Imphal:

On rumors about a possible leadership change in crisis-hit Manipur, Chief Minister N Biren Singh said that it was not in his hands and his focus is on solving the problem in the state.

“Staying on as Chief Minister or resigning is not in my hands,” Mr Singh told NDTV amid reports that a section of MLAs from his party and its allies are pushing for his removal.

Speculations about a leadership change have been rife since the BJP lost both seats in the Lok Sabha elections. Congress candidates wrested the seats from the ruling BJP and its ally Naga People’s Front (NPF).

Mr Singh attributed the Lok Sabha mandate to a “rebellious situation” and acknowledged public anger over his handling of the crisis.

“BJP’s vote percentage is not low. What we expected, we got. This time we got more votes than last time but lost due to the rebelling situation,” he said.

“I know people are angry with me for our handling of the situation. We accept it. The situation is very complex. We are not fighting with an identified enemy,” the Chief Minister added.

Tensions heightened in Manipur after ethnic violence between the Meiteis and Kukis erupted on May 3 last year, yet previous attempts to sway the party leadership have failed to yield results. Over 200 people have died and 50,000 have been displaced in the ethnic violence, which has continued to fester.

The Kuki groups are now demanding a separate Union Territory, a demand that Mr Singh downplayed.

“Out of 16 districts, disturbance is only 2-3 districts. The crisis is not that big. There is public unrest, but I can proudly say that schools, business and traffic are working well,” he told NDTV.

“Manipur is 2000 years old, and is now a proud state of India. Demand is a demand, but it cannot happen,” he added.

Mr Singh also said that the Manipur issue is on the priority list of the new central government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The situation in Manipur has been brought up forcefully again by the opposition in the Parliament, which has found a new voice after it managed to defy all expectations and stop the BJP short not just of its target of 370 Lok Sabha seats but even of the majority mark of 272. The INDIA alliance now has 232 members in the Lok Sabha and the BJP has 240, with allies making up the rest of the NDA’s 293.

Imphal/New Delhi:

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has strongly condemned activities by what he called “homegrown groups based out of western countries” for giving a “communal tone” to the state government’s efforts to identify and deport illegal immigrants.

The Chief Minister’s comments come amid a massive pushback by the Kuki-Zo tribes with allegations that the state government is bent on branding them in Manipur as “illegal immigrants” from Myanmar, with the goal of taking over tribal lands.

Mr Singh in a post on X announced his government found 5,457 “illegal immigrants” in Manipur, and took the biometric data of at least 5,173 of them.

“In this crucial juncture, we have noticed certain homegrown groups, based out of western countries, criticising the steps taken up against illegal immigration by giving a communal tone and propagating it as violations of religious freedom,” Mr Singh said, without giving details about the groups.

* 5457 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS DETECTED IN MANIPUR, INDIA
* BIOMETRIC DATA OF 5173 OF THEM RECORDED
* DEPORTATION PROCESS UNDERWAY

In this crucial juncture, we have noticed certain home grown groups, based out of western countries, criticising the steps taken up against illegal… pic.twitter.com/eZBGEx7drP

— N.Biren Singh (Modi Ka Parivar) (@NBirenSingh) May 8, 2024

“This is a situation where the survival of indigenous people are at stake, and we will not allow it to continue,” said the Chief Minister, who belongs to the BJP. “Ironically, this lobby is quiet about western countries’ stance against illegal immigration but raise objections to the actions taken in Manipur, India. This selective outrage raises concerns about the agendas and propaganda pursued by these groups with secessionist tendencies,” he said.

The Chief Minister said his government has been giving humanitarian aid to the illegal immigrants. “Despite being an alarming situation, we have been handling it with utmost sensitivity,” he added.

, .

The Government has detected a total of 5457 illegal immigrants in Kamjong District, Manipur as on May 7th, 2024. Out of…

— N.Biren Singh (Modi Ka Parivar) (@NBirenSingh) May 8, 2024

Rights activists have, however, questioned why the Manipur government is labelling as “illegal immigrants” thousands and thousands of people including children who, left with no choice, fled as refugees from Myanmar, where the junta forces are at war with many pro-democracy insurgents.

