BJP MLA Paolienlal Haokip, who is among the 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs behind the push for carving out a “separate administration” from Manipur, told NDTV that if the data quoted by Mr Keishing is correct, then it clearly indicates the number of refugees coming from war-torn Myanmar is highest in Ukhrul and Kamjong districts.
Mr Haokip alleged the state government focussed only on Kuki villages, and not the villages where tribes other than Kukis live.
“I cannot comment on the authenticity of the data, but if true, it is proof that refugee inflow of Myanmar citizens is highest in Ukhrul and Kamjong districts. Further, whereas the state government choose to highlight the data for Phaikoh, a Kuki village, it chose to hide data for other villages which are Tangkhul villages, accounting for 3,866 refugees out of 5,457,” Mr Haokip told NDTV.
Mr Keishing in his letter to the Chief Minister quoted data announced earlier by the state government, which put the number of refugees from Myanmar at 5,457, out of which the biometrics data of 5,173 has been recorded. He requested the Chief Minister not to repeat “the history of granting Indian citizenships to immigrants in 1968”, referring to a period when 1,500 Kuki refugee families from Myanmar who came to Manipur the previous year were allowed to settle permanently.
Another Manipur BJP MLA, Rajkumar Imo Singh, doubled down on the request by the MLA from the alliance partner on ensuring every Myanmar national who came to Manipur is deported. “… Let us all secure our border and the people of the state, for which the government is taking up all legal and appropriate measures to protect its people,” Rajkumar Imo Singh, who is also the son-in-law of the Chief Minister, said in a post on the microblogging website X.
The Manipur government on May 8 announced the completion of the first phase of deportation of illegal immigrants from Myanmar “without any discrimination”.
Manipur CM N. Biren Singh posted a thread on social media platform X, along with a video that claimed unnatural growth in the population of Chin-Kuki-Zo tribes which was a threat to indigenous people and national security.
Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Monday night posted a thread on social media platform X, along with a video, which claimed that there had been “unnatural growth” in the population of “Chin-Kuki-Zo” tribes in the State. Mr. Singh said this was a threat to “indigenous people and national security”. The CM compared the deportation of illegal immigrants by his government and the Ministry of Home Affairs with the Rishi Sunak-led U.K. government’s “unyielding commitment” to do the same, questioning “certain sections of people” for calling his government “communal” when it was only “asserting” itself on the issue as the British PM did.
The remarks came just as the State witnessed a fresh spate of violence in the past 72 hours, during which unidentified militants attacked a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Bishnupur district, killing two security personnel, and gunfighting along the buffer zone between Kangpokpi and Imphal West districts led to the killing of one more person, identified as a village defence volunteer.
he claimed 996 such new villages had come up due to illegal immigration. The Kuki-Zo people in Manipur have maintained that the increase in the number of villages had been due to customary requirements. In the social media post, Mr. Singh claimed that there was a massive influx of illegal immigrants from 2006 onwards, alleging that they had destroyed forest cover to build their new settlements and grow poppy.
He further added, “Not to mention, these illegal immigrants have started encroaching on the resources, job opportunities, land, and the rights of indigenous people,” the CM said, adding, “We have started collecting biometric data of the illegal immigrants as well as geotagging of their settlements. I appeal to everyone in the country to support the government in keeping our nation safe and secure from illegal immigrants.”
A legislator of Naga People’s Front (NPF), a partner of the BJP-led government in Manipur, has sought necessary arrangements for early deportation of the immigrants sheltering at relief camps in Kamjong district, citing law and order problems allegedly created by the immigrants.
MLA Leishiyo Keishing of Phungya Assembly constituency also stressed the need for deporting the immigrants so as the history of granting of Indian citizenships to immigrants of 1968 is not repeated and avoid current situation like crisis/unrest in the state in the future, in a letter to chief minister N Biren Singh.
