[🇧🇩] Insurgency in India's North-East---Why does India blame Bangladesh?

[Bilal9]

ছাত্র-জনতা বিক্ষোভে ফুঁসছে মনিপুর; উঠছে স্বাধীনতার দাবি

Calling Manipuris and Nagas "Chinki" by BJP and RSS goondas in larger Indian cities and treating them as second class citizens has come back to bite the Modi administration.

If they want freedom, very little Modi can do now, as mismanaged and nearsighted as his administration is.

The balkanization of India has begun, starting with far flung remote areas. It was always simmering under the surface, now it is out in the open.

 

[Saif]

India’s Manipur orders internet blackout, curfew after ethnic clashes

India’s strife-torn northeastern state of Manipur ordered an internet blackout on Tuesday, after imposing a curfew following days of deadly ethnic violence and clashes between protesters and police

en.prothomalo.com

India’s Manipur orders internet blackout, curfew after ethnic clashes
Hundreds of Meitei people in the state capital Imphal defied a curfew imposed earlier Tuesday to demand security forces take action against Kuki insurgent groups, whom they blame for the latest spate of attacks

AFP New Delhi
Published: 11 Sep 2024, 11: 56

Security personnel fire tear gas shells to disperse protesters during a curfew in Imphal on 10 September 2024. India’s strife-torn northeastern state of Manipur ordered an internet blackout on September 10, after imposing a curfew following days of deadly ethnic violence and clashes between protesters and policeAFP

India’s strife-torn northeastern state of Manipur ordered an internet blackout on Tuesday, after imposing a curfew following days of deadly ethnic violence and clashes between protesters and police.

Manipur has been rocked by periodic clashes for more than a year between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community, dividing the state into ethnic enclaves.

At least 11 people were killed last week as hostilities between the two communities erupted again after months of relative calm.

A notice from the state’s home ministry ordered all internet and mobile data services in the state to be shut off for five days in order to bring the latest unrest under control.

“Some anti-social elements might use social media extensively for transmission of images, hate speech and hate video messages inciting the passions of the public,” the notice said.

Internet services were shut down for months in Manipur last year during the first outbreak of violence, which displaced around 60,000 people from their homes according to government figures
“It has become necessary to take adequate measures to maintain law and order in public interest, by stopping the spread of disinformation and false rumours.”

Internet services were shut down for months in Manipur last year during the first outbreak of violence, which displaced around 60,000 people from their homes according to government figures.

Thousands of the state’s residents are still unable to return home owing to ongoing tensions.

‘Significant escalation’

Hundreds of Meitei people in the state capital Imphal defied a curfew imposed earlier Tuesday to demand security forces take action against Kuki insurgent groups, whom they blame for the latest spate of attacks.

Paramilitary and police personnel stand guard during a student protest demanding the removal of the Manipur Director General of Police (DGP) and security advisor after the recent violence in different areas and districts, in Imphal on 10 September 2024 ANI

Indian TV broadcasters showed the police firing tear gas in an effort to disperse the rally.

Student-led protests on Monday turned violent after the crowd threw stones and plastic bottles at security forces, police said in a statement.

Protesters in another district snatched arms from police and fired at them, the statement added.

“One police personnel was hit on the left thigh by a live round and another police personnel was hit in the face by an unknown projectile,” it said.

The protests were motivated by a series of insurgent attacks using “improvised” projectile weapons and drone attacks that killed 11 people last week, in what police called a “significant escalation” of violence.

Long-standing tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities revolve around competition for land and public jobs.

Rights activists have accused local leaders of exacerbating ethnic divisions for political gain.

Manipur is ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.​

 

[Saif]

33 held in Manipur

Indian police have arrested 33 people after a surge in ethnic violence in Manipur state, where a curfew and an internet blackout have been imposed, officers said yesterday.

www.thedailystar.net

33 held in Manipur

Indian police have arrested 33 people after a surge in ethnic violence in Manipur state, where a curfew and an internet blackout have been imposed, officers said yesterday.

Fighting broke out in Manipur in May 2023, between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community, an ethnic conflict that has since killed at least 200 people. After months of relative calm, fresh fighting erupted this month.