The Chief Minister also did not mention the period during which these 5,457 people entered Manipur. Neighbouring Mizoram has taken in nearly 40,000 refugees from Myanmar, with whom they share close ethnic ties.

Kuki-Zo Group’s Charge

Though Mr Singh did not name any group, his allegations that homegrown groups in the west have been “propagating it (issue of illegal immigrants) as violations of religious freedom” came two days after the Kuki-Zo outreach group North American Manipur Tribal Association (NAMTA) organised a congressional hearing on the Manipur crisis.

NAMTA in the congressional hearing strongly condemned the Manipur government’s alleged complicity in the violence between the valley-dominant Meitei community and the Kuki-Zo tribes, who are dominant in southern Manipur’s hill districts and a few other areas.

NAMTA Canada chapter head Lien Gangte recalled how mobs went on a rampage in the state capital Imphal when violence broke out on May 3, 2023. Meiteis who had been living in the hill areas, too, had to flee to the valley.

“… Today over a year after my family lost everything, we still have no idea if or when our issues will ever be resolved. Will we ever get justice… My people have been subjected to ethnic cleansing… It had become an existential crisis, and we had to fight for survival,” Mr Gangte said in the congressional hearing.

“We were caught in a conflict where the odds were stacked against us because the state had decided to take sides with the majority Hindu Meiteis… Despite being thrown to the wolves, we had no choice but to call on the government of India to fulfil its constitutional duties. We called on them to provide basic security and justice for our people, citizens of India,” Mr Gangte said.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) commissioner David Curry also attended the congressional hearing, apart from other NAMTA members.

NAMTA and Kuki-Zo intellectuals have refuted allegations the group worked with Khalistani separatists in Canada, after Mr Gangte was seen in August 2023 giving a speech at the same gurdwara in Surrey, whose chief and Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead in June that year. The X handles of NAMTA’s chapters in India, the US, and Canada are withheld in India due to legal demands.

It’s not only NAMTA, but also the Association of Meiteis in the Americas (AMA) that has organised congressional hearings to inform US leaders about the situation in Manipur.

The ethnic clashes between the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zo tribes began over cataclysmic disagreements on sharing land, resources, affirmative action policies, and political representation, mainly with the ‘general’ category Meiteis seeking to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category.

Following the violence last year, 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs have demanded a separate administration carved out of Manipur. Manipur has a 60-member assembly.

The Kuki-Zo tribes have also alleged the Manipur Police of bias in how the force operated amid the violence. The Manipur government’s attempt to send police personnel in the hill districts where the Kuki-Zo tribes are settled faced strong resistance, especially in the border town Moreh near Myanmar, Churachandpur, and Kangpokpi.

Over 220 people have died in the clashes, and nearly 50,000 have been internally displaced.

New Delhi:

A year after ethnic violence erupted in Manipur, the border state remains tense. Prayer meets and protests kept the security forces on the edge.

“Many protests are still going on. People are remembering their near and dear ones, but so far no violent incident has been reported,” a senior government officer told NDTV.

He said the cases of arson, firing, injuries and deaths are slowly declining. “The situation is better, but is complex,” he added.

As per a report sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the state government said a lot of work has been done to stop drugs smuggling, but the issue of illegal immigrants is still a cause of worry.

The Centre has asked the state authorities to be on specific alert after the state started the process of first phase of deportation of illegal immigrants from Myanmar. “We fear backlash and we alerted state police accordingly,” another official stated.

So far 77 have been deported back. “The state government is continuing the identification of illegal immigrants and at the same time biometric data are being recorded. Let’s keep our borders and country secure,” Chief Minister N Biren Singh posted on X.

Meanwhile, a year after ethnic violence erupted in Manipur, the clean-up of records has brought down the total number of violence-related first information reports (FIRs) from over 11,000 to around 3,000.

