly in Manipur.

No one was injured in the attack at Mr Haokip’s house on Sunday night. Four families displaced by the violence in Manipur also live in four small structures at his family plot, Mr Haokip had said.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh and other leaders had strongly condemned the attack. “…I consider this personal harm being put on one of our recognised tribes as a direct challenge to the unity and integrity of the state. Attacks on any particular community of the recognised tribes of Manipur, as well as the attack on the family of the BJP spokesperson, are condemned in the strongest terms. We will initiate appropriate legal action against the culprits,” Mr Singh had said in a post on X.

The attack carried out on the family members of Micheal Lamjathang a leader of the Thadou community, one of the oldest among the ethnic tribes of Manipur, as well as a BJP spokesperson by vandalizing his house was an act of cowardice.
I consider this personal harm being put on…

— N. Biren Singh (@NBirenSingh) August 27, 2024

The clashes between the valley-dominant Meitei community and the nearly two dozen tribes under the Kukis nomenclature – a term given by the British in colonial times – who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, has killed over 220 people and internally displaced nearly 50,000.

The general category Meiteis want to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category, while the Kukis who share ethnic ties with people in neighbouring Myanmar’s Chin State and Mizoram want a separate administration carved out of Manipur, citing discrimination and unequal share of resources and power with the Meiteis.

Imphal/Guwahati:

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh and other leaders have condemned the attack on the house of a BJP spokesperson from the Thadou tribe in the state’s Churachandpur district.

Over two dozen people, some of them armed, had vandalised the house of the state BJP spokesperson T Michael Lamjathang Haokip on Sunday night. They fired shots in the air and set two rooms on fire, Mr Haokip had said, adding no one was injured. Four families displaced by the violence in Manipur also live in four small structures at his family plot, he said.

“The attack carried out on the family members of Michael Lamjathang, a leader of the Thadou community, one of the oldest among the ethnic tribes of Manipur, as well as a BJP spokesperson, by vandalising his house was an act of cowardice,” the Chief Minister said in a post on X.

“I consider this personal harm being put on one of our recognised tribes as a direct challenge to the unity and integrity of the state. Attacks on any particular community of the recognised tribes of Manipur, as well as the attack on the family of the BJP spokesperson, are condemned in the strongest terms. We will initiate appropriate legal action against the culprits,” Mr Singh said.

The attack carried out on the family members of Micheal Lamjathang a leader of the Thadou community, one of the oldest among the ethnic tribes of Manipur, as well as a BJP spokesperson by vandalizing his house was an act of cowardice.
I consider this personal harm being put on…

— N. Biren Singh (@NBirenSingh) August 27, 2024

State minister Govindas Konthoujam said the attack on Mr Haokip exposed “the mentality of those who, unable to engage in logical debate, resort to violence.” “… This cowardly act of violence against his home and family is not just an assault on an individual, but on the entire Thadou community and our civilization,” the seven-time MLA from Bishnupur said in a post on X.

1/2 I strongly condemn the barbaric attack on Thadou student leader & BJP Manipur Spokesperson Michael Lamjathang Haokip in Peniel village, Churachandpur. This cowardly act of violence against his home & family is not just an assault on an individual, but on the

— Govindas Konthoujam (@KonthoujamG) August 26, 2024

Mr Haokip on Tuesday said he has been raising awareness about his tribe, Thadou, being inaccurately referred to as a Kuki tribe amid the ethnic tension in Manipur. He said it was the second time his house in Churachandpur was attacked, allegedly by some people who do not accept the Thadou tribe’s distinct identity.

“Around 30 people barged in at 10.30 pm. They poured kerosene on the walls and burned two rooms. They also fired many rounds in the air to scare our neighbours and other residents in the neighbourhood,” Mr Haokip told NDTV. “Everybody in the area is angry at the attackers,” he said.

Mr Haokip belongs to the family of a Thadou tribe village chief, under whose area some 70 families live in as many houses. Apart from their main family house, there are four small structures on the plot where people displaced by the ethnic violence are living.

“The attackers also threatened the displaced people to leave,” Mr Haokip said.

The attack at the Churachandpur house of the BJP spokesperson from the Thadou tribe comes days after three MLAs from among the 10, who have been demanding a separate administration carved out of Manipur, clarified that they want their own tribes to be called by their correct names, instead of being associated only with the term “Kuki-Zo”.

On social media, the three MLAs have received threats of boycott and other “consequences” for allegedly weakening the Kuki tribes’ resolve to persuade the Centre to create a separate administration. One of the BJP MLAs told NDTV everyone should feel free to state facts about the tribe they belong to. “I fail to understand why threats are coming my way for simply saying to which tribe I and the people I represent belong,” the leader told NDTV, requesting anonymity.

Mr Haokip is also a leadership team member of the Manipur-based Thadou Students’ Association (TSA) and the newly formed Thadou Community International, or TCI, a global body with professionals from the Thadou tribe living in nine countries including the US, the UK, Norway, Australia, and Malaysia, among others, as members. The TCI in a statement said the attack happened barely a few hours after Mr Haokip participated in a panel discussion in local media on the topic ‘Kuki supremacy and its agenda.’

“It was also an incident due to the fallout of relentless attacks on Thadou community and Thadou leaders by the Churachandpur-based Kuki supremacist-made fake Thadou Tribe Council (TTC), who have been actively engaging in disinformation campaign and violent rhetoric against Thadou, even boasting to know the perpetrators of the violent attack on Michael Lamjathang’s home last year,” the TCI said.

On August 5, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh had met representatives of several small tribes and heard their concerns about bigger tribes trying to suppress their identities.

During the discussion and voting on demands for grants on the last day of the Manipur assembly session on August 12, the Chief Minister had said “violence was perpetrated by some, not all, people.”

“Not every Thadou, Paite, Hmar had a hand in the violence. You have seen, Hmar people spoke so well (in the peace meeting), we had tears, they too had tears, that all this happened due to misunderstandings,” Mr Singh said, referring to the August 1 peace meeting between Meitei and the Hmar tribe representatives in Jiribam, where they agreed to work for normalcy nearly two months after ethnic violence that began over a year ago reached the district bordering Assam.