Remember remember the 13 of September. You wouldn't but people from the Kuki tribe across the world do. Who are the Kukis? Here's a good explainer (although unrelated to the event) scroll.in/article/847136…
As Naga-Kuki clash broke out in 1993, the NSCN-IM led a 'genocide' to regroup villages in Tamenglong, Senapati and Ukhrul to establish Naga dominance. Several villages were burned down, at least 800 men, women and children massacred
On September 13, 1993, as many as 115 Kuki villagers including women and children were allegedly killed by the armed cadres of the NSCN-IM in a single day in different places of Tamenglong and the erstwhile Senapati district known as “Joupi Massacre”. indianexpress.com/article/north-…
.@soutikBBC, who covered the Kuki-Naga clash in 1993 for @IndiaToday, described it as an almost civil war situation with no law and order in place either in the hills or valley indiatoday.in/magazine/speci…
A group of Kuki girls in olive-green army fatigues rehearse an ambush, wading through knee-deep water and yelling war cries as they attempt a simulated bayonet charge. From Saibal Das' report indiatoday.in/magazine/speci… 
GoI brokered a ceasefire with NSCN since 1997 but with KNO/KNA/UNF only as recently as 2008. While Vajpayee might have recognise 'unique' status of Nagas, the Kuki massacre and displacement has been sidelined and attempted to be forgotten.
Whenever Muivah is asked about this horrid massacre (on both sides), he simply says, "Let bygones be bygones". It's a point to ponder why he never released official figures of Naga villagers killed by Kuki militants in retaliation.
Since the last 25 years after the massacre, Kuki leaders have demanded for those participating in the massacre to be brought to justice, aggrieved and displaced families compensated and for a separate Kuki administration. All this before the Naga peace accord is delivered.
Last journalist to raise the question on the injustice of this massacre was @gardlunden for his book, Great Game East. On his visit to Ukhrul in 2010, the youth all rallied for the cause of Nagalim. But the silence on the Kukis massacred was deafening.
Many journos and security experts know that Kuki independence is an invention of the Indian chanakya. No doubt that both tribes have played well into the divide and rule ploy of quelling separatist movements in the NE.
Which is why the death and injustice of the 1000 odd Kukis is ultimately on the Indian State. Not only did it abandon its democratic values by a negligent law and order and ignored pleas for inquiry commissions, went straight to bed with the aggressor they were trying to quell
Kukis are the fitting example of collateral damage during conflict. They don't have a state, lost most of their land, no organised unity in politics or activism. That's what makes them the lost tribe of the region.
