Manipur CM lays condition for return of Kuki people

Assam’s Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council has said some 1,000 ‘newly-arrived Kuki migrants’ would be sent back to Manipur

Manipur Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh said that displaced Kuki-Zo people living in Assam would be welcomed back conditionally.

He was reacting to an Assam tribal council’s decision to send back more than 1,000 Kuki-Zo people who settled down in the Karbi Anglong district after the ethnic clashes between the non-tribal Meitei and the tribal Kuki-Zos broke out in May 2023.

“If they are genuine people who came in before 1961, why should we not welcome them? As you know, 1961 is our base year for the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and anyone falling within the parameters is our citizen,” Mr Singh said at an event in Imphal on Tuesday (November 26, 2024) evening.

One of the reasons behind Manipur’s ethnic conflict is the perception that a sizeable number of Kuki-Zo people are Myanmar nationals who settled illegally in the State, many after a military coup in 2021 led to a civil war in the neighbouring country.

To identify the “illegal settlers”, the 60-member Manipur Assembly adopted a resolution in August 2022 to urge the Centre to implement the NRC with 1961 as the base year to prepare a list of genuine citizens. The resolution was reaffirmed in March this year.

Tuliram Ronghong, Chief Executive Member of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, said on Tuesday that the district had no space for the Kuki-Zo migrants and that they would be given a “good send-off” after a discussion with leaders of the Karbi Students’ Union and resident Kuki village heads.

The Karbis are the largest ethnic community in Karbi Anglong. The district has some Kuki settlements, primarily in the Singhasan Hills region.

Appeal for calm

Mr Singh appealed to the civil society organisations and some pressure groups in the Imphal Valley to desist from violent agitations and give peace a chance. He said they should allow schools, colleges, offices, and commercial establishments to function normally and the security forces to guard a few vulnerable areas.

“The security forces are conducting combing operations in Jiribam to arrest the culprits behind the terrorist acts, including the killing of women and children,” he said.

He also said a zero FIR had been registered with the Sekmai police station in connection with the disappearance of a 56-year-old Meitei man on his way to an Army garrison at Leimakhong on the border between the Meitei-majority Imphal West and the Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi district.

The man, identified as Laishram Kamalbabu Singh who worked as a supervisor for a civilian contractor of the Military Engineering Services, went missing along with his two-wheeler on November 25.

“A combined team of the State police, Army, and paramilitary forces are trying to trace him,” Mr Singh said, claiming the State government had not been idle during the crisis Manipur is going through.

Published - November 27, 2024 09:59 pm IST