AIZAWL: A total of 5,822 people from Manipur have fled to Mizoram and taken shelter in the state since the ethnic violence that rocked the neighbouring state on May 3, officials said on Sunday.
The internally displaced people belonging to the Chin-Kuki-Mizo community are lodged at temporary relief camps across six districts of Mizoram, while many were also given shelter by their relatives, they said.
Aizawl district currently has the highest number of displaced people at 2021, followed by Kolasib district (1,847) and Saitual district (1,790), they said.
A total of 135 people have taken shelter in east Mizoram’s Champhai district, 15 in Khawzawl district and the rest 14 took shelter in Serchhip district, officials added.
Meanwhile, Mizoram Lok Sabha member C. Lalrosanga has endorsed the demand of separate administration for tribal people by Manipur tribal MLAs.
Citing that the tribal people can no longer exist under the Manipur government, 10 Kuki MlAs, including 7 from BJP, on Friday had urged the Centre to create separate administration for the tribal people in the wake of the ethnic violence.
Lalrosanga said that seeing the current situation and the recent ethnic clashes between the majority Meiteis and the tribal community, the utmost important thing to arrive at the solution is the creation of separate administration for the tribal people.
Violent clashes broke out in Manipur after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the 10 hill districts on May 3 to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
The clashes were preceded by tension over the eviction of Kuki villagers from reserve forest land, which had led to a series of smaller agitations.
Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley.
Tribals — Nagas and Kukis — constitute another 40 per cent of the population and reside in the hill districts.
While the majority Meiteis occupy 10 per cent of the geographical area of the state, the tribal people occupy 90 per cent of it.
The tribal people claimed that they have been inhabiting the hill areas for decades even before the British occupied Manipur and the Manipuri maharajas had never occupied the hilly areas even before the colonial period.
They also claimed that the hill areas were never occupied by any one before the Kukis entered the areas around 1500 AD or CE.
Manipur was merged with the Indian union in 1949 and when it attained statehood in 1972, the tribal people were given special protection under article 371 C of the country’s constitution.