Manipur: NSCN-IM objects to Meitei flag on peak held as sacred by Naga group

The National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah), the largest armed Naga group, on Saturday objected to armed Meitei group Arambai Tenggol allegedly displaying a Meitei flag atop a peak in Manipur held as sacred by the Tangkhul Naga community.

The NSCN-IM raised objections to members of the Arambai Tenggol’s Cobra Team-Unit 58 holding a seven-coloured Meitei flag on the Shirui peak in the Ukhrul district. The controversy erupted during the five-day Shirui Lily Festival, a cultural event organised by the state tourism department.

The Naga armed group said that the Arambai Tenggol had “courted controversy at the wrong time and wrong place” through the act. It said that the flag “has no connection with the Tangkhuls whatsoever”.

“All said and done, Arambai Tenggol should tender ‘unqualified apology’ within 48 hours for their unwarranted intrusion at Shirui peak,” the NSCN-IM said.

The Tangkhul Katamnao Saklong, the apex student body of the community, also described the act as a “grave provocation”, and claimed that displaying the flag on the peak was reckless and inflammatory.

“We will not tolerate any attempt to politicise our sacred spaces or challenge the historical and cultural ownership of our land,” the student body said. “The Tangkhul Naga people have never and will never accept any imposed symbols, flags or...

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