IDPs join call to defer census

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Apr 3: Internally Displaced Persons have joined the collective voice to first identify and deport illegal immigrants before carrying out census operations in the State.
Together with members of the Campaign for Just & Fair Delimitation (CJFD), IDPs staged a protest demonstration at Sajiwa relief camp today.
The protesters demanded the Government to carry out census operations only after all the IDPs are resettled at their original places, and all the illegal immigrants are identified and deported from the State.
Speaking at the sit-in-protest, CJFD convenor Jeetendra Ningomba said that IDPs from Ikou, Dolaithabi etc have been facing extreme hardships in relief camps.
Even though the Government has been claiming that violence has ceased and peace has returned, the hardships faced by IDPs have not eased a bit from the initial days of the violence. Their situation is no different from the initial days of the widespread violence, he said.
Whereas a large number of people have been indulging in entertainment and merry-making programmes like Thabal Chongba, musical concerts etc till late night, the IDPs have been living in small, crammed rooms without any reading space for students, he said.
It is a matter of grave concern that the Government has been preparing to carry out census operations on the false ground that there is peace and stability in the State, he remarked.
Asking how officials would conduct house listing of IDPs whose houses had been burnt down, the CJFD convenor pointed out that houses of tens of thousands of IDPs from Moreh, Churachandpur, Kangpokpi and other places had been pulled apart or burnt down.
On the other hand, illegal immigrants, emboldened by their growing number, have started demanding their own homeland and Separate Administration. They are directly challenging the territorial integrity of Manipur, he said.
He called upon all the people to support and join the mass movement for deferring the scheduled census operations until illegal immigrants are identified and deported.
Some IDPs who took part in the protest demonstration said, “We have been living like refugees in our own homeland following a premeditated and sustained aggression by illegal immigrants. The illegal immigrants have their hands in many of the untoward incidents witnessed in the State.”
They went on to ask how house listing and population enumeration would be carried out when thousands of IDPs have neither houses nor house numbers.
One Khoirom Dhamen, co-convenor of the apex committee of IDPs from Ikou village, expressed keen desire for the authorities to carry out census operations in a just and fair manner only after all the IDPs have been resettled at their original villages.
He urged the Government not to carry out census operations when IDPs have been taking refuge in relief camps, away from their homes.
Dhamen said that IDPs will contribute at their best level in the struggle to protect Manipur from illegal immigrants and make it a peaceful and progressive State.
Sougrakpam Sumati of CJFD underscored the need for all to launch a strong mass movement in order to ensure that the census operations are carried out in a just and fair manner.
“We must see that the census operations are carried out only after all the IDPs are resettled at their original homes. Let us ensure that the census exercise is conducted after all the illegal immigrants are identified and deported”, she said.