🧵 How many Meitei Christians are there in Manipur?

They themselves apparently claim that they number 125,000.

COCOMI has claimed that they number 170,000 Meitei Christians. Makepeace Sitlhou and Greeshma Kuthar have stated, without specifying any source, that the Meitei Christians number 300,000 people.
newlinesmag.com/reportage/meit…

Yesterday, I wrote about the woolly nonsense peddled by the Meitei community about the "unified command". On the same day, former Chief Secretary of Manipur Oinam Nabakishore Singh, was also writing about the issue in The Sangai Express. 🧵
e-pao.net/epSubPageExtra… Mr. Nabakishore points out that the meetings of the Unified Command were "mainly for sharing of intelligence. and coordination in counter insurgency operations". The chairman of the Unified Command does not issue "orders" to the various forces involved. /2

In June last year, Congress leader O. Ibobi Singh said that the Home Ministry had made the security advisor Kuldiep Singh as the "head of the unified command", which he called "unprecedented", an "undeclared President's rule". 🧵

economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/2-m… In January this year, a certain Meitei JAC submitted a list of demands to the Manipur government, the top on the list being the "transfer of the Chairmanship of Unified Command" to the chief minister of Manipur. /2

ukhrultimes.com/jac-calls-48-h…

The alleged drone bombing has sparked an alarmist news cycle around Manipur, even as the state government begins an official investigation into what it has labelled an “act of terrorism.” How does one contextualise the use of drones in Manipur? /1
hindustantimes.com/analysis/north… The alleged drone attack in Manipur’s Kangchup earlier this week might have been the most glaring use of AVBIEDs in the state since the ethnic conflict began in May 2023. But it wasn’t the first time armed drones have appeared in the state since last year. /2

Manipur's chief minister N. Biren Singh, after six months into the ongoing conflict between Meitei and Kuki communities, had a closed door meeting with his Meitei associates, explaining the conflict and justifying it. /1
#ManipurTapes
#BirenExposed The conversation was recorded by one of the participants and later submitted to the judicial commission appointed by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Copies of the recording were also shared with sections of the press and the Kuki community. /2
#BirenExposed

Teen laashen nahin, sirph do. David Liansianguan bach gaya.

Not three dead bodies, only two. David Liangsianguan survived. 🧵 "On the morning of 4 May, 22-year-old construction worker David Liansianguan was allegedly dragged out of his employer’s house and on to a road. Members of a mob checked his ID, saw that he was a Kuki, and set to work, he claimed." /2
theprint.in/india/ids-chec…

Some people started asking me what is the truth behind these claims by Arundhati Roy. There isn't any.

If you want to know more, pelase read on.🧵 Jammu and Kashmir is listed in the Article 1 of the Constitution of India, which lists all the territories that are part of India. See Part B in the First Schedule. /2

en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Const…

What is Jiribam?

In 1833, after the British annexed Cachar, they set the Jiri river as the border between Cachar and Manipur. So, one-fourth of this tiny valley on the western periphery of Manipur became its territory. That is Jiribam. /1 In 1907, after the British took over Manipur itself, they opened the Jiribam valley for settlement. No Meiteis from Manipur came, but some Meiteis and also Bengalis from Cachar came to settle. It was hard work, apparently. /2

This is quite correct. Until 1894, when the British extended the Manipur territory till Behiang/Chivu, "Manipur" ended with the valley. To the south of the valley were Kuki hills, Lushai hills and Chin hills.

If the Meitei imagine that they were in "Churachandpur" for "generations", or from "time immemorial" etc., they are just day-dreaming. Even Torbung and Kangvai didn't exist and Siton Khullen was a Kuki village.

And "Churachandpur" itself was built in 1949 by Major Bob Khathing, who was the Hills Minister in the new "democratic" government.

Full history available at your finger tips:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churachan… So, when did the Meitei settle down in Lamka/Churachandpur?

The only possibility is between 1949, when the new town was built, and 1960 when the MLR&LR Act was passed, prohibiting the transfer of land from tribals to non-tribals. It was mistake committed by the Government of India, which probably didn't realize what it was doing.

Mr. Singh continued, "What exactly was the fault and unconstitutional act of the Manipur government which led to the attacks and burning houses of ordinary people?"
thehindu.com/news/national/… Here! Your police under your Home Ministry standing by and watching as the mobs were ransacking houses in Kangvai.

This was your unconstitutional act, which started the violence.

Why were the armed police standing by and watching?

"Meetei Council Moreh has urged the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi to settle and rehabilitate all the people driven out of Moreh since 1991."

