IMPHAL (UCAN): “Without any discrimination, we have completed the first phase of deportation of illegal immigrants from Myanmar with 38 more immigrants leaving Manipur,” state chief minister, N Biren Singh, said in a social media post on May 2. The Indian state borders Myanmar.
“A total of 77 illegal immigrants have been deported in the first phase. One Indian national was also brought back from Myanmar during the handover ceremony,” said Singh, who runs the state government led by India’s pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party.
He said his government is “continuing the identification of illegal immigrants and at the same time biometric data are being recorded. Let’s keep our borders and country secure.”
Singh and his state government faced criticism last year for its inability to impartially control the unprecedented clashes between the majority Meitei Hindus and Kuki Christians; ongoing since May 2023 [Sunday Examiner, 14 May, 16 July 2023].
Without any discrimination, we have completed the first phase of deportation of illegal immigrants from Myanmar with 38 more immigrants leaving Manipur
Tension continues, with sporadic violence reported from different parts of the state. As of February this year, the violence had resulted in the deaths of at least 219 people and displaced over 60,000, according to published reports.
The deportations started in March as the border state began preparing for the election of its two members to the national parliament. The elections were completed on April 30.
Thousands of civilians have fled the junta violence in Myanmar, crossing into ethnic violence-hit Manipur and another north-eastern state, Mizoram. Native Mizos share ethnic bonds with Kukis and Zo people in Manipur and some segments of Chin people in Myanmar.
An estimated 30,000 Myanmese, including a large number of children and school students, have taken shelter in Mizoram since February 2021, after the junta took power through a coup [Sunday Examiner, 7 February 2021].
The government of Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, and especially his trusted home minister, Amit Shah, came under severe criticism for the ethnic clashes and assault on women in Manipur in 2023 [Sunday Examiner, 30 July 2023].
Thousands of civilians have fled the junta violence in Myanmar, crossing into ethnic violence-hit Manipur and another north-eastern state, Mizoram
In January this year, the federal government in Delhi decided to seal the open border with Myanmar. Closing the border will “mainly impact indigenous tribes” in the northeast region, such as Nagas and Mizos, most of whom are Christians and share ethnic affinity and kinship ties.
Leaders of indigenous people’s groups as well as rights activists met in Dimapur, in Nagaland state, on February 16. They condemned the decision to abolish “free movement” across the border with Myanmar.
Some from Naga claimed their livelihood was threatened because their agricultural lands were in Myanmar. They live in India but cultivate lands in Myanmar, they said.
“All these issues ought to be discussed and understood well,” said Wangnei Konyak, the chief of the border village of Longwa.
In 1950, India and Myanmar agreed to allow “natives to move freely” into each other’s territories without passports or visas along their shared 1,643-kilometre border which covers four Indian states: Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh.
The pact underwent several changes over the years and in 2004, India decided to limit free movement to just 16 kilometres.
Over 87 per cent of people in Nagaland and Mizoram are Christians, while Manipur has over 41 per cent, and Arunachal Pradesh has around 30 per cent Christians.
Biren Singh allegedly proposed fencing the border. However, the chief ministers of Nagaland and Mizoram openly opposed this.
Officials from Manipur said around 6,000 refugees from Myanmar have taken shelter in the state. Officials said Mizoram’s Champhai district, adjoining Myanmar, witnessed the most intrusions from the Chin region in February 2022—around 2,500 people.
