Migrant menace jolts Manipur

Imphal, Dec. 4: Assam was galvanised into action over two decades ago, Tripura realised it when it was too late and Manipur has just woken up to it.

The organisation that spearheaded the momentous June uprising in Manipur has come out with a comprehensive demographic study that chides ethnic groups for targeting one another while ignoring a silent invasion that could lead to migrants constituting as much as half of the state?s population in 30 years? time.

The influential United Council, Manipur (UCM), had constituted a 13-member team, including Manipur University teachers and an official from the central government?s census directorate, for the study.

The 231-page report, titled Influx of Migrants into Manipur: A Threat to the Indigenous Ethnic People, was the result of a minute analysis of census reports and statistical handbooks published by the statistics and economics department. Koijam Sethajit, a lecturer in political science at Imphal College and a member of the study team, described the report as an indictment of political patronage of migrants.

According to the report, the majority of these migrants are from neighbouring countries such as Myanmar, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Shethajit said it was a shame that various ethnic groups were locked in conflict even as a common but invincible threat was taking shape in the form of influx.

?In 30 years? time, all the ethnic groups will be either marginalised or wiped out. The issue of territorial integrity or other such agendas will then be rendered meaningless,? he said. ?The people of the Northeast should join hands to fight against influx.?

Ironically, the UCM?s campaign to ?safeguard? the state?s territory has brought it in direct confrontation with the Naga community, which has been fighting for the integration of all Naga-inhabited areas of the Northeast. The June uprising was the fallout of the erstwhile Atal Bihari Vajpayee?s decision to extend Delhi?s ceasefire with the militant NSCN (I-M) beyond Nagaland territory.

The UCM-commissioned report states that as many as 99 per cent of the hawkers registered with the Imphal Municipal Council are not ?indigenous people?.

The organisation?s president-in-charge Konsam Langamba said copies of the report would be sent to Delhi and the Okram Ibobi Singh government with a request to take immediate steps to protect the indigenous people from ?impending doom?. He said a copy of the report had been already mailed to a parliamentarian of the Netherlands, who would submit it to the United Nations.

Accusing politicians for allowing the influx for political gains, the study team said the floodgates were opened in 1950, when the Foreigner Permit System introduced by Manipur?s Kings was withdrawn after Manipur became a part of the Indian Union. It criticised the Centre for lifting the Foreigner Permit System and refusing to introduce the Inner Line Permit system in Manipur.

The UCM is preparing to generate awareness among the people about the impending danger and also launch a campaign against the influx.

Khumujam Ratan Kumar Singh, the associate editor of the report, warned that with the introduction of the new Look East policy and introduction of trans-Asian highways and railways, more migrants would enter Manipur.

Tripura?s indigenous populations became minorities in their own state following largescale migration from other parts of the country and the influx of Bengali refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan. This led to the formation of the two main militant outfits of the state, the All Tripura Tiger Force and the National Liberation Front of Tripura.

Assam, too, witnessed an anti-foreigner agitation that culminated in the signing of the historic Assam Accord of 1985.