DIPHU, March 25: The Chief Executive Member (CEM) of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC), Tuliram Ronghang, has reiterated that Kuki refugees fleeing Manipur’s ongoing ethnic clashes will not be granted land or shelter in Karbi Anglong.
Speaking at the 20th annual memorial event at Sarpo Teron village, Langvoku, in honour of the victims of the Karbi-Kuki clash of March 24, 2004, Ronghang stated, “It was not the Kukis living here who committed the crime, but those who came from Manipur and Myanmar to kill our brothers. As long as I am the CEM, I cannot allow them land or shelter.”
Ronghang also dismissed claims that Karbi Anglong should be regarded as “tribal land,” emphasizing that land rights cannot be extended indiscriminately to outsiders. “Being tribal does not mean that people from Jharkhand and Orissa can automatically be accepted. Land cannot be granted to just anyone under the guise of tribal identity,” he asserted.
While local village headmen have the authority to issue No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for settlement, the CEM urged them to prevent the entry of outsiders into their territories.
As part of his address, Ronghang announced that land pattas would be provided free of cost to villagers of Sarpo Teron and Sarthe Engti. Additionally, the government will facilitate the installation of street lights and other essential amenities in these villages.
The event was marked by solemn tributes to the victims of the 2004 Karbi-Kuki clash, in which Kuki militants massacred 19 Karbi villagers, including the son of the village headman. Sarpo Teron village, located about 25 km from Diphu, observed the occasion by paying homage to those who lost their lives in the violence that unfolded as part of the wider Karbi-Kuki clashes of 2003–2004.
In November 2024, the KAAC had officially stated that over a thousand Kuki people had migrated from Manipur and settled in Karbi Anglong’s Singhason Hills. Of them, 700 were sent back. Following this, then-Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh remarked that the state would only accept “genuine people.”
“As the state already has a base year of 1961, all citizens falling within those parameters will be accepted,” Singh had stated on November 28, 2024.
