A Meitei activist from strife-hit Manipur, who had launched a peace mission on a bicycle from Delhi to Imphal, was dropped by security forces at Sekmai in Imphal West district on Thursday morning to avoid any untoward situation after a leading Kuki-Zo organisation objected to the mission passing through Kangpokpi district.

The Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU) on Wednesday issued a statement seeking the “immediate” stoppage of the “Cycling for Manipur Peace” mission launched by 27-year-old Malem Thongam, which was scheduled to pass through Kuki-Zo-majority Kangpokpi district on December 19, stating that it “can escalate communal tension”.

“As such, if any untoward incidents arise in connection with the mission by Malem Thongam Meetei, who proposed to cross Kangpokpi district by cycle on 19 of this month, COTU and the Kuki-Zo community of Kangpokpi district will not be responsible. Rather, the concerned authority will bear full responsibility,” the Kangpokpi-based COTU statement said.

Malem, who has been cycling for peace in Manipur since October 2, reached Naga-majority Senapati district on Wednesday evening. He was welcomed by a local organisation, which arranged his stay at a hotel in Senapati. Earlier in the day, COTU had issued its statement opposing his passage.

“Around 2am, security forces picked me up from my hotel in Senapati and took me to Sekmai in a convoy. They were BSF personnel. I was in a Casper vehicle. They drove me to Sekmai because of opposition from a Kuki-Zo organisation that did not want me to cycle through Kangpokpi,” said Malem, a transgender social activist and health worker from Imphal East district. Casper is a mine-ambush-protected vehicle.

The distance between Senapati and Sekmai is around 38km.

Thongam added: “I cycled through Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal, Assam and Nagaland. I received a lot of love and support from the public in all the states. The total distance from Delhi to Imphal is 2,880km. It has been a successful trip, which ends on Friday in Imphal, except for the opposition from Kangpokpi. I could not cycle through Kangpokpi. Sad and unfortunate.”

The opposition to Malem’s proposed passage through Kangpokpi once again highlighted the deep divide and mistrust between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities following the conflict that erupted on May 3, 2023, leaving at least 260 people dead and more than 60,000 displaced. Members of neither community have been able to enter each other’s areas due to persistent security concerns.

The COTU statement came amid renewed tension along the Bishnupur–Churachandpur axis after what police described as “indiscriminate firing by Kuki armed groups” at Torbung in Bishnupur district on Tuesday night.