Kukis threaten blockade

The Kuki Statehood Demand Committee (KSDC) has announced that it will enforce an indefinite economic blockade against Manipur from Thursday morning. Announcing this at a press conference in Imphal on Monday, Benjamin Mate, the secretary general of KSDC, said that the extreme step has to be taken, as the state and the Union governments have turned a deaf ear to the “reasonable demand” for the creation of a Kuki state.

The demand is a long-standing one. One Kuki rebel group, which is a signatory to the suspension of operations with the Union government, drew flak recently when it demanded a separate Kuki homeland.