Bodies of the Kuki militants who were killed by the NSCN (I-M) at Tangkhul Hundung village in Manipur. File picture

Imphal, Sept. 11: Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh has urged Kuki and Naga leaders to defuse the tension between the two tribes sparked by the killing of 10 Kuki militants by the Isak-Muivah faction of the NSCN in Thoubal district on September 3.

“I have met leaders of the two communities and discussed with them ways to maintain communal harmony and prevent any flare-up between their armed groups or members,” he told reporters last night.

Enraged at the “unprovoked” gunning down of the Kuki Liberation Army (KLA), activists at Tangkhul Hundung, the Kukis had demanded settlement of the matter according to tribal law. The KLA had demanded an apology from the NSCN (I-M).

The NSCN (I-M)’s justification that the KLA’s “antisocial and anti-revolutionary” ways had prompted the act further infuriated Kuki organisations, including their apex body, the Kuki Inpi, Manipur.

Apprehending a flare-up, leaders of the United Naga Council, an organisation of Nagas in Manipur, and the Kuki Inpi, Manipur, met on Saturday and agreed to maintain communal harmony.

The All Naga Students Association of Manipur and organisations belonging to the Tangkhul Nagas also expressed shock at the killings and called for peace and harmony.

Ibobi Singh said he had requested the leaders of the two communities to resolve any misunderstanding between them through discussions. “No one should spread rumours or do anything that could disturb the existing relations between the two communities.”

The chief minister said his government had taken “maximum” precautionary measures to prevent any ethnic flare-up.

In an unrelated development, Kuki organisations, led by the Hill Tribal Council, have announced that they would observe Thursday as Black Day in the border town of Moreh to mourn their tribesmen who were killed by the Nagas during the ethnic violence of the nineties. They will fly black flags and suspend all activities for the day.

Armed Nagas had killed 105 Kuki villagers at Joupi in Tamenglong district and Gelnel in Senapati district on September 13, 1993.

Kukis claim that Naga militants had killed 900 innocent Kukis and uprooted over 300 villages during the clashes between 1992 and 1997.