NRC, no separate Kuki admin, curbs on Assam Rifles: 40 Manipur MLAs submit demands to PM Modi

The 10 Kuki MLAs in the Manipur Assembly and Congress legislators were not part of the delegation, which was meant to be a “show of strength’’ by the N Biren Singh-led state BJP government, said sources.

A member of the delegation told The Indian Express: “The Central government is well aware of the situation in Manipur. This show of strength was mostly for the people of Manipur as well as the people of the country – to show that Manipur stands united. If you see, Naga as well as Muslim leaders were part of the delegation. There has been much talk of how the violence in Manipur is valley vs hills, Meiteis vs tribals. The composition of the delegation shows that this is most certainly not the case.”

The MLA added: “What has happened in Manipur was never against the tribal people, it was just one community that was involved in the violence. It was important for us to deliver that message.”

According to the MLAs, their demands deal with “the concerns surrounding the prevailing security situation in Manipur’’ and advocate “a multi-pronged approach to restore peace and stability’’.

The memorandum says that “the simple deployment of forces’’ is inadequate and “the confiscation of all weapons belonging to insurgent groups and illegal armed foreign forces and those snatched from the state machinery needs to be carried out’’.

The memorandum though is silent on whether the demand for disarmament is for the Kuki-Zomi insurgent groups which are in an SoO agreement with the government, or for the Naga and Meitei groups as well. While the Naga groups are under a ceasefire agreement with the Indian government, the Meitei groups have no such agreement and remain operational.

“There have been numerous instances of farmers going out to work their fields (to subsist) only to be fired upon by militants in elevated positions. The weapons that are being used… are sophisticated military grade arms,’’ says the memorandum.

Meitei community women block a road during a demonstration against the Assam Rifles, in Imphal, Aug. 7, 2023. (PTI Photo)

Targeting the Assam Rifles, against whom the Manipur Police recently filed an FIR, with the BJP too seeking their removal, the memorandum says: “In many cases, firing incidents have occurred in the presence of central security forces… This has led to a loss of faith in these forces and the buildup of public resentment… the Assam Rifles (9, 22 and 37) need to be transferred from their present location… while trustworthy central forces along with state security can replace them to sanitize and neutralize the whole area of any and all threats.”

On the SoO agreement, the Manipur MLAs have demanded its withdrawal with all those groups “which have violated ground rules”. “There has been large-scale foreign infiltration with arms and ammunition… There has been a non-stop conflict between the state / central forces and these insurgent armed groups… The source and funding of these sophisticated arms and ammunition needs to be investigated,” the memorandum says.

A member of the delegation said: “We are not saying that the SoO be ended with all groups… but only those which have been violating the
ground rules, which include flaunting and using their sophisticated weapons, and not staying in their designated camps. Once the SoO is
withdrawn, then the Indian security forces will be able to engage with them. The designated camps will also cease to exist, and since many of these camps are located close to camps of the Army or the Assam Rifles, this is problematic for us.”

The MLAs have further demanded implementation of an NRC and biometric registration of illegal immigrants – a process that has already been started.

The memorandum also says that a separate administration, as demanded by the Kuki-Zomi tribes, “is absolutely unacceptable under any circumstances’’. Instead, the delegation has recommended that the existing Autonomous District Councils be strengthened.

Elections to these ADCs have not taken place for the past seven years, and sources said they have become defunct. The ADCs are meant to give the tribals a degree of autonomy over their areas.

After the memorandum submitted by the 40 MLAs, the 10 Kuki MLAs of the state, cutting across party lines, wrote to the PM, urging him not to withdraw the Assam Rifles as it “could jeopardise the security of the tribals”.

In their memorandum, the Kuki-Zo-Hmar MLAs told Modi that the Assam Rifles had stood the test of time and did their work without prejudice or bias in Manipur. “At the same time, we humbly pray to you to control the state forces, curtail their powers and give direction to not violate the Buffer Zones manned by the central paramilitary forces.”

The tribal MLAs also described as a “worrisome trend” the fact that the Manipur Police has started removing Assam Rifles posts from key areas and lodging “false and fabricated” FIRs against the force.

The Assam Rifles was being “falsely blamed by the Meiteis” as they“safeguard humanity, are compassionate yet firm in handling tense
situations and are unbiased”, the tribal MLAs said.

Locals gather near Kuki-Zo community’s houses which were burnt down by miscreants in the violence-hit Manipur, in imphal, Aug 1, 2023. (PTI Photo)

In a separate statement, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) of Manipur, a delegation of which met Union Home Minister Amit Shah Wednesday, said that tribals and Kuki-Zo community members felt let down by Shah’s comments in the Lok Sabha on Manipur during the no-confidence motion.

Listing the scale of the violence in Manipur, the ITLF said: “And the best explanation that the Home Minister can come up with is the entry of refugees from Myanmar.”

It noted that Mizoram had welcomed more than 40,000 refugees from Myanmar and displaced people from Manipur, “and it is still the most peaceful state in India”.