In a historic move, the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) and United Naga Council (UNC) have joined hands and unanimously resolved to fight together against continuous influx of migrants in the state.
As an initial step, they jointly submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Saturday which primarily focuses on implementation of rules and regulation on restriction of non-local entry.
During a press conference at Manipur Press Club on Sunday, co-ordinator of COCOMI, L Ratankumar singh said that there is constant influx of migrants from neighbouring countries, particularly from Myanmar and other states of India. Considering it a major reason to create demographic imbalance in the state and a threat to indigenous population, COCOMI and UNC resolved, after a series of meetings, to fight for it for the sake of future generations, he said.
He also informed that they had demanded adopting the National Register of Citizenship (NRC) to scientifically identify illegal immigrants, formation of state population commission and de-recognising of illegal and fake villages putting a cut-off base year.
Ratan informed that as per reliable source, in the five hill districts of Manipur, the number of villages has been increased manifold; that in 950-1969, number of recognised villages in Chandel was 164, Tengnoupal with 68, Kangpokpi with 179, Churachandpur with 282 and Pherzawl with 38. However, in 2011 the number of recognised villages shot to 269 in Chandel, 168 in Tengnoupal, 570 in Kangpokpi, 547 in Churachandpur and 70 in Pherzawl. Besides this, at present, the number of un-recognised villages is 205 in Chandel, 130 in Tengnoupal, 304 in Kangpokpi, 281 in Churachandpur and 14 in Pherzawl, Ratan noted.
The present social unrest, conflicts, chaos and communal tensions between various communities is closely connected to demographic imbalance and land issues, the COCOMI Co-ordinator said, adding that to end this problem, there is need to produce scientific and reliable data on the population of native people as well as bonafide citizens of the state.
While appealing to people of the state not to distort history of the state in their vested interest, he said that Manipur is inhabited by various communities having a long history. Any communities should not even think about manipulating the history of Manipur, Ratan said and warned that as defenders of illegal migrants, COCOMI and UNC will take such kind of distortion very seriously.
President of UNC, Kho John also said that the given above data shows that there is a relentless increase of migrants in the state. Rise in the number of villages in hill districts even led to the loss of the power and rights of the original chieftain of the village, he said.
He further said that the joint move taken up by COCOMI and UNC would surely help to restrict uncontrollable influx of migrants. There is high expectation that the government would surely do the needful to translate their demand into action, John said, adding that their initiative is for the sake of future generations.
