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.

Imphal:

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh today said 291 encroachers have been evicted from the state’s reserved and protected forests after the BJP came to power in 2017.

In a post on X, Mr Singh said the state had a forest cover of 17,475 sqkm in 1987, which decreased to 16,598 sqkm in 2021.

He said 877 sqkm of forest cover was destroyed, primarily to grow opium poppy.

He also shared a nearly four-minute-long video describing the challenges Manipur face due to deforestation and opium poppy cultivation.

“Evictions from the reserve forest and protected forest were carried out throughout the state. It was never targeted towards any particular community,” he added, amid the ethnic tensions between the Kuki tribes who are dominant in the hills of southern Manipur and a few other districts, and the valley-dominant Meitei community.

In the post, Mr Singh referred to the loss of forest cover as “mind-boggling data”, and added, “We rely on mother nature for our survival. Mother nature will continue to thrive without us.”

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Some mind boggling data:

Forest cover in 1987: ,
Forest cover in 2021: , … pic.twitter.com/5uSUJ0FOZi

— N.Biren Singh (Modi Ka Parivar) (@NBirenSingh) May 4, 2024

“Action and cooperation becomes even more urgent. Together, the people of Manipur must save the forest, and the land from illegal encroachers… and illegal immigrants,” states the video in its captions.

The total area of opium poppy cultivation in Manipur declined 60 per cent since 2021, according to data from the Manipur Remote Sensing Applications Centre.

The report gave an empirical evidence to measure the “war on drugs” campaign of the state BJP government led by Mr Singh, sources had said. Mr Singh won a second term in 2022.

With inputs from ANI

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/Guwahati:

The Manipur government on Friday began deporting Myanmar nationals who had fled a recent surge in fighting between the ruling junta and pro-democracy insurgents in the border region, Chief Minister N Biren Singh said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“First batch of Myanmar nationals who entered India illegally deported today,” Mr Singh said, without providing specific numbers.

“Although India is not signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, it has given shelter and aid to those fleeing the crisis in Myanmar on humanitarian grounds with a systematic approach,” Mr Singh said.

Thousands of civilians have fled the fighting in Myanmar, crossing into ethnic violence-hit Manipur and neighbouring Mizoram.

Mr Singh posted a video showing the Myanmar nationals, mostly women and children, being sent away from the airport in the state capital Imphal.

First batch of Myanmar nationals who entered India illegally deported today.

Although India is not signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, it has given shelter & aid to those fleeing the crisis in Myanmar on humanitarian grounds with a systematic approach. pic.twitter.com/zgte8RfmGl

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

The deportation comes a month after the Centre called for an immediate end to a free movement border agreement with Myanmar that allowed residents living in border zones to venture a short distance into their neighbouring nation’s territory without a visa.

India is also erecting a 1,643-km-long fence along the porous border with Myanmar through remote jungles and snow-capped peaks towards Arunachal Pradesh.

The Kuki-Zo tribes in Manipur and Mizoram share ethnic and familial ties with the Chin people in Myanmar. Many of those who have fled to India from Myanmar share ethnic ties with the Kuki-Zo tribes.

Over 200 people have been killed since last May in clashes between the hill-majority Kuki-Zo tribes and the valley-majority Meiteis over serious disagreements on sharing land, resources, political representation, and affirmative action policies.

Parts of Myanmar near the border with India have seen frequent clashes since the Arakan Army insurgents attacked junta forces in November, ending a ceasefire that had largely held since a 2021 military coup.

Hundreds of soldiers were among those who had fled Myanmar and crossed over to India to escape the fighting.

Imphal:

 In a major breakthrough, Manipur Police, in a joint operation with the central armed forces personnel, seized multiple weapons, ammunition, drugs and cash from Myanmar-based militant group CKLA, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh said on Monday.

Taking to his official handle on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, CM Biren Singh posted, “The seized weapons include AK47, Insas, Sniper and M16 rifles along with (a) huge cache of ammunition. Further, opium weighing about 2.5 kg, Rs 4,86,500 cash and various other items were also recovered.”

CM Singh informed further that earlier, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had taken up cases in relation to which it was said that there is a ‘transnational conspiracy’ by terrorist outfits in neighbouring Myanmar and Bangladesh to wage war against the Indian government by exploiting the unrest in Manipur.

“Today’s apprehension of CKLA cadres and the recovery of weapons has yet again underscored a transnational plot aimed at destabilising both Manipur and our nation,” the CM added in his post.

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

Imphal:

Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Wednesday said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah assured him that those who had kidnapped and killed the two Manipuri youths will be arrested and punished.

A team of CBI officials, led by the agency’s Special Director Ajay Bhatnagar, has reached Manipur and started the probe into the crime which has rocked Imphal valley and led to two days of violent protests by students and youths on the streets of the state capital, leading to more than 60 people being injured.

The chief minister told reporters: “The central and state governments are very serious about this case. Union Home Minister Amit Shah-ji called me up yesterday evening and told me that he is sending a CBI team on a special flight to investigate the particular case.” Mr Shah quoted Biren Singh as saying that this case has to be dealt with very seriously and those responsible have to be booked as per the law of the land and assured that “no one will be spared”.

“After landing in Imphal, they (CBI) have started their investigation,” the chief minister said without disclosing the place where the CBI team has gone.

The case began on July 6 with the disappearance of the two youths and it was handed over to the central agency on August 28.

Biren Singh had announced on Tuesday night that CBI officials would be reaching the state on Wednesday to probe into the kidnapping and killing of the two youths.

Photos of their bodies went viral on social media, leading to protests by students in the state since Tuesday. The photos surfaced on social media on Monday.

Biren Singh said, “If security forces had fired bullets or anything lethal, the government will not tolerate it and disciplinary actions will be taken against them. In case of major injuries, investigations would be carried out to give them justice.” “If our children get unjustified treatment even from our own forces, disciplinary actions will be taken,” he said.

The chief minister said that he has information that objects made of iron were thrown at the security forces by miscreants who were among the demonstrating students,” Singh said adding a number of police personnel were also injured.

Chief Minister said agitations need to be peaceful and should not be held in hyper-sensitive zones of offices of the Governor and the chief minister.

He said the real issue is to protect the state and its indigenous people from “illegal immigrants and drug mafia.” Meanwhile, officials said that curfew relaxation has been cancelled in Imphal East district from 4 pm on Wednesday till further orders.

More than 175 people have been killed and several hundreds injured since ethnic clashes broke out in the northeastern state on May 3, when a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status.

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

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

Guwahati:

23 MLAs of the BJP-led government in Manipur have signed a resolution expressing their pledge to protect the territorial integrity of the state. They plan to go to Delhi soon to urge the Centre to maintain the existing territorial boundary of the state that has been struggling to control ethnic violence since May.

The resolution, a copy of which is available with NDTV, reads: “It is unanimously resolved by all the undersigned members of the legislative Assembly that we would stand for the territorial integrity of the state of Manipur and that no form of separate administration would be agreed to by us. It has also been resolved that all the members would proceed to Delhi soon to persuade the central leadership to bring a solution to the current crisis at the earliest.”

The 23 MLAs — 18 from the BJP and remaining five from alliance partners — include assembly speaker Thokchom Satyabrata Singh, ministers Y Khemchand and Bishwajit Singh.

Ten tribal MLAs, including seven belonging to the BJP, and various tribal organisations, including the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum and Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM), have been demanding a separate administration (equivalent to a separate state) for tribals since May 12.

Chief Minister N Biren Singh, however, is not a signatory of this resolution.