Incursion from across the border 20,000 in 1967-1969
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Back on May 23, 2002, a certain Mr Paolienlal Haokip wrote in a publication of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies that during the Burmanisation programme of Ne Win in 1967-1969, a number of refugees made their way into the North Eastern States of India. In Manipur alone 20,000 Kukis entered and this is besides people from other tribes who made their way into Nagaland and Mizoram. Mr Haokip did not stop there and to quote him, ‘This forcible evacuation was heightened after the Democratic uprising in Burma in 1988..the numbers were smaller than in 1967-1969 but included other Burmese groups, eg, students and National League for Democracy (NLD) activists, Kachin and Shan student activists and members of various minority insurgent groups in Burma.’ The 1967-1969 incident is nearly 60 years ago and God knows how many of the 20,000 Kukis actually went back home to Burma or Myanmar as it is now known but this is the account given by a Haokip, and not The Sangai Express. In the same article, Mr Haokip went on to say that some of the ‘immigrants’ became easy ‘recruits for various insurgent organisations operating in the region. Secondly, some of them, especially women, resorted to smuggling as it provides (ed) a lucrative income...thirdly some among them took to drugs and arms trafficking across the border which is the other ‘get-rich-quick’ formula available to them. Thus, unintended, the refugees in the Indo-Myanmar border have become agents of factors antithetical to the National interests of both countries.’ Immigrants with the tag illegal, drugs, arms smuggling, agents of factors antithetical to the interests of both India and Myanmar, and here is a Haokip gentleman who told a fundamental truth more than 20 years back and which would have its impact on Manipur in 2026 starting from 2023. This was what was said more than 20 years back and fast forward to 2023 and it is there on record to show that a Cabinet Sub-Committee set up by the State Government in February detected 2480 illegal immigrants before it was halted after the May 3, 2023 violence erupted. Again in line with instructions from the Union Home Ministry on May 29, 2023 a campaign to collect the biometric and biographic data was launched in 100 villages of Chandel during which 1165 illegals were found in Chandel, 1,147 in 13 villages of Tengnoupal, 154 in Churachandpur and others in Kamjong district. Statistics compiled by a young researcher and which was published by Ukhrul Times and which was also carried in The Sangai Express.
These are the figures which have been detected and which have made it to the news, but how many unaccounted immigrants are there ? This question should be understood in the backdrop of the growing call for a mechanism to identify and weed out all the illegals. And it is against this backdrop that the decision of the Centre to set up a High Level Committee on Demographic Changes gains credence for a place like Manipur, which has for long been witnessing the rise of numerous unaccounted human settlements and the rapid rise in the population of the Kuki-Zo community. A truism which is reflected so well in the number of representatives sent to the Manipur Legislative Assembly. Back in 1957 when Manipur had a Territorial Council, there were 7 MLAs to represent the Kuki-Paite people. In the 1975 Assembly elections, Kukis won 8 out of 19 seats in the hills while in 1980 there were 8 Kuki MLAs, out of the 19 seats reserved for the STs. Since then it has been a steady climb in the number of representatives the Kuki-Zo get to send to the Assembly, is the line of argument put forth by the young Naga researcher and today there are ten Kuki MLAs and ten Naga MLAs. It is against this backdrop that the decision of the Centre to set up the High Level Committee on Demographic Changes should be seen and acted upon. One year is the time given to the Committee to submit its report and while Chief Minister Y Khemchand has hailed the step, it remains to be seen how effectively the State Government is able to present the statistics. The spadework should start now.
These are the figures which have been detected and which have made it to the news, but how many unaccounted immigrants are there ? This question should be understood in the backdrop of the growing call for a mechanism to identify and weed out all the illegals. And it is against this backdrop that the decision of the Centre to set up a High Level Committee on Demographic Changes gains credence for a place like Manipur, which has for long been witnessing the rise of numerous unaccounted human settlements and the rapid rise in the population of the Kuki-Zo community. A truism which is reflected so well in the number of representatives sent to the Manipur Legislative Assembly. Back in 1957 when Manipur had a Territorial Council, there were 7 MLAs to represent the Kuki-Paite people. In the 1975 Assembly elections, Kukis won 8 out of 19 seats in the hills while in 1980 there were 8 Kuki MLAs, out of the 19 seats reserved for the STs. Since then it has been a steady climb in the number of representatives the Kuki-Zo get to send to the Assembly, is the line of argument put forth by the young Naga researcher and today there are ten Kuki MLAs and ten Naga MLAs. It is against this backdrop that the decision of the Centre to set up the High Level Committee on Demographic Changes should be seen and acted upon. One year is the time given to the Committee to submit its report and while Chief Minister Y Khemchand has hailed the step, it remains to be seen how effectively the State Government is able to present the statistics. The spadework should start now.