🧵👇
economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/man… So the Meitei Council is trying to dig up fake history of 1991-92 to give cover for the ongoing attacks of Arambai and the deep state on Moreh?

What happened in 1991-92? /2

It is estimated that about 250 gunmen allegedly belonging to UNLF, surrendered their arms in this exercise yesterday.

But the group that surrendered was the Pambei faction of UNLF, whcih is tiny, with only 65 cadres.

So, where did the rest of the people come from?

https://twitter.com/AmitShah/status/1729829370372763861

It turns out that the Pambei faction moved into the Manipur valley during the currnet violence after 3 May, and recruited lots of locals, who presumably wanted arms and training to wage war on the Kukis.
thehindu.com/news/national/…

There seems to be widespread misconception that the Naga tribes are somehow integral to Manipur, whereas the Kuki-Zo tribes are "outsiders" or "recent arrivals". This extract from an Outlook article exemplifies this. I have no idea what "historical records" the author has consulted, but Chietharol Kumbaba, the official court chronicle of Manipur, doesn't validate this conclusion. The Kuki Research Forum reserchers unearthed the information we need.
ukhrultimes.com/kuki-research-…

I have finally figured out how to process the census data for Manipur tribes. The crux of the problem was to figure out how to categorise the so-called "Old Kukis", some of whom classify themselves as "Nagas" now. I decided to punt the problem. /1 So for the whole of Manipur, we get

Kuki-Zo: 448,197 (15.7% of pop.)
Nagas: 597,017 (20.9% of pop.)
Old Kuki/Naga: 101,402 (3.6% of pop.)

Overall STs: 1,167,422 (40.9% of pop.)

This is the story of the Khongjai expedition, as narrated in Cheitharol Kumbaba, the court chronicle of Manipur.

The term Khongchai (or Khongjai) is nowadays a generic name for the Kukis of the south. In those days, it was used for the tribes living in the Khongjai hills. 1/8
Marked on this map is the Irang river, a tributary of the Barak river, which flows around the massive Vangaitang range.

The low hills to the east of Vangaitang are referred to as Khongjai hills in Cheitharol. 2/8

When India became independent on 15 August 1947, there were approximately 560 princely states that had acceded to India. Over the next two years, they were reorganised by Sardar Patel's States Ministry as per the attached map. Out of all these states, Manipur alone claims that it had become "indendent" the day before India's independence day.
#DelusionalMeitei
ifp.co.in/manipur/76th-i…

About the May 3 incidents, here is what the Manipur newspapers said:

Imphal Free Press:

"The march was a grand success in Churachandpur district where a record crowd, estimated to be more than one lakh..."
ifp.co.in/manipur/thousa… "..started the the march from Lamka Public Ground, Hiangtam Lamka and culminated at Peace Ground, Tuibong, as reported by our Churachandpur correspondent. There were no reports of any untoward incident till 1 pm."

@TheHindu, you published this story titled "Curfew in eight districts of Manipur, mobile internet services suspended over tribal stir" on 3-4 May 2023.
thehindu.com/news/national/… Your lead image, pictured above, carried the caption: "Mob destroys houses amid tensions in Churachandpur Town in Manipur on May 3, 2023. Public curfew has been imposed in the district. Videograb: Twitter/@LtColAnilDuhoon

Torbung mystery solved! It is in Churachandpur!

I found an excellent article by Roluah Puia, titled "WHEN BOUNDARIES MATTER", about the recent developments in Manipur land laws.
mittalsouthasiainstitute.harvard.edu/people/roluahp… A part of the table in the article lists all the villages in the Torbung "lourup" (village cluster). They are all in the Hanglep and CCpur subdivisions (2nd col.)

Since the governmenr order is cited, we can take this to be authentic information.

A lot of India media reported on 3-4 May that "Torbung" or "the Kangvai-Torbung area" was in Churachandpur.

Binalakhmi Nepram used her influence in international circles to create a narrative that said that the arson started in the Churachandpur district and then (and only then) the Metei "retaliated".

"Prior to the coming of the British the kingdom of Manipur covered only the plains of Manipur and the Hill Areas surrounding the valleys were occupied by the Chin-Kuki (Zo) and Naga people."
https://t.co/lDCLplodL2researchgate.net/profile/Prof-J…
"Before the advent of the British the Raja of Manipur had practically no influence at all, either in the form of tributes or taxation, beyond the valley, particularly in the south."
https://t.co/bqLzE6G7UIbooks.google.com/books?id=dVmnD…