Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Churachandpur have strongly rejected the recent independent enquiry report released by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), describing it as “totally wrong, one-sided, and biased.”
Speaking to media persons at the Manipur Press Club, Naba Ningthoujam — an IDP currently staying at Mangolnganbi Relief Camp and co-convenor of the Churachandpur Meitei United Committee, a conglomerate of five civil society organisations — said the PUCL report amounted to “a humiliation and an insult to IDPs.”
Ningthoujam disputed the PUCL’s claim that the crisis began on May 3, 2023, asserting instead that it started earlier. He recounted incidents of April 27, 2023, when an open gym and CCTV cameras in Churachandpur were vandalised, followed by the desecration of the Ibudhou Pakhangba temple at Thingkaphai on April 29. He further alleged that Kuki militants escalated violence on May 3 by setting fire to Forest Department offices at Singhat, Tuibong, and Churachandpur before attacking Meitei drivers and households.
According to him, coordinated attacks on Meitei houses occurred in at least 16 localities of Churachandpur between 6 pm and 7 pm that evening, leaving four people injured by gunfire. “How could sophisticated weapons be used so openly to drive people out, and yet such acts are skipped in the report?” the committee questioned.
The IDPs also rejected the PUCL’s claim that Kukis offered protection to Meiteis. “We were attacked, our houses were burnt, and no authority, not even the Army or police, came to protect us until the next day,” Ningthoujam recalled, adding that displaced families were sheltered in an Army camp until May 9.
The Churachandpur Meitei United Committee urged PUCL not to release “incomplete and biased narratives” that, they said, ignored the suffering of displaced families. The committee is comprised of five organisations — Meitei Society Manipur (Churachandpur), Meitei Youth Organisation (Churachandpur), Meitei Victims’ Group (Churachandpur), and Nupi Samaj Manipur.
