Guwahati: Hundreds of Meitei community on Sunday called for a return to peace and normalcy in Manipur already rocked by ethnic violence for the last one month.
Holding a peace demonstration held at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, the participants also unequivocally condemned divisive politics triggered by drug mafia and armed militant groups (Chin-Kuki-Zo), and supported by their political class.
The mindless violence has resulted in irreparable loss of life and property on both sides. Whether it is the Kukis or the Meiteis, painful story of the victims is the same. In most cases, it is the innocent civilians who face the brunt of this carnage. Burning of houses, and gun battle between security forces and Kuki militant outfits still continues till date.
The rally held under the banner of Manipur Coordination Committee (Delhi), a conglomerate of Manipur CSOs & Student Organizations of Delhi, and supported by democratic groups from other parts of India, suggested few points for the Government of India’s consideration.
These points include: Bring back peace & harmony in Manipur Central and State Govt. in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah ji had assured to all citizens of the state that the Central government will ensure that normalcy is returned to the state and the perpetrators of violence will be brought to justice. Central and State forces have started conducting massive combing operations in both the valley and the hills to find the miscreants, yet the violence continues unabated.
This violence is orchestrated by the drug mafia and Kuki militants, and further endorsed by the political class. And the unassuming Meitei public have fallen prey to this provoked retaliatory action. Set the facts right against fake news/false propaganda Since the start of the violence in Manipur on 3 May 2023, there has been a lot of fake news and false propaganda being circulated in social media, national and international News Channels.
Meiteis have been projected as perpetrator of violence in the valley districts. However, burning of Meitei houses in the Kuki dominated areas of Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts are not brought to light. Whereas in the ensuing violence, both sides have suffered massive destruction of property and loss of lives, and such fake news are still circulating in the social media is only aggravating the situation and is becoming a hurdle in bringing back normalcy which have resulted in creating a big division amongst the two communities.
“The reality behind the façade of anti-reservation protest lies a web of well-crafted actions by a nexus of Kuki militants, frontal organisations, intellectuals and politicians. The fact that even after 30 days when violence broke, several Meitei houses at Sugunu of Kakching district continued to be set on fired by Kuki militants on 3 June 2023. After ten days despite deployment of Indian army and para military forces, the Meetei village of Torbung Bangla was set on fire by Kuki militants on 13 May. Even more, two houses were razed to the ground by Kuki militants in Dolaithabi, Imphal East on 20 May,” stated Manipur Coordination Committee, Delhi.
It further added, “On the night of 3 June 2023, 200 Meitei houses, including the house of the local MLA, are burnt down by the Kuki militants. These show not only the quantum of vengeance, but also a well-planned strategy to consolidate Kuki lebensraum (pace sought for occupation by a nation whose population is expanding) in several foothills of the Imphal valley and wipe out the Meiteis from these areas. So far, nearly 1800 families of 13 Meitei villages were completely wiped out from Churachandpur district, Manipur. Kuki militants selectively torched Meitei houses not once but thrice at Ingourok Chingmang at Leimakhong nearby 3 Leimakhong army camp. Strangely, the place where Meitei houses were burnt down repeatedly was guarded by Assam Rifles,”.
Moreover, all the shops owned by Meiteis at Leimakhong have been looted, Kuki militants are now building bunkers inside abandoned Meitei houses. Attack on the churches; but what about the antecedent? Several seminars are conducted using academic space across the country on Manipur violence. Each of these proceedings does not fail to mention about vandalizing churches in the Imphal valley. While this is an unfortunate turn of event, it was retaliatory act driven by violent mob psyche. The anger against the Kuki aggression orchestrated by Kuki militants led to retaliatory consequences that affected Kuki churches. Nevertheless, in the violent act of arsons sanity prevailed and the Naga churches (also some Kuki churches) were left largely untouched.
Unfortunately Till now more than 3000 secret places of Sanamahi god of Sanamahi religion have been burnt down by Kuki militants and 11 temples of sanamahi religion and 3 Hindu temples have been burnt down by kuki militants. The first Ebuthou Pakhangba Temple of Sanamahi religion was burnt down in Churachandpur on 27 April 2023 before seven days of actually violence happened on 3 May. In 2020, the Kounu temple of was burn down by miscreants in Kangpokpi district.
Stop Illegal infiltration from Myanmar The Kuki-Chin-Zo population of Myanmar and India, if put together outnumbers any indigenous population of Manipur. The uninterrupted migration across the border have led to unnatural surge of Kuki-Chin-Zo population, thus leading to huge demographic imbalances. During the Indian census of 1951 and 2011, the number of Kuki population has risen from 80,002 to 4,48,532. The unnatural growth of Kuki population has jump to 5 times the population.
The unnatural growth is due to illegal migration. The illegal immigration has been going on for many decades and it is mainly attributed to the long 4 term conflict in Myanmar and the Kuki Chin population spread largely around the porous border of India Myanmar border along Manipur, Mizoram up to Bangladesh. Imperative of implementing NRC as assured by Union Minister As assured by Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah ji on the implementation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) during his visit to Manipur, there is a necessity to identify all foreigners who entered Manipur after 1951.
Implementation of the NRC in Manipur as envisaged for other parts of the Indian Union and institution of State Population Commission should now be on the Government of India’s top agenda. Ecological threat and challenges due to Poppy Plantation Every informed citizens know that poppy plantation is and has been a huge threat to all humanity and Manipur. North Eastern states have been a victim of it environmentally and ecologically. The scale of poppy cultivation in Manipur has spread across 15,497 acres of land in the hills between 2017 and 2023, according to data from the states special antidrugs unit, Narcotics and Affairs if Border (NAB). Of the 15,497 acres of land where poppy cultivation was found in the past five years,13,122 acres was found in the past five years were in the Kuki-Chin dominated areas. It is also a known fact that most poppy plantations are supervised by armed miscreants from across the Indo-Myanmar border who have amassed massive profit out of illegal poppy plantations and drugs smuggling.
The current situation is likely to cause further Ecological imbalances leading to massive deforestation, irregular rainfalls, muddy flashfloods, rise of temperature due to which the state is facing huge challenge in disaster management from the last decade. Poppy Plantation and ecological threats is affecting not just Manipur but the entire North East and the country at large. Narco Terrorism and underlying nexus Narco terrorism is a huge threat to national Security and there are enough evidence of armed militants involved in SoO (Suspension of Operation) and other groups who are also not involved in SoO agreement to be directly involved and funding of poppy 5 plantation and drug trafficking which has directly or indirectly reached political involvement of many legislatures.