Manipur CM Biren Singh reacts on ‘Kuki-Zo unification proposal’, says no one can touch…

Imphal: Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Thursday said that no person can touch India and Manipur’s integrity, adding that anyone difficult it would get a befitting reply. Biren Singh said this while reacting to reports of his Mizoram counterpart Lalduhoma proposing unification of Kuki-Zo under a single leadership. In step with reports, the Mizoram Chief Minister made the remarks while addressing a Kuki diaspora gathering within the United States on September four.

Lalduhoma, President of the ruling Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), reportedly announced his improve for uniting Kuki and similar ethnic groups under a single leadership and nationhood, while it meant transcending the prevailing border between India, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

The Manipur Chief Minister said: “I don’t would have to make any comment on his (Lalduhoma) observation. Nevertheless, as a proud Indian, as Chief Minister of Manipur and as a nationalist, I'm going to say that no person can touch India’s integrity. Nobody can touch Manipur’s integrity. India is now no longer a small but a giant u.s.. We be comfortable with being Indian. “We might stand for India, and we would stand for the solidarity and integrity of Bharat. It is able to be a ways our duty to maintain Bharat strong and united. Anyone difficult this might be given a befitting reply.”

Notably, Mizoram has provided refuge to over 30,000 Myanmarese nationals, and that they are currently living in different camps, government buildings and rented houses in all eleven districts of Mizoram. The state, which shares a 510-km-long border with Myanmar and 318 km with Bangladesh, also provided refuge to over 2,000 tribals from Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh. Mizoram also sheltered around 7,800 refugees belonging to the Kuki-Zo community, who fled to the state from neighbouring Manipur after the ethnic violence broke out within the state in May last year.

The Myanmarese nationals took refuge in Mizoram in phases after the military takeover within the conflict-ridden u.s. in February 2021, while Bangladeshi tribals also took refuge in Mizoram from November 2022 after they fled from their villages in CHT following ethnic troubles within the neighbouring u.s..

The refugees from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Manipur belong to the Kuki-Zo-Chin-Hmar-Bawm tribal community who also share ethnic, traditional, cultural and linguistic ties with the Mizos of Mizoram. Mizoram’s ruling ZPM and opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) have been expressing team spirit with the violence-hit Kuki-Zo people of Manipur.

The previous Mizoram government led by MNF had strongly opposed the Centre’s advice now no longer to supply refuge to the Myanmar refugees. Following the ethnic clashes in Manipur and previous to assembly polls in Mizoram, Zo unification has change right into a essential electoral issue in last year’s November 7 assembly election in Mizoram. Zo unification means bringing all ethnic communities — Mizos of Mizoram, Kuki-Zos of Manipur, Chin tribe of Myanmar and Bangladesh – under one administrative umbrella.

An infinite hill area of Manipur, adjoining Mizoram, is inhabited by the Kuki-Zo community. Ten tribal Manipur MLAs, seven of them belonging to the ruling BJP, have been demanding a separate administration or a Union Territory in Manipur for the tribals. The ethnic violence between the non-tribals Meiteis and tribal Kuki-Zo broke out within the northeastern state on May three last year after a ‘Tribal Team spirit March’ turn into organised within the hill districts to protest the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.