“Many duplicate cases were registered. Now we have amalgamated the records and that’s why numbers have come down,” a government source said.

He said many zero FIRs were filed when violence erupted, irrespective of jurisdiction. “They all were later transferred to the police stations where the crimes took place,” the officer said, adding looted weapons are still a cause of worry. “Around 6,000 weapons were looted but despite various efforts about 1,800 have been recovered or surrendered by the civilians,” he said.

“Violence will keep erupting. The force alone cannot control the situation. It needs to be handled sensitively,” a senior officer said.

He said the present regime in the state has not been able to assure communities rather have stoked fault lines. “The debate of insider vs outsider is more vocal in the region,” he adds. 

“It’s a complex situation and political leaders and various communities need to start speaking to each other to bridge gaps then only we can move forward,” a serving officer told NDTV, requesting anonymity. 

As many as 220 lives have been lost in Manipur violence; 50,000 have been displaced.

Imphal/Guwahati:

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has doubled down on the state government’s claim that a major factor behind the ethnic crisis in the border state was the “massive influx of illegal immigrants from Myanmar”.

Mr Singh said at least 996 villages have mushroomed across Manipur since 2006, and attributed what he called the “unnatural growth” to illegal immigrants settling down after scattering all over the unsurveyed hill areas of the state.

“Will anyone accept the unnatural growth of new villages and population, causing massive changes to the demography in their own state or country due to the influx of illegal immigrants?” Mr Singh said in a post on the microblogging website X.

“We’re confronting a serious issue within our nation, especially in Manipur, where several new villages have emerged due to a massive influx of illegal immigrants from Myanmar since 2006 till date. During this period, massive forest cover have been destroyed to establish settlements as well as carry out poppy plantations,” said the Chief Minister from the BJP who won his second consecutive term in March 2022.

On why the government chose to look at the influx of illegal immigrants from 2006, an official who has direct knowledge of the matter and access to the relevant departmental records told NDTV: “The stronger Nagas led by the NSCN had driven away the Kukis from border areas to Myanmar in the long ethnic conflict between them from the early 1990s till around the end of that decade. A large number of Kukis regrouped in Myanmar’s border region with the help of Myanmar-based insurgent groups — they share ethnic ties — from the year 2000 onwards, and along with them came a huge influx of illegal immigrants.

“It is no surprise that the 2001 Census for Manipur was never finalised because there was abnormal decadal population growth as high as 169 per cent. It had become impossible to do a proper survey. From 2001 onwards, the illegal immigrants gradually dissolved into new settlements and villages in pockets across Manipur. You don’t make a village overnight. It takes time, men, and material. So till 2006 they were busy with this aspect. The government eventually saw the problem and decided to start the count of such new settlements from 2006.”

The hill-dominant Kuki-Zo tribes hold the Chief Minister, who belongs to the valley-dominant Meitei community, responsible for the outbreak of the ethnic clashes in May 2023 that left 210 dead and thousands internally displaced.

Mr Singh has refuted the allegations, and pointed at the destruction of opium poppy cultivation and clearing of illegal immigrants from forest areas as the chief reasons behind the crisis. The total area of opium poppy cultivation declined 60 per cent since 2021, data from the autonomous government institution Manipur Remote Sensing Applications Centre shows.

“Not to mention, these illegal immigrants have started encroaching on the resources, job opportunities, land, and the rights of indigenous people. We have started collecting biometric data of the illegal immigrants as well as geotagging of their settlements. I appeal to everyone in the country to support the government in keeping our nation safe and secure from illegal immigrants,” Mr Singh said.

“When the British Prime Minister recently asserted their unyielding commitment to deporting illegal immigrants and even claimed that no foreign court can stop them, nobody dared to question the British government,” the Chief Minister said, referring to the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill 2023, the UK government’s latest attempt to deport asylum seekers to the east African country as part of efforts to cut irregular immigration, after previous attempts were ruled illegal.

