Kohima: The president of All Zeliangrong Organisation’s (AZO) Manipur chapter Meibon Phaomei came out all guns blazing against the recent memorandum submitted by 10 Kuki lawmakers to union home minister Amit Shah for claiming that Manipur is no longer a home to any tribal community.

Brushing aside this claim Phaomei said, “I just fail to understand what the Kuki MLAs are trying to point out. The tribals have been living in harmony with the Meiteis since time immemorial. Whatever the Kuki MLAs mentioned will have serious repercussions in the state. They are setting a bad precedent for the state and AZO strongly refutes this claim,” Phaomei observed.

Driving his point further the AZO leader said that the Constitution of India never mentions any categorisation of tribals. “The Zeliangrong community comprises Kabui and Rongmeis. We are settled in Manipur and belong to the category of Scheduled Tribe. AZO is very upset with the memorandum signed by the 10 Kuki MLAs. This will further divide the state,” Phaomei said.

Phaomei appealed to the government of Manipur to restore peace and harmony in the state that has been witnessing violent upsurge since May 3.

“The state has already gone through a very bad phase in the past few days. We all want peace and every community would like to stay here peacefully. AZO once appeals to the state government to ensure that normalcy is returned to the state at the earliest,” AZO observed.