Manipur: Meitei body condemns Mizoram CM's opposition to Indo-Myanmar border fencing

The Meitei Heritage Society (MHS) or the Meitei Heritage Welfare Foundation, has expresses its deep concern and strong condemnation to Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma who, according to media reports, in a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi, said the fencing of the India-Myanmar border is "unacceptable."

The MHS also expressed alarmed with Lalduhoma's reported justification that border fencing is against the "dream of (Mizos) becoming a nation under one administration" and even called it an anti-India stand.

"The Chin-Kuki-Zo insurgent groups have been fighting to make an independent country, the so-called Zalengam, Kukiland, or Zoland, by breaking parts of India's Northeast, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Lalduhoma's statement, therefore, is a direct support to anti India activities aimed at breaking the territorial integrity of India, which is a serious threat to Bharat's internal and national security," said the MHS. 

The Meitei body also called the unfenced border and the Free Movement Regime as the root causes behind the Manipur unrest.

"It is a well-known fact that the long unfenced border and the Free Movement Regime (FMR) are among the main reasons for illegal immigrants, drug traffickers, and insurgents groups crossing over from Myanmar to India. They are also among the root causes of the ongoing conflict in Manipur," said the Meitei body in a press statement. 

The MHS further said that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in a May 2023 report said that 53,500 Myanmarese migrants came to Bharat between February 2021 and May 2023. It was also stated that a Manipur government committee led by Tribal Affairs and Hill Development Minister Letpao Haokip also found the refugees had set up their own villages and refused to stay in shelter homes built by the Manipur government.

The Meitei Heritage Society further said that many of these immigrants allegedly through fraudulent means made Indian identity documents, became Indian citizens, and enjoyed privileges provided by the affirmative action Scheduled Tribes (ST) policy for Indians. The organisation further said that there is an urgent need to stop this 'Indian-citizenship-and-ST-privileges-on-arrival' fraud and that border fencing is one crucial step towards that direction.

The Meitei Heritage Society has also requested Mizoram CM Lalduhoma to retract his statements and work with the central government to ensure the successful completion of the border-fencing project.