Confined to 8 percent land, surrounded by militants: Activist at UN event
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, April 24 2025:
"Today, our native people, including myself, are confined to just 8 per cent of the land, surrounded by heavily armed militants shifting the demographics and threatening our survival," stated Jodha Heikrujam, a human rights and environmental activist of the state, while addressing at the 24th United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, currently underway at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
Speaking under Agenda Item 3, which focused on implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Jodha offered a critical testimony on Wednesday, highlighting the unfolding humanitarian and indigenous crisis in Manipur.
Jodha began his speech by stating that he has travelled 14,100 km to expose a truth that remains suppressed within India and unheard internationally.
"I came here because India has silenced our voices, divided our people, and failed us constitutionally," he said.
"Our Indigenous Meetei community is facing threat of being erased through violent conflict, demographic manipulation, and colonisation masked as governance," he added.
Jodha recounted how Manipur, once a princely state with a constitutional monarchy, was merged into the Indian Union in 1949 under an agreement that guaranteedits territorial integrity, stating that the integrity now stands compromised.
Describing Manipur as both a land of tragedy and resilience, he underscored the loss of life, widespread displacement, and horrifying violence the state has endured over the past two years.
He said that over 200 people have died, more than 4,700 homes have been burned, and over 60,000 - mostly Indigenous - have been forced into refugee camps with little access to basic necessities.
He also drew attention to increasing suicides and gender-based atrocities among the displaced.
"In which part of the universe allows its citizens to become refugees in their homeland? Yes, in Manipur, India.
This is our harsh reality," he said.
The rights activist attributed the crisis to India's failure to protect its citizens, citing decades of unchecked migration through Manipur's 398 km porous border with Myanmar.
He alleged that illegal immigrant narco-terrorists, posing as refugees, have since obtained Indian citizenship and altered the demographic fabric of the region.
These groups, he said, are engaged in poppy cultivation, drug trafficking, and violent campaigns aimed at carving out an ethnocentric homeland that spans areas in India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.
"This is not merely a domestic issue," Jodha warned and added, "It has evolved into a regional security threat with global implications, connected to illicit arms smuggling, transnational narcotics trade, and geopolitically motivated destabilisation".
He accused the Government of India of characterising the crisis as an inter community dispute when it is, in fact; a constitutional failure.
"Manipur is under President's Rule.
That alone proves that the state government has failed, and the Constitution is no longer being upheld," he continued.
Jodha also called out Prime Minister Narendra Modi, noting his continued silence since the violence that began on May 3, 2023 .
"He has not visited Manipur once, nor uttered a single word of peace or solidarity," he said while adding that the state now suffers the highest inflation rate in the country and a collapsed economy driven by the conflict and the drug trade.
Despite the grim picture, Jodha insisted the world must not turn away.
"If the world remains silent, it will not only fail the Meetei but set a dangerous precedent for Indigenous struggles globally".
He urged the United Nations and its member states to mediate with the Government of India and ensure the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
He also appealed for the safe return of displaced indigenous communities to their homes and called on the Government of India to consider granting Scheduled Tribe status to the Indigenous Meetei after assessing the constitutional criteria.
He concluded his speech saying: "Justice delayed is justice denied.
The world must act now" .
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