Summary of letters sent to United States Congress
- 29th June 2023, Houston : Association of Meiteis in the Americas (AMA) -

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The Association of Meiteis in the Americas(AMA) Highlights Joint National Security Interests of USA and India in Manipur-Myanmar Border Region and Potential Impact of the US Burma Act 2023 and Calls for Action in Letter to Congress

The Association of Meiteis in the Americas (AMA) released today a summary of letters sent to the United States Congress on the occasion of Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the USA. The letter provides data-driven inferences and reference links to the international sources of data, articles and research reports. The summarized release reads:

“Since May 3rd, 2023 Manipur has been embroiled in a violent ethnic clash that started with orchestrated violence against the Meiteis. Ordinary citizens in both communities were induced to turn against each other through a well planned series of violent events and carefully planted mis-information. Meitei Churches, Temples and Kuki Churches have been burnt. Meitei Christians, Hindus and Sanamahi as well as Kuki Christians are amongst 125 dead. Over 50,000 people are displaced.

The sophistication and scale of planning to incite violence through ordinary people and in social & paid media campaigns that were executed since May 3rd to influence media/social-media narratives as well as attempts to paint it as "persecution of minority Christians" and "ethnic cleansing", has sophistication and expense levels seen only in nation-state involvement. This has provided media cover fire and allowed military-style precision of planning and follow up attack on Meitei villages. Arms and ammunition continue to flow from Myanmar into Manipur.

The United States with its Burma Act. 2023 amongst other programs, and India, have direct national security and foreign policy interest in containing the blowback of their policies in the Myanmar-North-East-India-Chittagong peninsula and bringing peace to the region. The foreign policy objectives in the region cannot come at the expense of the Meitei people of Manipur.

The geo-political influence of many countries in the epicenter of the 2nd largest drug economy in the world, “nationhood movements” of Kuki-Chin and other ethnic groups”, and the balancing power play of other military powers in the region, has brought Manipur to a boil.

The ethnic Meitei people in Manipur have lived in the region for over 3000 years. Armed Kuki-Chin groups from Myanmar with decades old movement to carve an independent country in the region, have completely dominated the socio-political aspirations of a group of tribes in some of the Manipur hill districts to the extent that Indian citizens of these tribes no longer have a voice. These groups along with other geo-political forces have executed well funded campaigns catalyzing a volatile instability into mob violence, culminating in a civil war.

The United States must support India with its security balance concerns in its North-Eastern borders while making sure that the adverse blowbacks of the US and Western aid of hundreds of million dollars to the political arms of the Myanmar EAOs are contained immediately.

We call upon US and India to::

1. Immediately use Indian Security machinery to disarm Kuki-Chin terrorists and stop their ongoing attacks on peripheral Meitei villages around Manipur We call upon India and its Army Command to protect Indian villagers under the R2P United Nations doctrine first, remove bunkers built by Kuki-Chin militants around Meitei farmlands, stop the attacks by snipers on villagers and restore the security of their homes.

2. Bring relief to the humanitarian crisis with essential supplies and call upon GOI to urgently use state machinery to lift the National Highway blockade by the Kuki-Chin militants and ensure safe and unhindered passage of goods supply trucks to the Imphal valley and all tributary towns and villages.

3. We call upon the US government, India and all government agencies providing aid, assistance, stipend, and support to Myanmar NUG & EAOs including Kuki-Chin militants to take emergency steps in using their influence and to make further assistance like those in the Burma Act. 2023, conditional on cessation of violence against Indian citizens and non-interference in all Indian territories and a verifiable end to poppy cultivation and trafficking in drugs in the region.

4. Help Establish a formal refugee registration process. Aid to refugees from the West must be contingent on using this channel and ensuring that the funds don’t get diverted for lethal or political use.

5. We call upon the US government to sanction EAO groups in Myanmar and India who have perpetrated this violence and arson and inflicted barbaric torture on kidnapped Indian Citizens. We demand that the culprits be tried for crimes under Article 5 and Article 8(2)(c)(i) of the 1998 ICC.

6. To work with GOI, to help secure Manipur’s Borders, and stop the unchecked inflow of illegal immigrants and terror groups with sophisticated arms. Restrict Kuki-Chin militants from conducting combat training for the EAOs on Indian soil, and to smuggling of sophisticated weapons from Myanmar into Manipur.

7. Open a dedicated national cyber cell to take down and prosecute fake news groups and funded malicious campaigns in order to contain them from inciting further violence. Conduct a separate judiciary and intelligence inquiry to rule out the involvement of foreign hands.

8. To establish an independent fact-finding committee to uncover the truth and ensure justice to the events leading to the May 3rd violence and subsequent security lapse. Act swiftly and firmly against individuals and groups who orchestrated the violence be held responsible and punished as per the law.

9. Protect the rights and land resources of the Meitei people by implementing due process as enshrined in the Constitution of India. Provide relief, rehab and re-employment for all the affected victims.

A brief synopsis can be found at http://meitei[dot]net/manipurcrisis/

About AMA

The Association of Meiteis in the Americas is an organization established to promote and protect the Meitei Culture, Heritage and Interests, in the Americas and the world.