People’s Action for Protection of People of Manipur (PAPPM) has addressed a memorandum to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking a complete NRC/NRIC exercise in Manipur and also seeking a historic audit of migration and citizenship pertaining to the entry of people from Burma into Manipur.
According to the PAPPM president Mayanglambam Bobby Meetei, records maintained by the union government and Manipur government raise doubts about the nationality of these people and about their rehabilitation and settlement after their entry into Manipur in 1967 from Burma.
According to a Ministry of Home Affairs record dated June 4, 1973, 500 families totaling 2,400 people migrated from Burma to Manipur in 1967. Government had problems in establishing nationality of these people. Also referring to a June 20, 1973 representation by P. Paokai Haokip, the then Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) on behalf of 1,500 refugee families, PAPPM has asked to reconcile both figures.
The organisation also called for a review of records concerning 23 families in Senapati who were subsequently recognised as genuine Burma repatriates in the 1980s, as well as an audit of Myanmar-origin migration following the 1988 uprising and the 2021 military takeover.
Referring to the State government’s 2023 identification exercise, PAPPM said the authorities had identified 2,480 Myanmar-origin immigrants across five hill districts and urged that the records generated during the exercise be preserved and scrutinised.
PAPPM further sought an independent national-security investigation into whether Myanmar-origin immigrants, Kuki militant organisations, Myanmar-based armed networks or affiliated organisations had participated in, facilitated or exploited the mobilisation and violence that began in May 2023.
The organisation said any such investigation should be evidence-based and should distinguish between foreign nationals, refugees, Indian citizens, civilians and militant organisations, without attributing collective responsibility to any ethnic community.
PAPPM also argued that the proposed Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls using the 2005 roll as a reference would not by itself resolve the broader citizenship issue, and urged the Centre to establish citizenship independently through a comprehensive NRC/NRIC exercise.
