COCOMI, UNC petition PM to address influx issue
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, July 02 2024: A joint delegation of the Coordinating Committee for Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) and the United Naga Council (UNC) submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister through the Governor on Tuesday, urging the PM to expedite implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) with 1951 as the base year to curb the influx of illegal immigrants and address the resultant demographic imbalances that pose serious threats to the native population of the state.

The 11-member team led by COCOMI coordinator Somorendro Thokchom, UNC general secretary Vareiyo Shatsang, and UCM president Joychandra Konthoujam went to Raj Bhavan to hand over the memorandum, which highlighted pressing concerns of the natives of Manipur over continuous influx of illegal immigrants.

After coming out from Raj Bhavan, COCOMI coordinator Somorendro told the media that the Governor assured to forward the memorandum to the Prime Minister's office on Wednesday apart from conveying about her recent meetings with the President, Prime Minister, and Home Minister to discuss the crisis in Manipur.

She also assured to exert pressure on the Central leadership to update NRC in the state promptly and to strive for resolving the crisis, said Somorendro.

Chipping in, UNC general secretary Vareiyo Shatsang said the Governor advised them to wait till conclusion of the Parliament session to take up the NRC demand with the Centre, He confided that UNC and COCOMI have an understanding to collaborate on the issue, although they are yet to formalise it as a common agenda.

According to UCM president Joychandra Konthoujam, UNC and COCOMI had engaged in several rounds of discussions on issues affecting the indigenous people.

Both organisations are united in their efforts to pressure the Central government to implement NRC for detection and deportation of illegal immigrants.

He added that their conversation with the Governor during their visit lasted around half an hour.

In the joint memorandum, the two organisations representing the natives of Manipur, drew attention of the Prime Minister to the pressing issue of the continuous inflow of illegal immigrants into the state.

"This influx poses significant threats to the native population, territorially, economically and socio-politically," said the memorandum which also highlighted consistent rise in the number of non-native people from outside the state over the past several decades, with a rapid escalation in recent years.

The influx, primarily from neighbouring countries such as Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Nepal, has significantly impacted the native demography and social order, adversely affecting land, natural resources, and social harmony, mentioned the memorandum and demanded implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) at the earliest so that a scientific method of identification may be applied to detect illegal immigrants and ensure that no further infiltration occurs in our state henceforth.

It also demanded to stop immediately the practice of random village recognition without verification.

A cut-off/base year should be kept in place for verification and implementation of a process to de-recognise illegal and fake villages, it added.

The memorandum emphasised the need for scientific and reliable data on the population of native people and bona fide citizens of the state to address the demographic imbalance and also called for examination and corrective measures regarding the abnormal increase in the number of villages in certain districts, particularly those predominantly inhabited by communities other than the Meeteis and the Nagas.

The memorandum further referred to the abnormal increase in the number of villages in specific districts over the years such as Chandel district, where the number of villages increased from 164 in between 1950 and 1969 to 269 in 2011, with 205 unrecognised villages.

In Tengnoupal, the number rose from 68 to 168, with 130 unrecognised villages whereas Kangpokpi saw an increase from 179 to 570, with 304 unrecognised villages, and Churachandpur's villages grew from 282 to 547, with 281 unrecognised.

Pherzawl also had a rise from 38 to 70 villages, with 14 unrecognised.

The memorandurn stated, "The abnormal increase of villages in specific districts should be examined and corrective measures must be taken up.

While the number of villages in the districts predominantly inhabited by the Meeteis and the Nagas remain more or less constant relatively" .

The joint team of COCOMI and UNC urged both the Central and state governments to treat the presented data as a warning and take immediate actions to resolve the present demographic invasion.

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