In order to “deport” them to neighboring Myanmar, a Christian tribe called Manipur claims the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi erroneously labels them as “illegal refugees.”
The deputy minister of Manipur, N Biren Singh, claimed on Wednesday that his administration has identified 5, 457 “illegal immigrants” in Manipur and initiated the “deportation method” against them.
” In this critical moment, we have observed some domestic organizations from outside of northern nations criticizing the measures taken to combat illegal immigration by adopting a communal tone and portraying it as a violation of religious freedom,” Singh remarked.
He claimed:
Unfortunately, this hall is silent about northern nations ‘ stance against illegal emigration, but raises concerns to the actions taken in Manipur, India. This slew of outrage raises questions about the advertising and agendas these groups have in common with rebel tendencies.
Singh insisted that deporting these “illegal immigrants” was vital to the” preservation of indigenous people”. He added that his management has taken care to provide humanitarian aid to the fugitives despite the “alarming” position.
India’s NDTV suspected Singh was complaining about the North American Manipur Tribal Association ( NAMTA ), a Texas- based no- income determined to “perpetuate, protect, and preserve the history of the citizens of the hills- nations of Manipur”.
NAMTA testified in front of the United States Congress on May 6 that Manipur’s Hindu nationalist group, under the current leadership, is abusing the Christian nations there and violating their spiritual liberation.
In general, Manipur is divided between the Meitei, a majority Christian community in the hills, and the Kuki, a minority Hindu tribe.
The Meitei, who are obviously the province’s largest population, demanded admittance to the same minority programs that the hills tribes had much simmered over. In the following month, Manipur has repeatedly come close to a full-fledged civil conflict. Entire Christian settlements were burned to the ground, displacing thousands of residents.
In front of a burned-out church in Manipur, India, on May 8, 2023, an Indian army soldier ( R ) and villagers ( R ) stand. ( ARUN SANKAR/AFP via Getty )
Modi was criticized harshly by the Indian criticism for ignoring the issue, while Manipur’s Christians accused the BJP government of actively supporting the Meitei. Singh generally railed against “militant organizations” and “terrorists” but Kukis had the distinct feeling he was n’t talking about the Meitei crowds.
Prior to the 1972 formally enactment of Manipur as a state in 1972, Burma ( now Myanmar ) held the land there until 1949 when India annexed it. The Modi state frequently complains about medicine fields being established in the hills and fraudulently importing people from Myanmar.
Kuki activists, such as NAMTA, say those people may be treated as refugees fleeing from spiritual tyranny in Myanmar. The Buddhist patriots who rule Myanmar are infamous for putting the Rohingya Muslims on the verge of murder, as well as brutally murdering Christian nations.
The mind of NAMTA’s American book, Lien Gangte, told Congress his family became internally displaced after the protests in Manipur’s investment of Imphal in May 2023, and some Meiteis joined the Kukis in fleeing from the crime.
We still do n’t know when or how our problems will ever be resolved, my family says after more than a year of losing everything. Will we ever get justice”? Gangte said.
” My people have been subjected to ethnic cleansing”, he said. ” It had become an existential crisis, and we had to fight for survival”.
During a sit-in against the killing of tribals in their northeastern home state of Manipur, New Delhi, India, on May 29, 2023, a Kuki tribal woman breaks down while recounting the ordeal of her escape after her village was destroyed. ( Manish Swarup/AP )
The Modi government “decided to take sides with the majority Hindu Meiteis,” according to Gangte, until Christian tribes and their international supporters persuaded the government to “fulfill its constitutional duties” and “provide basic security and justice to our people.”
These incidents in Manipur “mark a broader, widespread pattern of deteriorating religious freedom conditions throughout India,” according to Commissioner David Curry of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom ( USCIRF), who also attended the congressional hearing.
Members of Catholic Association organized a march for Manipur seeking peace in Manipur at Park Street, on July 16, 2023 in Kolkata, India. ( Samir Jana/Hindustan Times via Getty )
The Indian government has obviously made the decision to respond to the allegations that Christians are being treated as illegal aliens by attacking NAMTA and other Christian organizations as allies of the Khalistani Movement, a Sikh separatist movement, in order to destabilize India. India is accused of organizing the assassination of Khalistani activists on foreign soil by both Canada and the US.
NDTV made an effort to directly connect Gangte to” Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar,” who was allegedly assassinated by Indian government agents in Canada in June. The Indian government began blocking NAMTA’s social media accounts last year after “intelligence agencies” began monitoring the group’s “alarming” activities.
” India has been repeatedly defamed and the country’s reputation on the international stage,” said the NAMTA members. They have become more aggressive, coincidentally, when the Lok Sabha elections are going on”, an unnamed Indian official told NDTV.
” We have been monitoring them. According to the official,” their activities are getting closer to groups that work to sabotage India’s standing in the world.”
Indian officials also criticized the recent report from the U.S. State Department, calling it a “deeply biased” document that “reflects a very poor understanding of India,” and suggested that the real cause of the violence in Manipur was the Indian police’s denial of the Kukis ‘ desperately needed income.
On May 3rd, Christians held a religious prayer service at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in New Delhi to mark the one-year anniversary of the Manipur riots. Black-clad Kuki refugees led the service by conducting a candlelight procession and singing hymns.
” The Church, the civil society, and others are trying their best to offer consolation and relief to the affected. We ask that those who have been displaced return to their homes. Let the lights we hold dispel darkness and hatred from the minds and inspire all to live in peace, harmony, and brotherhood”, Delhi Archbishop Anil J. Couto, secretary- general of the Catholic Bishops ‘ Conference of India, said at the gathering.
Our hearts are heavy with the suffering that the people of Manipur have endured as a result of our collective solemn candlelight prayer, according to Divine Word Missionary Priest Father Father Norbert Herman, the event’s organizer.  ,” For a year now, violence has marred their lives, casting shadows of fear and uncertainty in their path. In this hour of darkness, we stand in solidarity, offering our prayers as beacons of hope to illuminate their journey toward healing and peace”.
The Global Meitei Alliance ( GMA ), a separate outreach organization, serves the Meitei. The group requested on Thursday that the UN look into satellite images that purport to show large opium poppy fields in Kuki-controlled hill countries as well as allegations that American institutions are providing weapons to Kuki militants.
GMA” strongly condemned” NAMTA’s testimony in front of Congress as a “blatant distortion of facts and deceitful tales surrounding the ongoing mayhem in Manipur.”
GMA demanded that institutions like USCIRF reject claims that Christian minorities are being persecuted in Manipur as being” categorically false” and that NAMTA be a “fringe Kuki group” that was “falsely propagating propaganda.
The Meitei alliance said the real story in Manipur is that Kuki “expansionists” are trying to create a secessionist state called” Zale’n- gam” by “balkanizing the established territories of India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh, with Manipur as the epicenter”.
