Infiltration of non-local Muslims into Manipur
ASUK issues wake up call to Meitei Pangals -I
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, July 07 2018:
Taking serious note of the report that 9 people of three families with identity papers from Tripura were detected in the eviction drive launched at Awaching Reserve Forest in Imphal East on July 2, the Alliance for Socialist Unity, Kangleipak (ASUK) said that the nine people were hauled up on suspicion that they could be either from Bangladesh or Rohingya Muslims.
On contacting, Tripura police is understood to have replied that one of the 9 people picked up is a man who had gone into hiding after molesting a woman while there were no records on the other remaining people, said ASUK in a statement issued to the press.
The Awaching case is not the lone instance of outsiders/non-locals found living together with Meitei Pangals, said ASUK and recalled a number of cases in the last ten years to deliver the point that Meitei Pangals have been found harbouring and helping nonlocal Muslims to enter the State and settle in Manipur as one of the local people.
Apart from cases of harbouring non-local Muslims in Manipur, ASUK also recalled the alliance of some Meitei Pangals with groups such as Al Qaeda, Lasker-e-Taiba etc.
Cases of Rohingya Muslims coming to Manipur and settling complete with Aadhaar cards etc have also been reported in the Imphal based newspapers, said ASUK and added that this is a clear instance of the Meitei Pangals leaning more towards Pan Islam than on their own ethnicity.
Such a mindset can be against the interest of the land and the ethnic people of Manipur, added ASUK.
Giving a long history of Islam and how it morphed into radical Islam and Pan Islam, ASUK urged the elders, the educated and the intellectuals of Meitei Pangal community to stop the incursion of non-local Muslims into Manipur.
Observing that some Meitei Pangals are facilitating the entry of non-local Muslims into Manipur under the 'population race,' ASUK said that the 'demographic/population jihad' must stop as it would amount to digging one's own grave yard.
It would be in the best interest of everyone for the Meitei Pangals to give due importance and promote their ethnic identity reasoning that there is no harm at all in promoting their ethnic identity while living as good Muslims.
Even across the Islamic countries protecting one's ethnic identity has been stressed, said ASUK and cited the example of Saudi Arabia, which while promoting and backing the call Pan-Islamism and Pan-Arabism, does not easily grant citizenships to Muslims from other parts of the world.
Even today in the Muslim world the division according to race/skin colour is prevalent, said ASUK and recalled the observation of Professor Sami Zubaida of London University who said that Muslims in Europe, Egypt, Cyprus, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq look down on Arabs from the Persian Gulf.
Likewise Arabs look down on the Muslims from Bangladesh and Pakistan, said ASUK.
The outfit also quoted Professor Dr Zaid Shakir who once said, 'Islam does not reject the idea of a Nation' .
Even though Prophet Muhammad spread the idea of Pan Islamism to neutralise the inter-tribe rivalries, there was no attempt to wipe out ethnic identity.
The slogan of Islamic scholars during the time of the French assault on Algeria was 'Islam is my religion, Arabic my language, Algeria my fatherland' .
Just as they did not forsake their Nationalism (Algeria) and culture (Arabic language), Meitei Pangals too should not forsake their ethnic identity, said ASUK.
The outfit further reminded the Meitei Pangals that Manipur is still under India and asserted that the fight must be jointly against India and urged the Meitei Pangals to join hands with the revolutionaries of the land and take a united stand.