All 10 Kuki MLAs from Manipur, including eight from the Bharatiya Janata Party, on Friday criticised Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks in Parliament about Kukis coming from Myanmar, saying that he should furnish details behind his claims.
During a discussion on Manipur violence on Wednesday, Shah had said that after the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, an organisation named the Kuki Democratic Front had begun to put up a fight against the military leadership.
The home minister had claimed that the conflict in Myanmar led to many Kukis crossing over from Myanmar into Manipur for their safety. Shah had added that this influx led to anxieties among the majority Meitei population.
The Meiteis, who are largely concentrated in the Imphal Valley, claim that it faces difficulties due to large-scale illegal immigration by Myanmarese and Bangladeshi nationals. They are not allowed to settle in the state’s hilly areas as per existing laws. The Kukis fear that Meiteis may take over their land resources if they are given Scheduled Tribe status.
On Friday, the Kuki MLAs said that it was disheartening to see Shah claiming that the ethnic violence in Manipur was a result of the disturbance “caused by infiltration from Myanmar”.
The MLAs alleged that the “ethnic cleansing” of the Kuki people is a pre-planned attack, aimed at grabbing tribal land against constitutional provisions.
“Our people have been violently cleansed from the valley, and our colonies have been razed to the ground,” they said. “We reiterate our stand that the Central government must give recognition to this demographic segregation in the form of a separate administration through a political settlement.”
They urged Shah to furnish details of the “illegal infiltrators” from Myanmar and prove that they were part of the village defence volunteers in Kuki villages.
The MLAs also urged Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to prove his allegation that the unclaimed bodies in Imphal mortuaries were of “illegal infiltrators”, failing which he should issue an apology before the Supreme Court.
Mehta had made the claim before the Supreme Court during a hearing on the Manipur violence on August 1.
At least 187 people have been killed and nearly 60,000 have been forced to flee their homes since violence broke out between the Kuki and Meitei communities in the Northeastern state on May 3. The state has reported cases of rape and murder, and mobs have looted police armoury and set several homes on fire despite the heavy presence of central security forces.
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