GUWAHATI: Meitei group Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) on Monday urged PM Narendra Modi to ensure the territorial integrity of the state is not disturbed.
Further, it demanded the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the deportation of illegal immigrants from Myanmar.
“The territorial integrity and the system of administration in Manipur should not be altered as the state has a glorious history. The Meiteis have been known for their sense of equity,” the COCOMI said in a representation submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office.
“Any change in the territorial integrity and administration may bring a death knell to many small tribal communities,” the organisation warned, in the wake of the “separate administration” demand raised by the state’s all 10 Kuki legislators and various Kuki organisations.
The COCOMI demanded that the illegal immigrants, including some leaders of Kuki-Zomi insurgent groups which signed the “suspension of operation” agreement and are directly involved in the conflict, be either eliminated or deported.
It said the illegal immigrants could be identified through the implementation of NRC with 1951 as the base year.
“This is to deprive illegal immigrants of being citizens though they may continue to stay as guests, if necessary, without indulging in destructive politics by creating concocted history, bombarding the media and seeking support from the left liberals to achieve what is known as a Kuki-Zomi nation (Zalengam) comprising areas from three countries,” the COCOMI wrote in the representation.
It said the conflict is neither religious nor a tribal versus non-tribal issue.
“It is a manifestation of the simmering tension over deforestation, poppy cultivation and largescale change in the demography in specific areas of the state, mainly caused by illegal immigrants from Myanmar,” the organisation said.
Meanwhile, a four-member delegation of the Kuki group Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) will meet Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Tuesday to press for various demands, including separate administration for Kukis. Shah invited the ITLF leaders for a discussion.
Another issue they will discuss is the burial of 35 bodies of tribals killed in the violence earlier. The ITLF deferred the burial following the Centre’s request. Various Meitei groups opposed the mass burial after claiming that the site of it is government land close to a village inhabited by Meiteis who have been displaced by the violence.