Union demand NRC in Manipur, says “illegal migrants are threats to Native People”

IMPHAL: Leaders of the UNC and the COCOMI announced on June 5 at a joint press conference at the Manipur Press Club in Imphal that they had submitted a joint memorandum to Chief Minister N Biren Singh on June 4.

The United Naga Council (UNC) and the Manipur Integrity Coordination Committee (COCOMI) have joined forces to combat the "influx of migrants and illegal immigrants in Manipur." The United Committee Manipur (UCM), the CCSK, the HERICOUN, the LIPUL, and other organisations make up the COCOMI, while the UNC is the state's apex Naga body.

“We the civil society organisations of the original native people of Manipur would like to draw your kindly attention to the pressing issue related to the unregulated inflow of migrants and illegal immigrants to Manipur state since 1947 and its threats to the native people territorially, economically and socio-politically,” said the joint memorandum of the UNC and the COCOMI to the chief minister.

The memorandum went on to say that Manipur has been experiencing an influx of "non-native people" for decades and that the "threat" is growing. Many of the current "socio-political unrests" in the state, according to the UNC and the COCOMI, are directly or indirectly the result of the influx of "migrants and illegal immigrants from neighbouring state/countries, especially Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Nepal."

The native people of Manipur, according to the memorandum, can no longer afford to remain silent because this threat has harmed the "original natives'" future security and well-being. It has also had a negative impact on native demography, social order, and geographical topography, according to the UNC and the COCOMI, which is often manifested in racial, ethnic, religious, and political tensions in the state.

"These illegal immigrants have not only illegally entered Manipur state but also continue to claim ownership over the native people's land," the UNC and COCOMI charged.

“Many unrecognised villages have been mushrooming in some specific hill districts of Manipur in the past few decades and our state government remains as silent spectator,” the memorandum said.

The first step is for the National Register of Citizenship (NRC) to scientifically identify illegal immigrants so that they can be deported and further illegal infiltration into the state can be prevented. The second point asserts that the establishment of a competent state population commission by the Manipur government as soon as possible is critical at this time.

Random village recognition must be stopped without verification, and a process of derecognition of illegal and fake villages with a cut-off base year must be put into proper regulation, according to the memorandum, "as it has become a burden and a parasite for the government exchequer, depriving the rightful share of the genuine inhabitants."

A chart depicting the number of villages in each district was then included in the memorandum. The memorandum went on to say that "the number of villages in Meiteis and Naga dominated areas remains constant."