Zalen'gam is the game plan : MIYC
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 27 2023: Claiming that the series of atrocities being meted out by the Kukis even before the May 3 incident against the Meitei populace is a part of their game plan to realise their dream of Zalen'gam, the Manipur International Youth Centre (MIYC) has called for unity of all indigenous people to protect the State's integrity.

In a statement signed by its coordinator T Parijat Singh, the MIYC went on to claim that Kuki people have been engaging in all-out war against the Meiteis to disintegrate the State using brute force.

Claiming that the Mizoram Government and armed militants waging war against the Junta in Myanmar also extend support in creating the unrest in Manipur, the Youth Centre said that all the indigenous people of the State and the Meiteis living outside Manipur need to stick together to defeat the very idea of disintegrating Manipur.

"All the people who want to keep the unity and integrity of Manipur intact should come out and lend their hands to safeguard the land and resources passed down by our ancestors," the MIYC appealed.

Further claiming that the Kuki aggression against the Meiteis was effectuated after thorough planning way before the May 3 incident, the MIYC alleged that gunning down of five Meitei woodcutters at Saikul in February 1996 and another nine Meitei construction workers at Moreh in May 2007 are all related to the ongoing crisis as the ultimate goal of the Kukis is Zalen'gam.

They (the Kukis) demanded integration of Churachandpur in the proposed Greater Mizoram while signing the Mizo Accord too between Mizo National Front (MNF) and the Indian Government in 1986 but the same was objected by the people of Manipur and then Central Government, the MIYC reminded.

Though the dream of Greater Mizoram never fructified, attempt to disintegrate Manipur is very much alive, the Youth Centre cautioned and added that MNF's Zoramthanga and Kuki populace objected to the fencing works along Indo-Myanmar border in 2013 by submitting a memorandum to then President and Prime Minister so as to prove that Kuki people in Myanmar are their people.

Claiming the Kukis have been engaging in many forms of war crimes not approved by international laws with the support of Central security forces, the MIYC claimed that the aggression of Kukis didn't spare even the office of a media house.

The Meiteis have been rendered helpless amid this ongoing conflict, it rued.

Kukis who torched two buses at Saparmeina were granted bail but the accused of the Kwakeithel incident of July 17 (burning down the vehicle of a senior police officer) are still in jail.

The Central security forces deployed in Manipur are unable to control the Kuki militants, it claimed and added that the role of Myanmar based militants in attacking Meiteis is also an open secret.

The claim that Kuki people used to live together under a single and independent entity during British time is a blatant lie and distorted history, the MIYC further claimed.

The influx of Myanmar Nationals into Manipur continues even today with the recent being the case of 718 illegal immigrants entering the State in just two days (July 22 and 23), it alleged and claimed that around two lakh Myanmar Nationals might be settling in the State today.

Over 1,600 new villages have been set up in Kuki dominated areas, the Youth Centre claimed and alleged that many Churches in Chandel, Churachandpur and Tengnoupal have inscriptions in Burmese script.

Saying that the successive Indian Governments have failed to protect the indigenous people of Manipur since the merger in 1949, the MIYC claimed that the Foreigners' Act too has become toothless at least in the context of Manipur.

Accusing the Centre of waging population war in Manipur to wipe out the indigenous people, the Youth Centre claimed that Manipur has also lost its territory after becoming a part of India.

It claimed that the size of Manipur was 46,620 sq km before the merger.

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