Guwahati/New Delhi:
BJP MLA and former Manipur Minister Wungzagin Walte told NDTV that the only way for peace in Manipur is autonomy for a union area situation for cookie, zomi and HMAR people.
After an attack injuries by protesters in Imphal in May 2023, Sri Walte spent almost two years in Delhi. He is not completely cured, uses a wheelchair, and has difficulty speaking.
“I want to thank the Ministry of Home Affairs for creating a buffer zone to reduce tension between the hill and the valley … I will not sit with Meetis on the table of talks,” Mr. Walte told NDTV to NDTV sitting in a wheelchair.
Head injuries have left him unable to do normal physical movements without some help. He cannot talk rapidly or loudly.
The signature of Mr. Walte appears in all joint statements issued by 10 MLAs from Cookie and Zomi tribes, as he started demanding a separate administration in May 2023, after a breakout of ethnic clashes.
After reaching Charachandpur in Manipur from Delhi, the BJP MLA’s comments aligned the media with the demand of the remaining nine MLAs.
“If the center is included [in talks] For separate administration, I will participate. This will help a lot. The three -time MLA said, in future, cookie, zomi, HMAR issues will be permanently decided.
Before the Chief Minister resigned, Mr. Walte served as the Minister and Advisor for Tribal Affairs of former Chief Minister N Biran Singh, former Chief Minister N Biran Singh and the Center implemented the President’s rule in Manipur.
10 cookie-MLA MLAs including Mr. Welts are leading calls for a separate administration to get out of Manipur, as well as about two dozen terrorist groups who have signed a controversial suspension of the operation (SOO) agreement, and civil groups such as Churachandpur-based indigenous tribal leaders’ platform (ITLF) terrorist and civilian society. Naga tribes are not part of these organizations.
While cookie leaders and their groups have indicated on ethnic clashes, because they have increased their demand from an autonomous council in a separate administration, or a center area with a assembly, Meitei leaders have called the claim a lie due to the widely available evidence about the demand of ‘cucumber’.
Meitei leaders have alleged that the Sooo group has been working to strengthen themselves for years by taking advantage of the ceasefire, until a time for a violent attack engineer for a separate land.
There are many villages of cookie tribes in the hills around the Miti-Dominant Valley. Ethnic clashes have killed more than 260 people and have been displaced around 50,000 internal.
