Will expel Meiteis if Mizos are deported to Mizoram: MSU

Mizo Students’ Union (MSU), one of the influential student bodies in Mizoram, on Monday warned that it will expel all the Meitei people living in Mizoram to Manipur if any of the Mizos or Zo ethnic people in Manipur are deported to Mizoram, a leader said. The student body’s diktat follows Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh’s recent statement that his government will “identify and deport” anyone who entered the state to settle after 1961. MSU president Samuel Zoramthanpuia said that the organisation held an emergent meeting on Tuesday over Singh’s statement and how it will affect the Zo ethnic people in Manipur.

The meeting decided that the organisation will deport all the Meiteis living in Mizoram to Manipur if the Manipur government deport any Mizo or Kuki Zo ethnic people to Mizoram, he said. He also claimed that the student body has collected a complete list of all Meitei people in Mizoram. Singh has recently said that the Manipur government will “identify and deport” anyone who entered the state to settle after 1961.

The northeastern state has been witnessing ethnic clashes between the majority Meiteis, who dominated the valley, and the minority Kuki-Zo tribes, who live in the hills, since May last year. The state government has repeatedly linked the ongoing ethnic strife in the state to “illegal immigration” from the neighbouring Myanmar.