KOHUR Demands Immediate Completion of Alternative Highways, Slams Meitei Opposition

Lamka, Manipur | July 3, 2025 —

The Kuki Organization for Human Rights Trust (KOHUR) has strongly condemned the opposition from Meitei civil society groups to the construction of two critical alternative highway routes: Lamka–Kangpokpi and Tengnoupal–Chandel–Lamka. In a press release issued today, the organization called the resistance “deeply discriminatory” and accused Meitei groups of applying “double standards” while tribal communities suffer.

KOHUR highlighted the urgent need for these alternative routes following the ethnic violence that erupted in Manipur on May 3, 2023. The violence, which the group describes as a “state-enabled campaign of ethnic cleansing,” left the Kuki population physically and economically isolated as traditional highways—controlled by Meitei-dominated areas—became dangerous and inaccessible.

The press release accuses state and central authorities of failing to secure safe passage for essential supplies, including food and medicine, despite repeated attacks on vehicles using existing routes. It adds that while the Kuki community has not retaliated by disrupting highways, it has had no option but to develop alternative roads through community-led efforts, often without any government assistance.

KOHUR asserts that opposition to these self-constructed roads—essential for the survival of the Kuki people—amounts to a violation of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees the right to life. “It is unacceptable that those who destroyed the Kukis’ access to existing roads now oppose even the Kukis’ self-created solutions,” the statement reads.

The organization issued a clear ultimatum: no peace talks or political settlements can be considered meaningful unless the Lamka–Kangpokpi and Tengnoupal–Chandel–Lamka highways are fully constructed and made operational as double-lane, all-weather roads.

KOHUR also called on the central government to stop appeasing majoritarian interests, urged Meitei groups to end their “obstructionist and hypocritical” stance, and appealed to the media and civil society to stand against what it described as systemic discrimination against tribal communities in Manipur. KOHUR warned that the Kuki people would resist any political arrangement that ignores their fundamental right to survival and access.