An official probe has found that villagers in the area had complained to local militant groups that some people from the Meitei community were regularly felling trees and taking away wood in the Khongbal Sunulok Hills.
The KZC reiterated its demand for a separate Union Territory with a legislature, arguing that the existing political arrangement had failed to protect the community.
A former commander recalls how small acts of fairness and shared purpose helped bridge deep divides between Kukis and Meiteis, offering a lesson in coexistence for a fractured state.