Amit Shah Rightly Flags Kuki Influx From Myanmar; Now Centre Must Take Steps To Reverse Demographic Change In Manipur

Home Minister Amit Shah has rightly acknowledged that large-scale illegal immigration of people from the Kuki-Chin-Zo community from Myanmar to Manipur is the root cause of the ethnic strife in the state.

Shah made the comments Tuesday (17 September) while listing out five key initiatives taken by the Modi 3.0 government to resolve the crisis in Manipur in its first 100 days in power.

The Union Minister said that while 30 kilometres (km) of the 1,643-km-long Indo-Myanmar border have been fenced, the budget for fencing the remaining portion has been approved. 

The unfenced border had led to the large-scale influx of people from Myanmar into Manipur, thus vastly altering the demography of the state. This demographic change is causing issues in Manipur.

The influx has dramatically boosted the population of the Kuki-Chin-Zo community in Manipur, leading to the community asserting itself against the Meiteis and demanding a separate Kuki state. 

Shah also said that the Free Movement Regime (FMR) between India and Myanmar that allowed local residents on either side to cross the border freely and travel up to 16 km on the other side has been stopped. 

Illegal immigrants from Myanmar had been taking advantage of the FMR to cross over and settle down in Manipur. 

Shah’s statement is significant because it gives the lie to assertions by Kukis that they are victims of the current strife. 

Kukis have become a majority in vast parts of the hills and have been driving away other communities — the Meiteis and also the Nagas — from the areas where they have become numerically strong. 

The dramatic demographic change caused by the influx from Myanmar is evident from the huge increase in the number of Kuki villages in the hills. The Kuki infiltrators also started cutting down forests for new settlements. 

According to both the state government and Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officials, Kuki-Chin infiltrators also started large-scale and illicit cultivation of poppy for making opium and heroin. Kuki militant outfits started trafficking these drugs and making huge sums of money.

The Manipur government’s crackdown on encroachment of forest lands and illicit poppy cultivation angered the Kukis, who started playing the victim card and also launched an offensive against the N Biren Singh government in the state. The Kukis started the false narrative that they were being persecuted and, thus, required a separate state of their own. 

The Meiteis were also angered by the demographic change in the hills and the muscle-flexing by the Kukis, who, taking advantage of their Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, had cornered a grossly disproportionate share of government jobs and other facilities. The Meiteis felt disadvantaged by their general (non-ST) status, and it was the justifiable demand for ST status by the Meiteis that added fuel to the ethnic fire in the state. 

As was stated by Shah, the Union government is speaking to both communities in order to bring about an understanding between them and bridge the existing ethnic divide. 

But for lasting peace to return to Manipur, the following six steps need to be taken by the Centre:

• Confiscation of all illegal arms

Thousands of arms, including sophisticated rifles and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), have been looted from police armouries. Huge caches of arms have also been brought in from Myanmar. 

Sustained and comprehensive operations need to be carried out by state and central security forces, who should be seen to be acting fairly and without any bias. 

As long as people have access to arms, including country-made weapons, the violence will continue. 

• Updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC)

This is imperative to rectify and reverse the demographic change that has happened in the state.

Updating the NRC will lead to detection of the lakhs of infiltrators of the Kuki-Chin-Zo community. All of them have to be deported to Myanmar. 

• Removal of settlements from forest lands and cracking down on illicit poppy cultivation

The state government’s drive to clear encroachments from forest lands should be resumed with full vigour and, if necessary, under the security cover provided by central forces. All settlements in forest lands should be destroyed.

Simultaneously, the crackdown on illicit poppy cultivation should be stepped up. Not only should standing crops be destroyed, all cultivators and traffickers should be arrested under the stringent Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

• Manipur’s territorial integrity is inviolable

Kuki groups should be told in very clear terms that Manipur’s territorial integrity is inviolable and no demand for a separate Kuki state will ever be considered. 

Kukis of Manipur should be told to abandon their pipe dream of a separate Kuki state and should be warned of punitive action if they indulge in divisive activities.

• Grant ST status to Meiteis

Apart from facing a severe disadvantage in getting government jobs in their own state due to their ‘general’ status, Meiteis also face the prospect of being uprooted from their own lands in the Imphal Valley. 

Kukis have been purchasing land and properties in the Imphal Valley, but the Meiteis cannot purchase or own any property in the hills because those areas are denoted as tribal lands. This needs to be corrected.

Once Meiteis are granted ST status, they can compete for government jobs on an equal footing as the Kukis and can also own properties in all parts of their own state, as they rightfully should be able to. 

• Expedite fencing of the Indo-Myanmar border

The ongoing work on fencing the international border should be expedited. Vigil along the unfenced border should be stepped up in the meantime to ensure no infiltration from Myanmar into India takes place. 

The border should be made inviolable, and communities on both sides ought to be told unequivocally that the border cannot be breached. Doing so would only invite lethal consequences. 

These steps are necessary to not only end the strife in Manipur but also to ensure lasting peace in the state. There can be no lasting peace if the primary cause of all the trouble — the demographic change brought about by the large-scale influx of Kuki-Chin-Zo people from Myanmar — is not addressed.