No blood should flow in Naga areas: NSCN (I-M)

GUWAHATI

The Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland or NSCN (I-M) has asked the Kuki and Meitei communities to not bring their ethnic fight to the Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur.

The group calls itself the National Socialist Council of Nagalim.

Condemning the killing of three Kuki people at Sipijang village in the Ukhrul district on August 18, the NSCN (I-M) warned the warring groups that “no ethnic blood should flow in Naga areas in the name of Meitei-Kuki-Zo ethnic conflicts”.

The Naga outfit accused the combined forces of Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup and Manipur Naga Revolutionary Front (MNRF) of killing the three Kuki villagers within the jurisdiction of ‘Nagalim’.

“Such conduct is an unwarranted intrusion… Under no circumstances Nagas want the Meitei-Kuki-Zo violence spilled into Naga areas,” the NSCN (I-M) said in a statement on August 19.

It also said that the MNRF “does not represent the interest and welfare of Nagas” in Manipur as it is “under the sponsorship” of Valley-based (Meitei) organisations.

The MNRF denied its involvement in the killing of the Kuki villagers. The group also slammed the World Kuki-Zo Intellectual Council for dragging its name into the Kuki-Meitei conflict.