At least 11 people have been killed, including in what police called a "significant escalation" of violence, with insurgents firing rockets and dropping bombs with drones.​

 

[Saif]

India in talks with ethnic groups clashing in Manipur state

The Indian government is in talks with the two ethnic groups at the center of a long running conflict in the northeastern state of Manipur

en.prothomalo.com

India in talks with ethnic groups clashing in Manipur state
Reuters
New Delhi
Published: 17 Sep 2024, 11: 44

Demonstrators attend a protest march to demand an end to the latest spurt of ethnic violence, in Imphal, Manipur, India, 10 September 2024. Reuters

The Indian government is in talks with the two ethnic groups at the center of a long running conflict in the northeastern state of Manipur, Interior Minister Amit Shah said at a press conference on Tuesday.

At least 225 people have died and some 60,000 have been displaced since fighting broke out last year between the Meitei and Kuki communities over the sharing of economic benefits and quotas in government jobs and education that are given to the tribal Kukis.​

 

[Saif]

India’s Manipur on alert after reported Myanmar infiltration

Security forces on India’s northeast border have been placed on alert following reports that 900 suspected militants from war-torn Myanmar have crossed into restive Manipur state, a security official said...

www.newagebd.net

India’s Manipur on alert after reported Myanmar infiltration
Agence France-Presse . New Delhi, India 21 September, 2024, 12:29

Security forces on India’s northeast border have been placed on alert following reports that 900 suspected militants from war-torn Myanmar have crossed into restive Manipur state, a security official said.

Manipur has been rocked by periodic clashes for more than a year between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community, dividing the state into ethnic enclaves.

The hill-dwelling Kukis have cultural, familial and religious ties with tribal populations in Myanmar, where dozens of armed groups have been battling the military since it seized power in 2021.

Manipur government security adviser Kuldiep Singh confirmed Friday that authorities had received reports from local intelligence agencies on a possible crossing by suspected militants.

‘Nine hundred people are coming,’ according to the assessment, he told reporters.

Singh said border posts had been ‘alerted’ and security forces would conduct ‘combing operations’ in the remote, rugged area.

Local media reports said the intruders were Kuki militants trained in jungle warfare and carrying weaponised drones.

Flying drones without official permission has been banned, Singh said.

After months of relatively calm condition fresh fighting erupted this month in Manipur between insurgent groups firing rockets and dropping bombs with drones, leaving at least 11 dead.

Last week Meitei protesters marched through state capital Imphal to demand security forces act against Kuki insurgents they blame for the latest attacks.

Long-standing tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities revolve around competition for land and public jobs.

Fighting has forced around 60,000 people from their homes and killed at least 200, according to government figures. Many have been unable to return home.

Manipur is ruled by prime minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.​

 

[Saif]

ভারতে ঢুকে পড়া কুকিদের সক্ষমতা আঁতকে ওঠার মতো

 

[Saif]

Of human migration and citizenship in Assam

The petitioner’s claim was that granting citizenship to immigrants claiming entry before March 25, 1971, was harming Assam’s identity.

www.thedailystar.net

Of human migration and citizenship in Assam

Consequently, Section 6A designates March 25, 1971—coinciding with the start of the Bangladesh Liberation War—as the cutoff date for granting Indian citizenship to immigrants, particularly those from Bangladesh. PHOTO: Reuters

On October 17, a constitution bench of India's Supreme Court, in a 4:1 majority judgment, upheld the constitutionality of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955. This provision allows immigrants from erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) residing in Assam to secure Indian citizenship. Political parties across ideological lines in Assam welcomed the ruling.

"This verdict re-established the rationality of the Assam movement and the Assam Accord. We pay tribute to the martyrs on this historic occasion. We demand again that every clause of the Assam Accord be fully implemented," said the All Assam Students Union, which had spearheaded a six-year violent street agitation from 1979 to 1985 against "illegal" immigrants from across the border in the north eastern state. They further said that the apex court verdict was "historic" and a second victory in the fight to save Assam's identity and demography stating, "It has been established that the Assam agitation was undertaken for genuine reasons." Main opposition Congress has also welcomed the top court ruling. After all, the party-led central government headed by Rajiv Gandhi was one of the signatories to the tripartite 1985 Assam Accord whose clause 6A was challenged in the Supreme Court.

Section 6A was added to the Citizenship Act of 1955 as a special provision addressing citizenship issues under the Assam Accord, an agreement signed between the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's administration, the All Assam Students' Union (AASU), and Assam's then Chief Minister, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta. According to Section 6A, individuals who arrived in Assam between January 1, 1966, and March 25, 1971, from specific territories including Bangladesh, and have remained resident there since, must register under Section 18 to obtain citizenship. However, under the Assam Accord's provisions, they were prohibited from registering as Indian citizens for a decade from the day of their detection. Those who arrived after March 25, 1971, as stipulated in the Assam Accord, are to be deported. Consequently, Section 6A designates March 25, 1971—coinciding with the start of the Bangladesh Liberation War—as the cutoff date for granting Indian citizenship to immigrants, particularly those from Bangladesh.

