Meitei people start exiting Mizoram amid rising tension

GUWAHATI, Jul 22
Meitei people living and working in Mizoram started exiting the northeastern State on July 22 following an alleged diktat by an organisation of former extremists to leave for their “own safety”.
Officials of airline agencies operating flights to and from Lengpui, the airport near Mizoram’s capital Aizawl, said about 60 people took flights to Imphal’s Tulihal airport. An unspecified number of Meitei people are said to have left Aizawl and other parts of Mizoram by buses and taxis.
According to a Manipur Government estimate, there are about 2,000 Meiteis in Mizoram, including teachers at Mizoram University. Half of them are from Manipur while the other half are primarily from southern Assam.
The Mizoram Government had beefed up security in Aizawl after the Peace Accord MNF Returnees’ Association (PAMRA) issued a statement on July 21 saying Mizoram was no longer safe for the Meiteis in view of the mounting tension following the “barbaric and heinous acts committed by miscreants in Manipur”.
The PAMRA’s perceived threat was with reference to a viral video showing a Meitei mob parading two naked Kuki women at B Phainom village in Mani-pur’s Kangpokpi district. The incident happened on May 4.
Mizos and Kukis are ethnically related, as are the Chins of Myanmar and the Chin-Kukis of Bangladesh.
The video was also cited by Mizoram’s Deputy Inspector General of Police, Lallianmawia, in a letter to the Commandants of two Mizoram Armed Battalions and an Indian Reserve Battalion. He said the safety of the Meitei people in Aizawl should be ensured in view of the outrage over the video.
Mizoram’s Home Commissioner, H. Lalengmawia, held a meeting with the leaders of PAMRA on Saturday, seeking a clarification on the statement they had issued purportedly to threaten the Meiteis.
“The PAMRA representatives said their state- ment was an advisory requesting the Meiteis living in Mizoram to exercise caution in the light of public sentiments regarding the ongoing conflict in Manipur and was not a diktat or a quit notice to the Meiteis,” a Mizoram Government spokesperson said.
The PAMRA representatives expressed regret that their statement was misconstrued and decided not to do anything that would affect peace and tranquillity in the State, the spokesperson said.
“We also met with representatives of the All Mizoram Manipuri Association and assured them of their safety and security, and persuaded them to inform their fellow Meiteis, both government employees and students, not to leave the State,” Mr. Lalengmawia said.
Officials said a total of 12,584 Chin-Kuki-Zo people from Manipur took refuge in Mizoram till July 21. The  Hindu