“Now, when the Ministry of Home Affairs and the government of Manipur adopt a similar stance and initiate the deportation of illegal immigrants from Manipur, certain sections of people are losing their sleep. They have been persistently spreading false propaganda to portray the government of Manipur as a communal government,” Mr Singh said.

Unnatural growth of 996 New Villages Due to Illegal Immigration: Threat to Indigenous People and National Security

Will anyone accept the unnatural growth of new villages and population, causing massive changes to the demography in their own state or country due to the influx… pic.twitter.com/k1lU4Pba7l

— N.Biren Singh (Modi Ka Parivar) (@NBirenSingh) April 29, 2024

The ethnic clashes between the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zo tribes began over cataclysmic disagreements on sharing land, resources, affirmative action policies, and political representation, mainly with the ‘general’ category Meiteis seeking to be included under the Scheduled Tribes category. A top factor the state government says led to the crisis was its ‘war on drugs’ campaign.

“The slow but steady decline in opium cultivation due to the ‘war on drugs’ campaign would have been a kick in the gut of powerful drug cartels. The Kuki insurgents, too, have been demanding a separate land for a long time. It was a dangerous combination,” a senior officer in the Narcotics and Affairs of Border (NAB) said, requesting anonymity. “The idea of a separate administration did not just fall from a tree after May 2023. The idea was always there,” the officer added.

The Chief Minister in the post on X also included an over two-minute-long video presentation explaining in brief what Mr Singh claimed was the root cause of the Manipur crisis.

“Illegal immigrants have been entering Manipur since 1967,” the presentation reads as it starts playing.

It shows a letter written by Henkhosei Haokip and Shochung Haokip, two senior members of the Burma Kuki Refugees Association Manipur, to the then Relief and Rehabilitation Minister in February 1973 seeking a loan to rehabilitate 1,500 Kuki families who came from Myanmar (formerly Burma). The two asked the Centre to give a “special sanction as a relief grant and loan to the Kuki refugees during the current financial year.”

The video also shows satellite imagery of how since 2006 forest cover has declined due to new settlements in Churachandpur, Tengnoupal, Kangpokpi, Pherzwal and Chandel districts.

“Due to the Myanmar coup and civil war, a significant number of immigrants from Myanmar are entering Indian border villages. To address national security concerns, a cabinet sub-committee led by minister Letpao Haokip with committee members minister Awangbow Newmai and minister Thounaojam Basanta (was set up),” the Manipur government said in the video presentation.

The initial findings of the first phase of the identification exercise as of April 24, 2023 – violence broke out the next month – found the data below. The government says the total would be significantly high as this was only the first phase of the exercise.

• 1,147 Myanmar immigrants in Tengnoupal (13 villages)
• 881 Myanmar immigrants in Chandel (3 villages)
• 154 Myanmar immigrants in Churachandpur (1 village)
• 5 Myanmar immigrants in Kamjong (24 villages)

“It was observed that the illegal Myanmari immigrants established their own villages in the first phase of the exercise,” the government said in the presentation.

“There was a major objection by the immigrant establishment here to such an identification exercise. The new villages were strongly opposed to the advised proposal of shelter homes to be built by the government for them… The total immigrant population in Manipur must be significantly higher considering the number of immigrants revealed in just the first phase of the identification exercise,” the government said in the presentation.

The infiltration and influx pose challenges to social cohesion and harmony, potentially fuelling resentment and conflict among different communities, the government said. It said strengthening border security, enhancing surveillance, and capacity-building measures essential to prevent unauthorised entry and curb illicit activities have already started.

“As the issue continues to garner attention and concern, it is imperative to examine the root causes, consequences, and potential solutions,” the government said in the presentation.

Imphal:

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Sunday said that no one had thought that a rally against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status would lead to violent attacks.

Mr Singh’s comment comes months after an ethnic strife broke out in the Northeastern state in May last year, which claimed more than 200 lives. Private and government properties were also destroyed.

