New Delhi: Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh has asked his counterpart in neighbouring Mizoram to stay away from what he has described as his state’s “internal matters”.

This comes just days after a new chief minister was sworn in in Mizoram but is not the first time that Singh has opened hostilities with a chief minister of the state.

Earlier, amidst raging ethnic strife between the Meiteis and the Kukis in Manipur, Singh had criticised the then Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga for meddling with his state’s affairs.

At least 12,000 Kukis had fled to Mizoram during the strife that began this May, and several have since been staying there, as the violence has not completely stopped. The Kukis are, as a tribe, kindred to the Mizos, the largest community of that state.

According to news reports, the war of words began after new Mizoram chief minister Lalduhoma asked the Manipur Police not to harass the Kuki-Zo people residing in the border town of Moreh. Lalduhoma had made those comments in his interactions with local media after taking over the reins of the state. He had said that Kukis were not being treated well in Manipur.

Moreh, located about four kilometres from India’s border with Myanmar, is home to not only Kukis but also to a sizeable population of Tamils displaced from Myanmar (then Burma) during the World War II, besides Meitei Hindus and Muslims (Pangals) and some other tribes. 

Speaking to reporters in Imphal on December 12, Singh retorted, “Whatever happened in Manipur is our internal matter. But, unfortunately, I have seen comments from the newly elected chief minister of Mizoram that state police shouldn’t harass his people in Moreh. It is beyond the constitution to talk about Manipur as it is our internal matter. He doesn’t know what is happening in Moreh.”

Media reports also quoted Singh as saying, “A lot of communities reside in Moreh – Meiteis, Tamils, Kukis, Meitei-Pangal, Thadaou – all are living there. So it cannot be taken as a one community area. My earnest appeal to him is, pelase help us restore peace. I never commented when the Bru issues (the ethnic strife between Brus and Mizos in the 1990s) happened in Mizoram.”

In the recent strife, Moreh saw violence too. Just recently, as per media reports, three state legislators were threatened for urging groups not to attack the state police in Moreh. Singh assured “full security” to those MLAs.

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