Update NRC to resolve issue : COCOMI

By Our Staff Reporter
Imphal, Jan 19 : Amid tense situations in ethnic-strife-hit Manipur, the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) has raised the demand to implement NRC in the State to identify illegal immigrants from Myanmar and urged the Centre to complete fencing along the India-Myanmar border at the earliest to stop illegal immigration and trafficking of arms and drugs.
Addressing the media today, co-ordinator of COCOMI Th Somorendro said, "NRC needs to be implanted (in Manipur) to identify illegal immigrants. Refugee detention camps for Myanmarese people must not be confined to Manipur only. The State has limited land resources. The camps should also be set up in other States."
Highlighting grave concerns about illegal immigration and smuggling, he said, Somorendro said, "Illegal immigration, arms and drugs smuggling from Myanmar into Manipur remains core issues of the conflict in the State."
"The situation has hardly improved in the State. There are no signs of any action being taken. Among the various cases, the killing of three women and three children by Kuki and Hmar militants in Jiribam district in November last year and the disappearance of a man from an army camp at Leimakhong in Kangpokpi district remains unaddressed," he added.
COCOMI also accused the Government of India (GoI) of treating Manipur like a sacrificial lamb for its geopolitical interests.
The Centre hasn't taken up any sincere initiative to resolve the crisis besetting Manipur since May 3, 2023, said Somorendro.
The Indian Government even compromised the killing of Central security personnel by Kuki narco terrorists, he claimed.
Saying that the Centre hasn't uttered a single word of condemnation about the ghaslty murder of three Meetei women and three children including a toddler in Jiribam, drone bombings by Kuki narco-terrorists and disappearance of Laishram Kamalbabu from inside Leimakhong Army base, Somorendro maintained that the GoI seemingly doesn't take people
 of Manipur as fellow Indians.
He asked why the GoI is still not declaring the Kuki groups which have been attacking and killing civilians without any remorse as unlawful organisations.  
India's internal politics is the driving force of the unrest in Manipur, he said and claimed that GoI has been using the Chin-Kuki narco-terrorists to suppress the armed political movement of Meiteis and Nagas, counter China and make the Kaladan project successful.
GoI has been sowing discord among the people as their scheme to suppress insurgency in Manipur failed, he charged.
On what ground did India sign a Suspension of Operation (SoO) pact with a Myanmar based group, Somorendro asked.
Are the Central leaderships unaware of the involvement of Chin Kuki narco terrorists in poppy cultivation to fund their separatist movements, including the Zalengam movement, he further asked.
Manipur is in a restive situation till today because the GoI has a hand in the crisis, the COCOMI leader charged and urged the GoI to stop treating Manipur like its occupied territory.
The conflict won't end as long as India protects the Kuki  narco terrorists, he said.
He, meanwhile, urged the GoI to implement the National Register of Citizens, identify the illegal immigrants and stop
poppy plantations in Manipur.