Aizawl: Reacting to Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh’s proposition to deport settlers who entered the state after 1961, Aizawl-headquartered Mizo Students’ Union (MSU) Monday cautioned the Manipur government that if it were to proceed with this directive, all Meitei settlers residing in Mizoram could face deportation to the neighbouring state.
The warning follows Singh’s statement on 13 February indicative of the government’s intention to “identify and deport” people who settled in Manipur state post 1961.
Expressing its vehement opposition to the proposal, the MSU convened an emergency executive meeting Monday during which the apex students’ body in Mizoram unanimously agreed that if the Manipur government were to deport any Kuki-Zo tribesmen to Mizoram, the MSU will respond by deporting all Meiteis from Mizoram to Manipur.
The MSU emphasised that they have compiled a comprehensive list of all Meitei settlers in Mizoram, including their addresses and occupations. “We are prepared to deport all Meiteis from Mizoram if the Manipur government proceeds with its plan to expel Mizo-ethnic tribes from the state,” the students’ body said in a statement.
MSU president Samuel Zothanpuia accused N. Biren Singh of unfairly labelling all members of the Kuki-Zo community living in Manipur as “illegal migrants” and wrongfully attributing the ongoing ethnic conflict to “illegal migration”. Official figures estimate that at least 175 people have been killed in the ethnic violence that broke out in Manipur last May.
“It’s crucial for both the Manipur state and central government to recognise that the Kuki-Zo people have been original settlers of present-day Manipur state since pre-British times. They even resisted British encroachment in the now Manipur’s hill areas,” he asserted.
“They (Kuki-Zo settlers in Manipur) have been settling there long before the present-day Manipur state under India Union was born,” he asserted.
He further accused Singh of carrying out a “land-grabbing campaign” to claim more land for the Meiteis, which he said is adding to ongoing ethnic strife in Manipur.
“While Singh ostensibly sets 1961 as the cutoff year, his true intention appears to be the expulsion of all Kuki-Zo ethnic tribes from the state,” Zothanpuia alleged.
The Biren Singh-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Manipur, along with Meitei outfits, has attributed some part of the blame for the ongoing ethnic conflict to Kuki-Zo tribals who they allege entered the state from Mizoram or illegally through Myanmar and “disturbed” the “demographic balance”.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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