First Kuki national seminar concluded on Indo-Burma

Khonumthung News: 09 December, 2006

The three-day Kuki ethnic national seminar on reconciliation held in Moreh near on the Indo–Burma border was successfully concluded on December 2.

The seminar was aimed at achieving reconciliation and solidarity among Kuki nationals, to make Kuki people understand their collective and fundamental rights as a distinct ethnic nationality and to strive to attain statehood in Burma.

“I felt the seminar enlightened and discovered the power of our people and gave them enough strength to yield good political, economic and religious results,” Mr. Luntinsat, secretary of the Kuki Students Democratic Force (KSDF), involved in organizing the seminar, told Khonumthung News.

Mr. Luntinsat answered questions on whether genuine reconciliation could be achieved among the Kuki people, “It being the first instance of the kind, we only shared our opinions and suggestions, giving our people time to ponder over these ideas and leave the necessary action to their discretion”.

The participants in the seminar analysed the historical and political perspectives of Chin–Kuki–Mizo identity that is viewed differently by the Chins, the Mizo and the Kukis.

KSDF, in its Moreh Declaration at the closing ceremony of seminar, demanded an immediate halt to the ‘Thamanti Dam’ construction, as it would flood 50 Kuki villages in Sagaing Division, destroy the livelihood of Kuki people and cause either extinction or endanger many species of flora and fauna.

A leader of KSDF added, “We plan to first get the state (Burma) to recognize the Kukis as a distinct people”.

About 100 Kuki people from Burma including church pastors, village heads, and youth leaders and well know persons also participated in the seminar.