A Kuki-Zo organisation has urged the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights “to take note of the discrimination” against the community in Manipur following Saturday’s “crackdown” on protesters in Kangpokpi during which a man was killed in firing.

Clashes had erupted in Kuki-Zo-majority Kangpokpi between the forces and protesters opposed to the Centre’s push for “free movement” in restive Manipur — by resuming bus services — without first achieving a political resolution between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities.

“Therefore, we invite OHCHR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights), Volker Turk, to take note of the discrimination against Kuki-Zo people based on their religion and ethnicity and the gross violation of human rights, especially against the minority Kuki-Zo people,” the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust (KOHUR) said in a statement on Saturday night.

Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has been in the news following his March 3 address at the 58th session of the Human Rights Council where he mentioned Kashmir and Manipur.

“I am concerned by the use of restrictive laws and harassment against human rights defenders and independent journalists resulting in arbitrary detention and a diminished civic space, including in Kashmir,” he had said.

“I also call for stepped-up efforts to address violence and displacement in Manipur, based on dialogue, peace-building and human rights.”

New Delhi had dismissed Turk’s comments as “unfounded and baseless”. India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Arindam Bagchi, had called for “a better understanding of India and our civilisational ethos of diversity and openness”.

Shutdown

Life was paralysed in Kangpokpi and other Kuki-Zo areas such as Churachandpur and Tengnoupal on Sunday because of an indefinite shutdown called by the Kuki-Zo Council and supported widely by groups representing the community. Protesters blocked the roads.

Saturday’s clashes in Kangpokpi have put the spotlight back on Manipur and the Centre’s handling of the 22-month-old ethnic conflict that has killed at least 261 people, displaced 60,000 and segregated communities.

Manipur

The Opposition is expected to raise the fresh Manipur flare-up in Parliament, where the budget session resumes on Monday.

Trouble broke out on Saturday when protesters blocked an Imphal-Senapati bus as it arrived in Kangpokpi. Two security force vehicles were burnt in the clashes that followed.

The police have alleged firing from within the crowd of protesters and claimed the forces used “tear gas and minimum force”. They added that 16 protesters and 27 security personnel were injured and a young man was killed.

No buses were run between the Meitei-majority valley and the tribal-dominated hills on Sunday.

The KOHUR statementaccused the forces of “attacking our Kuki-Zo peoplein Kangpokpi today(Saturday) even while they were singing Indian National Anthem holdingNational Flag”.

The organisation had on March 3 expressed concern at the government’s intent to “open highways without prior reconciliation and a political resolution”, saying this amounted to “inviting further violence”.

Kuki-Zo organisations want Union Territory status for their areas before “free movement” resumes between the hills and the valley.

The decision to ensure “free movement” from March 8 was taken at a securityreview meeting chairedby Union home ministerAmit Shah in Delhi onMarch 1.