A rally denouncing the Meitei community’s demand was organised by the All Tribal Students Union of Manipur (ATSUM) on May 3, 2023, following which violence began.

Addressing a government programme at Lamlai in Imphal East district, he said, “When ATSUM decided to hold a rally against the demand for ST status by Meiteis, there were no reports of any ulterior design by a section of the people.” All are entitled to express their opinions through a rally, the chief minister said.

“However, nobody ever thought the rally would lead to violence,” he said.

Mr Singh said the rally began around 9.30 pm and within an hour, a forest office was torched at Churachandpur at 10.30. A driver was also assaulted followed by attacks on the homes of others, he said.

“However, no such violence was reported in Naga-inhabited areas of Tamenglong, Ukhrul and Senapati. We need to understand who wants to break Manipur,” the chief minister said.

Security personnel have been deployed at almost all vulnerable areas as the government wants to protect people, he said adding that the whole country stands by Manipur.

“All are people of the state. Entry of illegal immigrants and setting up new villages by them are all we want. We are not against the original villages and people. Poppy cultivation should also stop. We need not forget the support of the Centre,” he said.

At least 219 people have been killed in ethnic strife in the state since May last year. The violence erupted on May 3 after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mainly in the hill districts.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Representational of the United Nations flag
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

India has strongly rejected comments by U.N. experts on Manipur, terming them “unwarranted, presumptive and misleading” and asserting that the situation in the Northeast State is peaceful.

In the note verbale issued on Monday to the Special Procedures Branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Indian mission underscored that the situation in Manipur was peaceful and stable and the Indian government was committed to taking requisite steps to maintain peace and stability.

ALSO READ | Manipur ethnic violence | In an armed conflict, the war on women

“The Government is also committed to protecting the human rights of the people of India, including the people of Manipur,” it said.

“The Permanent Mission of India completely rejects the news release as it is not only unwarranted, presumptive and misleading but also betrays a complete lack of understanding on the situation in Manipur and the steps taken by Government of India to address it,” said the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva.

India’s response came after a group of U.N. experts raised alarm about reports of “serious human rights violations and abuses” in Manipur, including alleged acts of sexual violence, extrajudicial killings, home destruction, forced displacement, torture and ill-treatment.

Rejecting the news release by the Special Procedure Mandate Holders (SPMH) titled ‘India: U.N. experts alarmed by continuing abuses in Manipur’, the Permanent Mission of India expressed disappointment and surprise that the SPMHs chose to issue the press release without waiting for the 60 days period for the Indian government to respond to a joint communication issued on the same topic on August 29, 2023.

The Indian mission expressed hope that in the future, the SPMH would be “more objective” in their assessment, based on the facts.

It hoped that the SPMH would “refrain from commenting on the developments, which have no relevance to the mandate given to them by the Council and abide by the established procedure for issuing news releases and wait for inputs sought from the Government of India before doing so.”

The Indian mission reiterated that India is a democratic country, with an abiding commitment to the rule of law and to promoting and protecting the human rights of our people. “Indian law enforcement authorities and security forces are committed to dealing with law-and-order situations strictly in accordance with the principles of legal certainty, necessity, proportionality and non-discrimination,” it said.

In their news release, the U.N. experts had said they were “appalled” by the reports and images of gender-based violence targeting hundreds of women and girls of all ages, and predominantly of the Kuki ethnic minority.

“The alleged violence includes gang rape, parading women naked in the street, severe beatings causing death, and burning them alive or dead,” the experts said.

The experts also pointed to an “inadequate humanitarian response” in the wake of the grave humanitarian situation in Manipur following the latest round of community conflict between the predominantly Hindu Meitei and the predominantly Christian Kuki ethnic communities that erupted in May 2023.

Preparations in the final phase for India’s maiden solar mission, Aditya L1 onboard the PSLV-C57, ahead of its launch on Sept. 2, 2023.
| Photo Credit: PTI

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