Giving refuge to outsiders will lead to homelessness: Adv Zakir
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, August 12 2023: Providing refuge to outsiders on ethnic lines while barely having any one's own space would one day lead to having no place to live.

If the influx of illegal immigrants is not taken under control, it is quite possible that they would turn against those providing refuge to them and be in conflict, just like it is happening at present, advocate Singakhongbam Zakir Hussain has stated.

United Council for Restoration of Communal Harmony (UCORECH) organised a consultative meeting on illegal immigrant at JN Manipur Dance Academy on Saturday and adopted three resolutions.

The resolutions include identifying and deporting all illegal immigrants from Manipur; passing a policy by the state Assembly to deport all illegal immigrants including Rohingya, Bengali or Myanmar Kukis from Manipur and implementing the same at the earliest; and urging both the Central and state governments to put the above demands into action.

Speaking as one of the presidium members, advocate Singakhongbam Zakir Hussain stated that the Passport Act and Foreigner Act were enacted to protect against illegal immigrants.

However, as influx of illegal immigrants continued despite the two Acts, the National Registrar of Citizens (NRC) was introduced.

Unfortunately, the implementation of NRC cannot be called a success if the ones implementing the system are not sincere.

He continued that all are aware of who had caused the conflict in the state.

The consecutive state governments manipulated the people during their respective terms, leading to the present situation.

This, the indigenous communities of the state need to match their words of brotherly love with what is in their hearts, he said, while questioning why a buffer zone was created/announced in the first place, if the conflict in the state is hot a war.

Zakir further said that the influx of illegal immigrants from both Myanmar and Bangladesh need to be prohibited.

Allowing outsiders to enter on ethnic lines could lead to disintegration of Manipur.

Instead, we must keep aside all communal and ethnic thinking, and work together to save the state, while also Understanding the impact and imbalance on demography due to illegal immigrants.

We should look for long term policies instead of acting on momentary emotions, he asserted.

Furthermore, if the villagers and the security forces deployed at the border are not sincere, all illegal immigration laws will fall short laws.

There would not be any need for NRC if the government's sub committee had been sincere.

Thus, he urged UCORECH to take on the responsibility of prevailing upon the parliament to enact a law to prevent illegal immigration, thereby helping to solve the illegal immigrants issue in Manipur.

In his speech, MU History Department retired Prof Naorem Joykumar said that the Kuki-Meitei conflict has greatly impacted the people.

The conflict has drawn the world's focus to Manipur and it has further changed the understanding of the people with regard to the state's history.

He continued that just as truth can never be hidden or wronged, the same applies to history.

Even if the meaning of history may be interpreted differently, the historical facts cannot be distorted.

As such, the truth is slowly coming to the surface under the watchful eyes of the world, he asserted.

Prof Naorem Joykumar continued that the term, 'Kuki' did not exist before the arrival of the British.

Later, the British categorised the Kuki into 'Old Kuki' and 'New Kuki'.

The 'New Kuki' included those who were allowed to settle in Manipur during the reign of king Narasingh in 1844.With passage of time, Kukis started renaming the places they have settled into, which soon became their common names.

Even the newspapers mention the new names of the places instead of their original names.

While the media once control the society, the society is now in control of the media.

Thus, those working in media need to be rational in this regard, he stated.

In addition, Kukis after forming cultural boundaries are demanding for political boundary and have conflicted with Hmar, Paite, Karbi Anglong, and Naga and presently with Meitei, for their Kuki unification dream.

It is quite likely they will be ih conflict with another community in the future, he remarked, while recounting his meeting with the union home minister during the latter's visit and apprised him (Amit Shah) that the issue is not an ethnic conflict but a threat to national security.

Joykumar continued that the 10 Kuki MLAs made the demand for separate administration only after getting elected, possibly under pressure.

The issue of the Kukis which began without an agenda was elevated to demand for separate administration.

Even if the conflict did not disturb the territorial integrity of Manipur, the equilibrant has been affected, he stated.

Stating that Manipur has never had a moment of peace after merging with India, the professor alleged that the think tanks of India area aware of the talent potential of Manipur and as such, want to disintegrate the same.

Thus, they have manipulated the Kukis.

An example of this is that prior to the May 3 clashes, almost all Kuki officers took leave.

Both the central and state governments cannot deny having no knowledge of the state.

Regarding the PM Modi's scant mention of Manipur during the on going parliament session, Prof Joykumar said that this has hinted that if one wants to save his/her home, he/she does need not take the help of others.

"The most important thing right now is for us to save our own identity," he contended, while reminding all concerned that "Manipur was formed by the blood and sacrifices of our forefathers".

The meeting was also attended by UCORECH president Kumol Toijamba; cultural activist Ningthouja Lancha and social activist MI Khan as presidium members.

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