Though late and not impressive to the people of Manipur, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah came out with a road map to resolve the violent conflict that has been continuing for the last 17 months since May 3, 2023.
While addressing a press conference on the completion of 100-days of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government said on September 17, 2024 among others that resolving the situation in Manipur requires dialogue between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei communities, adding that a roadmap for Manipur in the coming days is already prepared. He emphasised that the incidents in Manipur cannot be attributed as “terrorism” as it is an “ethnic violence.” The Union Home Minister also said that the government is in discussions with both the Kuki and Meitei groups, reports added.
According to reports, while responding to a question by The Hindu, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that no major incidents have been reported in the past three months apart from the three days of violence, which rocked the restive Northeastern state last week.
Amit Shah said unless there is a dialogue between hill-majority Kukis and Valley-majority Meiteis in Manipur, no solution would be reached, and hoped that the government would soon be able to control the situation.
Further, he said the government has prepared a roadmap to establish peace and that it successfully completed the deployment of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel at strategic locations across Manipur.
Responding to a question whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi would visit Manipur, an issue that has been repeatedly raised by the Opposition, the Union Home Minister said it would be known to everyone when the Prime Minister would do so.
Amit Shah informed that the government has decided to open 16 new Kendriya Police Kalyan Bhandars in Manipur to provide essential commodities to the people at reasonable prices, apart from the 21 that already existed. Explaining the significance of these stores, the Union Home Minister said, “A road was blocked there. That blockade has been removed. But due to the prevailing situation, transporters were reluctant to travel through the road. That’s why the stores have been opened for everyone, including the poor, where about 100 items, including foodgrains, will be available.”
Speaking about the achievements of the 100 days of the Modi 3.0 NDA Government, Amit Shah said the government has begun fencing the Indo-Myanmar border to check infiltration as the unfenced border is at the core of the current crisis. He added that 30 km fencing has been completed and budget has been approved to fence the entire border.
India shares a 1,643 km border with Myanmar which passes along the States of Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Nagaland (215 km), Manipur (398 km) and Mizoram (510 km).
More imortantly, the Union Home Minister also said the government has already scrapped the Indo-Myanmar Border Free Movement Regime (FMR), which allows people living close to the border between the two countries to venture 16 km into each other’s territory without any documents. He added that people would be allowed to visit each other’s territory only with a visa. The 1,643-km long Indo-Myanmar border, which passes through Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, had the FMR that was implemented in 2018 as part of India’s Act East policy.
Terming the unfenced border as the root cause of the ongoing violence in Manipur, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah disclosed that the Cabinet Committee on Security had, in principle, approved the construction of border fencing and roads along the 1,643 kilometres long international border between India and Myanmar at an approximate cost of ₹31,000 crore.
About 10 km of fencing has already been completed near Moreh before the present dispensation and work is under way to fence another 21 km of the border in other areas of Manipur altogether covering about 30 kilometers.
However, reports revealed that the Central Government has decided to temporarily halt fencing work in Kuki-Zomi-dominated areas of Manipur. According to sources, a meeting with senior officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) concluded that fencing in Kuki-populated hill regions will be delayed, with work continuing in other areas along the border.
Reports also quoted The Indian Express that the focus has now shifted to regions with Naga populations, where the fencing work will be prioritized and completed first as told by the MHA sources.
It may be mentioned that the Kuki-Zomi organizations have been vehemently opposing the border fencing, arguing that it undermines the ‘Free Movement Regime’ (FMR), which permits residents living within 16 kilometers of the border on either side to cross without a visa and remain for up to two weeks.
“The decision was made in response to concerns raised by the Kuki community, which primarily resides in border areas. While their demands have been considered, fencing in these areas will be completed at a later stage,” a top-level official told ‘News18’, reports added.
Initially, the government had planned to accelerate fencing efforts in Kuki-dominated regions to curb infiltration, but opposition from Kuki-Zo groups prompted a reassessment. In Manipur sector, the Indo-Myanmar border stretches 398 kilometers across five districts of Manipur – Churachandpur, Chandel, Kamjong, Tengnoupal and Ukhrul.
Reacting to the Central Government’s reported decision to temporarily halt fencing of Indo-Myanmar border in Kuki-Zomi dominated areas of Manipur, the civil society organizations (CSOs) in Manipur particularly the United Committee Manipur (UCM) and the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) separately denounced the decision of the Central Government even though they welcomed the decision to fence the entire stretch of international border.
The UCM has strongly reacted to the Central Government’s reported decision and urged the Government of India to review its decision at the earliest. Addressing a press conference at its office in Imphal on September 19, UCM President YK Dhiren said that the UCM, the apex body various CSOs welcomed the Centre’s decision to fence the Indo-Myanmar border. However, they were against the decision to put on hold the fencing work in border areas dominated by the Kukis. He said that the said areas bordering Chin state and Sagaing region of Myanmar were areas where a high number of infiltration of illegal immigrants occurred.
The government must give priority in fencing the areas instead of halting the work, he said.
Given the prevailing crisis in the state with an unchecked influx of illegal immigrants and cross border drug trafficking as the root cause, first priority should be given to the porous borders where security forces were hard to check infiltration of illegal immigrants and cross border drug trafficking, he said.
He questioned the Centre has a hidden agenda behind putting on hold the fencing work at the border which is the root cause of the problem which Manipur is facing today. If the Central Government was sincere enough to resolve the crisis unfolding in the state, these areas must be fenced first, he said, adding that unless it is done, it will make no sense.
Like wise, another apex body of CSOs in Manipur, the COCOMI ahs also strongly reacted to the report of halting the fencing work Kuki dominated border areas asserting that the reports had totally contradicted with the Centre’s claim of putting efforts to resolve the ongoing crisis in Manipur.
In a statement, the COCOMI on September 19 stated that both the State and the Central Governments have no ground to deny that the present turmoil in the State was created by immigrants and narco-terrorists who infiltrated Manipur’s territory taking advantage of the porous international border.
There was enough evidence to support COCOMI’s claim, the statement said, adding that the border fencing must be focused primarily at Kuki dominated border areas if the Centre and the state governments were committed to resolving the ongoing crisis in the state.
So long as infiltration of illegal immigrants was effectively checked and Assam Rifles were removed completely from the state, any efforts to bring back peace and normalcy will remain futile, it added.
Consequently and not surprisingly, the Zomi Cheifs’ Association in response to the statement of the UCM, sent out an open letter on September 20, urging the UCM to mind its own business and focus on the affairs of the valley, where the UCM has enough to conted with, and leave the Zo people and their lands alone adding that they are more than capable of managing their own affairs without interference from outsiders.
Like wise, the Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) also on September 20 issued a press release rebutting the statement of the UCM.
“The KIM firmly rejects the misleading narrative propagated by the United Committee Manipur (UCM) that illegal immigration is the root cause of the ongoing violence in Manipur. This is a deliberate attempt to deflect attention from the real issue – the state-sponsorded ethnic cleansing of Kuki-Zo people. The violence that has ravaged the state for over 16 months is a direct consequence of deep-seated ethnic hatred, not the cross border movement of immigrants,” the release said.
Notably, the ongoing violent conflict between the Kuki-Zomi militants and the Meiteis has claimed at least 237 lives since May 3, 2023. More than 60,000 people have been displaced from their homes and languishing in relief camps for over 16 months.
However, considering developing context of the conflict, it is obvious that the Central Government’s approach towards border fencing in Manipur-Myanmar sector has added another dimension of conflict. And the Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s road map to resolve the violent conflict hits the border fencing dragging the stakeholders into another layer of conflict.
Senior Editor: Imphal Review of Arts and Politics
