Nagaon, May 3: The Kuki National Assembly (KNA) today made it clear that a separate regional council for Kukis was the only way to end the ethnic feud in Karbi Anglong district. In a memorandum faxed to the Scheduled Area and Schedule Tribes Commissioner Dilip Sing Bhuira, the apex body of the Kuki tribe urged the commission to form a separate regional council under the Sixth Schedule for the 40,000 Kukis living in Singhasan Hills. The council should be modelled on the Pawi-Lakher Autonomous Council in the Lushai hills of Mizoram, it added.
“It is imperative for the commission to come to our rescue and restore our dignity as human beings,” the memorandum said.
The KNA said the community was not “safe and secure” within the boundary of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, which is dominated by the Karbis. It alleged that the Kukis in Karbi Anglong were victims of ethnic cleansing by the Karbi militant groups. “The extremist groups threatened us that if we do not scale down our demands, there would be more bloodshed.”
The KNA accused both the state government and the district administration of suppressing the legitimate demands of the Kukis.
The Autonomous State Demand Committee today asked the KNA to drop its demand for a separate council as autonomous statehood comprising the two hill districts of Karbi Anglong and N.C.Hills was the most vital need of all the indigenous tribes in the twin districts.