Illegal immigrants : Common theme :: Of FMR and border fencing
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 24, 2025 -

Illegal immigrants-The common theme runs through, though the venue and the occasion in which this reality was referred to were vastly different.

So when Chief Minister N Biren Singh expressed concern over illegal immigration and the mushrooming of unrecognised villages in the border areas, he was obviously referring to the incursions from across the international border, which has been directly linked to the ongoing Manipur crisis since the evening of May 3, 2023.

The occasion too was at the inaugural function of the diamond jubilee cum biennial sports meet of the All Maring Sports Association at Laiching Khongshang in Tengnoupal district on January 20.

Just a day earlier on January 19, the Co-ordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) had stressed on the need to update the National Register of Citizens to identify illegal immigrants in Manipur and also to complete the fencing along the Indo-Myanmar border.

Again like the Chief Minister, the call of COCOMI can be directly linked to the ongoing crisis and the need to save the land and the indigenous people from the onslaught of unchecked immigration from across the border.

Illegal immigrants - This is also the concern that Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankar demonstrated while interacting with students at Raipur under the theme ‘Ideas for Building Better Bharat’.

Attempts to change the ‘organic demography’ of Bharat, is how the Vice President put it and while the venue and the occasion on which the concern over influx of immigrants was sounded were different, the core issue remains the same.

Concern over illegal immigrants and in the case of Manipur, a point that can be felt and seen in the 21 months long clash with no solution in sight.

The concern expressed by the Chief Minister and COCOMI in quick succession also falls perfectly in line with the observation of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar when he attributed ‘parts of the problem in Manipur due to migrants.’

This was on September 27, 2023 during an interaction programme at the Council of Foreign Relations, USA and in response to a query raised by a representative of the Human Rights Watch.

Then on September 18, 2024 Union Home Minister Amit Shah pointed to large scale influx from across the border for the ongoing violence while announcing the suspension of the Free Movement Regime and the start of the fencing work along the Indo-Myanmar border.

Delhi has taken note of the illegal influx from across the border and seen in the context of the ongoing violence in Manipur, this should be understood within the frame of the Kuki armed groups which are under the Suspension of Operation pact with the Government of India.

It was in taking cognizance of the unchecked incursion from across the border that the Centre heeded the call of Imphal and decided to suspend the FMR and fence the Indo-Myanmar border.

However given the fact that the violence has not stopped and Kuki militants continue to rain bullets and bombs at Meitei settlements near the foothills, one cannot help but question whether the measures such as doing away with FMR and border fencing were announced to give some sort of a cover to the Government which has come under scathing attack for its utter failure to resolve the issue.

Or is it a case of Imphal failing to take off from the observation of the Central leaders and accordingly present the case of Manipur effectively before Delhi ?

The answer is anyone’s guess, but the fact stands that despite Central leaders taking cognizance of the fact that migrants from across the border are largely responsible for the ongoing violence, there is nothing to suggest that Manipur has started walking the path to normalcy.

Illegal immigrants, that is what two prominent leaders of the BJP Government at Delhi have admitted to, but this has not stopped it from going ahead and giving primacy to the Kuki-Zo MLAs who have been talking about bifurcating Manipur via the demand for a Separate Administration.

And this is where connecting the position of Manipur and what the VP of India observed on January 22 and the ground reality here becomes relevant.