COCOMI, UNC demand NRC, Population Commission
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, June 05 2022: Joining hands together for the first time on the issue of influx of migrants, illegal immigrants and its impact on demographic imbalance and consequences in the state, Co-ordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) and United Naga Council (UNC) submitted a joint memorandum to chief minister N Biren Singh.

Addressing a joint press conference convened in this regard at Manipur Press Club here on Sunday, COCOMI and UNC leaders said that the joint memorandum submitted to CM on Saturday urged the state government to initiate relevant process for maintaining National Register of Citizenship (NRC) to scientifically identify and push back illegal immigrants so as to check further illegal infiltration into the state and also stressed the need for having a competent State Population Commission.

Briefing media persons about the joint memorandum submitted on Saturday to CM, COCOMI coordinator L Ratankumar said that Manipur has been witnessing influx of non-native people from outside the state for the last many decades and the problem is escalating year after year.

Many of the present socio-political unrests in the state are directly or indirectly the result of influx of migrants and illegal immigrants from the neighbouring state/countries especially Myanmar, Bangladesh and Nepal.

The native people of Manipur can no longer afford to remain silent as this menace has been adversely impacting the future security and well-being of the indigenes.

It has adversely impacted the native demography, social order and geographical topography which are often manifested in racial, ethnic, religious and political tensions in the state.

According to Ratankumar, a large number of illegal immigrants are continuously migrating into the state through the porous international boundary with Myanmar apart from Bangladesh and Nepal.

These people have not only illegally entered into Manipur but also continuously keep on claiming ownership over the native people's land.

Many unrecognised villages have been mushrooming in some specific hill districts of Manipur for the last some decades and the state government remains as a silent spectator without any control over such unreasonable increase of new villages which are supposed to be the villages of illegal immigrants coming from neighbouring countries, especially from Myanmar.

He also said that the present social unrest, conflicts, chaos, and communal tensions persisting among the diverse section of the society are closely connected to demographic imbalance and land issues and hence if the present situation is allowed to continue, more serious unwanted ethnic conflicts and violence are imminent in the state.

To avert such unwanted eventualities, appropriate and timely intervention is required from the state government to ascertain the legality of such citizenships and the land-holdings, he said and stressed the need to have a scientific and reliable data on population of native people as well as bonafide citizens of the state.

He further said that CSOs of the native people of Manipur have held many rounds of discussion sessions to formulate an effective policy to address this issue for the collective good of the state and adopted and prioritized some important resolutions following these discussions.

Disclosing some important points arrived at during the last discussion session, the COCOMI functionary said that adoption of National Register of Citizenship (NRC) is immediately required to scientifically identify illegal immigrants to push them back and check further illegal infiltration into the state.

A lot of systematic work and data collection is required prior to adoption of NRC for which a competent independent body is needed so that the state government can execute necessary actions according to the recommendation and advice of such body, he said and stressed the need to set up a competent State Population Commission by state government.

According to L Ratankumar, random village recognition must be stopped Without verification and a process of de-recognising illegal and fake villages with a cut off base year must be put into proper regulation as it has become a burden and a parasite for the government exchequer and depriving the rightful share of the genuine inhabitants.

UNC president Kho John, who also attended the press conference, pointed out that number of villages in Meitei and Naga dominated areas remain constant while there has been abnormal increase of villages in Kuki inhabited areas of the state and stressed the need for examining and correcting increasing number of villages.

He said that Chandel district had only 164 villages in the year 1950-1969 but the number of villages increased to 269 in the year 2011 and 205 villages are still unrecognised.

In the same manner, number of villages in Tengnoupal increased from 68 in 1950-1969 to 168 in 2011 and 130 villages are yet to be recognised.

He also said that Kangpokpi has 304 unrecognised villages out of the total 570 villages in the district.

He also said that number of villages increased from 282 in 1950-1969 to 547 in the year 2011 and 281 villages are yet to be recognised.

In Pherzawl district too, the total number of villages increased from 38 in 1950-1969 to 70 in 2011 and 14 villages are unrecognised, he said and urged government to examine the chart and take up necessary action at the earliest.

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