Infiltration root cause: Amit Shah :: Study beyond the coup
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 18, 2024 -

Infiltration, the root cause of the problem.

This is from someone not less than Union Home Minister Amit Shah and while the Government has started fencing the Indo-Myanmar border and done away with the Free Movement Regime, these measures still do not answer the question of what steps will be taken up to identify the infiltrators.

This poser should be understood in the backdrop of the rising call to enforce the National Register of Citizens and Amit Shah's stoic silence on this.

What steps is Delhi mulling over to identify and track down the infiltrators ?

And if Delhi understands the infiltration question only in the context of the military coup in Myanmar and the ongoing clashes there between the Tatmadaw and the rebel groups, then it could not be further away from the truth.

Infiltration and illegal immigrants should be understood in the realm of looking back at least six/seven decades and Delhi should acknowledge the rapid growth of the Kuki-Zo population across the State.

In the first Manipur Territorial Assembly 1972-73, out of the 60 MLAs in Manipur, the Nagas had 13 MLAs.

In the second Manipur Legislative Assembly of 1974-79, the Nagas had 12 MLAs including one MLA from the Kom community and the number of Kuki-Chin MLAs was 7.

The increase in the number of Kuki-Chin MLAs continued in the third Manipur Legislative Assembly of 1980 to 85 wherein the Nagas had 10 MLAs while the number of Kuki-Chin MLAs increased to 9.

Now both the Kuki-Chins and Nagas have 10 MLAs each in the Assembly.

All indications that infiltration has been a continuous process and it would be wrong for Delhi to understand the large scale illegal immigration only in the context of the military coup in Myanmar in 2021.

A point which was lucidly pointed out by a Kuki gentleman, a certain Paolienlal Haokip in an article brought out by the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies way back in May, 2002.

Burmese refugees, this is the term used by Mr Haokip who went on to explain that the Burmanisation drive launched by Ne Win in 1967 forced at least 20,000 Kukis to flee into Manipur.

Common sense says that the 20,000 Kukis who fled to Manipur to escape the Burmanisation programme of Ne Win in Myanmar merged with the local population here and got themselves enlisted in the Scheduled Tribe list of the Constitution of India and have now laid 'ancestral land' claim on sites such as Mount Thangjing, Mount Koubru, places, which are deemed sacrosanct and holy to the Meiteis, who are today asking that they be also included in the ST list of the Constitution.

That term, 'infiltration' should mean something significant to Manipur but this should be understood beyond 2021.

This is what needs to be conveyed to Delhi in no uncertain terms and this is the reason why the call for an NRC has gained currency amongst the indigenous people of the land.

How the State Government takes up from this remains to be seen, but it should not be forgotten that apart from acknowledging infiltration as the key reason for the ongoing violence, Union Home Minister was silent on other pressing issues, such as NRC, the drug trade, Suspension of Operation pact and other vital issues.

Delhi has talked about infiltration as being the prime reason for the ongoing ethnic clash, but it sounds ironic that it is still quiet on the SoO status, given the fact that a key leader of one of the outfits is a bonafide Myanmarese.

So pointing fingers at infiltration as the key reason for the ongoing violence, but smoke the peace pipe via the SoO pact with a group headed by someone who is from Myanmar does not sound logical at all.

Imphal should take up this issue with Delhi from a position of strength, and this is where one is left uncomfortable with the thought of whether Imphal has it in them to stand their ground and strongly present its case before New Delhi.

As expected, the Union Home Minister was also quiet on the Unified Command and one wonders whether Chief Minister N Biren would take the representation submitted to the Governor further or remain quiet.