MMTU urges President, PM to deport illegal immigrants
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, June 14 2025: After the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification on May 19, 2025 for identification and deportation of illegal immigrants from all over the country, the Meetei/Meitei Tribe Union (MMTU) has urged the President of India and the Prime Minister to take up necessary steps in line with the MHA's notification to identify and deport illegal immigrants from Manipur.

Speaking to media persons at Manipur Press Club here today, MMTU secretary administration Mutum Churamani said that they submitted a memorandum to the President, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Home Affairs, the Minister of Tribal Affairs and the Governor of Manipur seeking identification and deportation of all illegal immigrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh who are living in Manipur and scrapping of Chin, Kuki and Zo communities from the country's list of Scheduled Tribes Churamani said that the 23-paged memorandum was submitted on June 13, 2025 .

Even though the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification on May 19 directing all States and Union Territories to drive out all illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar within 30 days, the State's PR administration has not yet initiated any tangible step to translate the MHA's notification into action, he remarked.

On the other hand, the Governments of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura have been actively identifying illegal immigrants in their respective States.

There are also reports of the Government of Assam deporting 330 illegal immigrants under the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950, he said.

The presence of a large number of illegal immigrants in Manipur is a known fact but the PR administration has not yet taken up any tangible step to drive out the illegal immigrants, Churamani said.

He said that the memorandum submitted to the President, the Prime Minister, the Union Home Minister and the Governor of Manipur gave a detailed account on the waves of influx of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh during the Bangladesh War in 1971, and from Myanmar during the military coups which took place in Myanmar in 1962, 1988 and 2021.It also gave a report on how large numbers of people from Myanmar crossed over to Manipur along the 398 Kms long, open Manipur-Myanmar border over the years.

On account of the incessant influx from Myanmar, the population of Chin, Kuki and Zo communities in Manipur jumped to 4,48,214 as per the 2011 census, he said.

According to historical records and books written by their own authors, all Chin, Kuki and Zo people came from outside Manipur, particularly Chin and Lushai Hills, Churamani said.

They were all nomadic tribes and they are not indigenous to Manipur.

As such, putting them in the Scheduled Tribe list of Manipur is a gross error, he said.

He went on to assert that the Government of India did not look at the ethnography records of Chin, Kuki and Zo communities when they were inserted in the ST list of Manipur.

Two other major factors contributing to the astronomical growth of Chin-Kuki-Zo population in Manipur are the hereditary chieftainship and the Free Movement Regime (FMR) enforced since September 26, 1950 which allows free movement for up to 40 Kms inside each other's territory between India (Manipur) and Myanmar without any visa or pass, he said.

The abolition of Inner Line Permit System on November 18, 1950, insertion of Chin-Kuki-Zo communities in the ST list on September 20, 1950 and thus granting them constitutional protection wrongly, exemption from paying income tax and allowing them to settle freely in the hill areas of Manipur are some other factors which contributed to the growth of Chin-Kuki-Zo population in Manipur.

On account of the incessant influx of illegal immigrants from Myanmar, large numbers of new villages have sprung up in the Chin-Kuki-Zo dominated districts of Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, Chandel, Tengnoupal and Pherzawl, he said.

Apart from settling in the hill districts, illegal Chin-Kuki-Zo people have literally surrounded the valley districts.

As such, there is an urgent need to drive out all illegal immigrants who came from Myanmar and Bangladesh in line with the MHA's notification of May 19, 2025, he added.

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