Delhi rally demands action against 'illegal immigrants'
Meeteis say not against all Kukis, but militant groups breaching truce pact
Source: Chronicle News Service

New Delhi/Imphal, June 04 2023: With Manipur still tense after weeks of ethnic violence left nearly a 100 people dead, members of the Meetei community on Sunday held a rally demanding protection from "Kuki militants" who they said were to blame for the situation in the strife-torn state.

They also asked the Government to check "illegal immigration" in Manipur and protect the state's territorial integrity.

The rally was organised by the Manipur Coordination Corn - mittee, an umbrella group of civil society organisations and students bodies.

Hundreds of Meeteis, most of them living in Delhi, took part in it.

The 'peace rally' at Jantar Manta r demanded that the government check the influx of "illegal immigrants" into the state from Myanmar.

Chan Meitei, a member of the committee, said the rally was held for peace in Manipur and to lodge a protest against the "divisive forces and external aggression" faced by people in the state.

The participants demanded that the government stop "ille-gal immigrants" from Myanmar entering Manipur.

"The illegal immigrants from Myanmar are responsible for the unrest and violence faced by Manipur.

They indulge in poppy cultivation that has also added to deforestation in the hills," said Joy, a medical student from Thoubal in Manipur.

The committee members said the government should also check the violence by Kuki "militants" who migrated from Myanmar.

"All the stakeholders of Mani-pur are equally responsible to bring peace and development in the state.

Manipuri Kukis are our relatives, brothers and sisters and we are not against them," said Prem Meetei, who also took part in the rally.

At least 98 people were killed and 310 injured in the ethnic violence that broke out in Ma-nipur a month ago, the state government said earlier this week.

A total of 37,450 people are currently sheltered in 272 relief camps.

Protestors raised slogans and held placards that read like "Abrogate So0 with Kuki militants", "Stop pop-py plantation", "Save Meetei Save India", "No separate administration", "Stop vio-lence - Meetei are peace loving community", "We want NRC before 2024", "Stop attacking innocent Meetei civilians", "Stop Kuki narco-terrorism in Manipur", "Save Manipur from armed Kuki immigrant militants from Myanmar", "Stop forest destruction and reserve forest encroachment", "Manipur crisis is a threat to national security", and "Ma-nipur stands for diversity and communal harmony" among others.

Amid chants of "Save Mani-pur", "Kuki terrorists go back", "Down with Kuki militarism", "Down with Kuki militants" and "Meetei Imana Yaiphare" while some protesters narrated their ordeal of the violence, prominent community mem-bers shed light on the reasons behind the ongoing conflict.

The protesters said that despite Union Home Minis-ter Amit Shah's recent visit to the state, the community is not feeling safe as the security forces were "unable to protect them".

"On May 3, during their peace rally, they (Kukis) start-ed burning Meitei houses.

We hid in a safe place leaving our houses.

The men from our com-munity armed themselves with knives and stones to defend ourselves.

The state administra-tion did not help that day.

Only the next morning a team from Imphal came and rescued us," said Hanglem Rubina Chanu of Khumujamba Meitei Leikai village in Churachandpur, who lost her home during the vio-lence and is now in Delhi.

"Even when the Army was taking us to Imphal, our vehicle was attacked on the way.

To-day, we have become homeless in our own state," she said.

The protesters, however, said that Kuki militant groups trig-gered the violence by violating the Suspension of Operation (So0) agreement with the gov-ernment.

"This is not an ethnic con-flict.

It has been perpetrated by some militant groups that signed the Suspension of Op-erations (So0) agreement with the government.

It has now turned into a people-to-people conflict," said Professor Bhagat Oinam, who teaches at JNU and delivered a speech at the protest site.

"We want the Government to withdw from talks with these (militant) groups.

We also want the India-Myanmar border to be sealed as a lot of terrorist groups from across the border are infiltrating.

We also want an NRC on the lines of As-sam so that illegal immigrants can be thrown out," Professor Bhagat said.

The violence is not related with the ST demand raised by Meeteis but an outcome of Kuki militants from across the bor-der trying to bring instability and ethnic enmity among the people of the state to make a stronghold for them in the state, he added.

In a statement shared with the media, the Manipur Coordi-nation Committee also blamed the Assam Rifles of supporting and protecting the Kuki mili-tant groups and allowing a sec-tion of the Kuki community to indulge in "poppy cultivation" and "illegal immigration" .

"So far, nearly 1,800 families of 13 Meetei villages have been wiped out from Churachandpur district alone.

Kuki militants selectively torched Meitei hous-es not once but thrice.

Besides several other villages of Meetei conununity located in the foot-hill areas were also torched over the month.

Strangely, the plac-es where Meitei houses were burnt down repeatedly was guarded by Assam Rifles," the statement said.

Prof Bhagat said: "This vio-lence is still going on and peo-ple's houses are being burnt.

We hoped Assam Rifles would protect us, but they have been mute spectators" .

(With inputs from India Today ) .

Comment