Kuki people are indigenes of Manipur. Two millennia-old Pooyas of the Meitei people, the only source written in the original script available of the region, has Kuki on record. BC 70 is said to be the year when King of Assyria took Israelites captive. Manasseh is supposed to be amongst the captives taken to China and engaged in labour, constructing the Great Wall. Escape from forced labour and millennial migration then dates Kuki to AD 33 in Manipur. A single millennium more than qualifies for indigeneity; Kukis are two millennia old in Manipur.
The ideological foundation for Kuki nationalism is articulated in 'Zale-n'-gam, The Kuki Nation' (PS Haokip, 1988 and The World of Kuki People, 2019?). A nation refers to a people; with respect to Manipur, who constitutes the people is listed on the basis of ethnicity and history, not current socio-politically influenced segmented tribe identities of the Constitution Tribe Modification Order, 1956.
However, whilst history cannot be changed, factors contributing to changes effecting segmentation or more aptly, and painfully, fragmentation, needs to be accepted if unity is to be restored. Redressal and unity building are two sides of the same coin. Bishop Tutu would not have made headway in reconciling apartheid riven South Africa had he ignored the importance of truth.
In short, concerning Kuki, too, ignoring the truth of deep-rooted clan chauvinism as well as the aggrieved party's conscious leaning on the past, which are respectively factors of fragmentation, will prove counterproductive.
A soothing balm of 'truth and reconciliation' are essential ingredients to heal and restore unity. In Christian parlance, 'forgive, as we are forgiven': there is no alternative to redeeming of the Kuki people.
Source: KDN@Nitin Thusoh
The ideological foundation for Kuki nationalism is articulated in 'Zale-n'-gam, The Kuki Nation' (PS Haokip, 1988 and The World of Kuki People, 2019?). A nation refers to a people; with respect to Manipur, who constitutes the people is listed on the basis of ethnicity and history, not current socio-politically influenced segmented tribe identities of the Constitution Tribe Modification Order, 1956.
However, whilst history cannot be changed, factors contributing to changes effecting segmentation or more aptly, and painfully, fragmentation, needs to be accepted if unity is to be restored. Redressal and unity building are two sides of the same coin. Bishop Tutu would not have made headway in reconciling apartheid riven South Africa had he ignored the importance of truth.
In short, concerning Kuki, too, ignoring the truth of deep-rooted clan chauvinism as well as the aggrieved party's conscious leaning on the past, which are respectively factors of fragmentation, will prove counterproductive.
A soothing balm of 'truth and reconciliation' are essential ingredients to heal and restore unity. In Christian parlance, 'forgive, as we are forgiven': there is no alternative to redeeming of the Kuki people.
Source: KDN@Nitin Thusoh
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