The majority ruling by the top court stated the cut-off date of March 25, 1971 for those who entered Assam was rational as it was the date when the Bangladesh Liberation War started and the objective of clause 6A must be seen in that backdrop. The majority was of the view that Section 6A was "neither over-inclusive nor under-inclusive."

The majority ruling by the Supreme Court upheld March 25, 1971, as a reasonable cut-off date for individuals entering Assam, noting that this date marked the beginning of the Bangladesh Liberation War and provided essential context for the purpose of clause 6A. It further concluded that Section 6A was "neither over-inclusive nor under-inclusive."

The validity of Section 6A was challenged in the Supreme Court primarily by the Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha and other petitioners, who argued that this provision unfairly singled out Assam, enabling large-scale immigration that had significantly. The petitioner's claim was that granting citizenship to immigrants claiming entry before March 25, 1971, was harming Assam's identity, and they instead called for a cut-off date of 1951 to identify and deport illegal immigrants. They had contested Section 6A in 2012, calling it discriminatory, arbitrary, and illegal as it set a different cut-off date for regularising illegal immigrants in Assam compared to the rest of India.

Now, since the top court has refused to recognise 1951 as the cut-off year for citizenship in Assam, will it hit Assam's current Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's plank of Hindutva and Assamese identity politics? Will it help settle the debate over the 1951 versus 1971 cut-off year for identifying undocumented immigrants in Assam?

Some more questions remain unanswered even after the apex court judgment. One, has it settled or furthered the debate on undocumented immigration and citizenship in the states bordering from erstwhile East Pakistan and later Bangladesh? Two, how will the top court ruling play out in the political landscape of Assam, where fresh assembly elections are due in 2026? Thirdly and most importantly, certain observations by the Supreme Court bench on the question of citizenship could have a bearing on the pending petitions challenging the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) brought by the Modi government in 2019 giving citizenship to those persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who came to India till December 2014. The CAA was introduced as Section 6B of the 1955 Citizenship Act, and its enactment had sparked violent street protests not only in Assam, but in several other parts of India on the grounds that it keeps out Muslims from its ambit. Fourthly, the apex court ruling of October 17 does not provide an answer to the question as to what happens to those who migrated in the five decades since March 25, 1971, the cut-off date under 6A of the 1955 citizenship law.

A section of legal luminaries, including senior advocate Kapil Sibal, viewed the Constitution bench's remarks on citizenship as being inclusive. They particularly pointed to Justice Surya Kant's observation that the principle of fraternity cannot be selectively applied and citizenship cannot be interpreted in a negative manner that applies to a particular section of people living in Assam while another lot are labelled "illegal immigrants." Kant stated, "Our reading of the Constitution and precedents is that fraternity requires people of different backgrounds and social circumstances to 'live and let live'".

Agreeing with the majority view, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said while the Constitution recognises a "right to conserve culture," the provision must be read in light of the "multicultural and plural nation that India is." Ultimately, it seemed the court clearly rejected the contention of the petitioners that Section 6A is in violation of Article 29 because it permits people from Bangladesh who have a distinct culture to be ordinarily residents in Assam and secure citizenship which infringes upon their right to conserve Assamese culture.

Pallab Bhattacharya is a special correspondent for The Daily Star.​

 

[Saif]

11 killed in gun battle with security forces in Manipur

At least 11 suspected militants were killed today in a gun battle with security forces in the restive north eastern Indian state Manipur's Jiribam district, PTI reported quoting officials

www.thedailystar.net

11 killed in gun battle with security forces in Manipur

Photo: Collected

At least 11 suspected militants were killed today in a gun battle with security forces in the restive north eastern Indian state Manipur's Jiribam district, PTI reported quoting officials.

Two paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel sustained injuries during the exchange of fire at Jakurador Karong in the Borobekra sub-division, PTI reported.

Earlier in the day, heavily-armed militants allegedly torched several shops in the area and also attacked some houses and the CRPF camp, which led to the gunfight.

The bodies of the slain suspected militants have been recovered, officials said.

Manipur has for more than a year rocked by ethnic conflicts between majority Meteis and minority Kukis which left more than 200 dead and 50,000 homeless.​