Meiteis start exiting Mizoram amid rising tension 

Meitei people in Mizoram flee after alleged diktat by former extremists. 60 people took flights to Imphal, others left by buses/taxis. 2,000 Meiteis in Mizoram, including teachers at Mizoram Univ. Mizoram Govt. beefed up security after PAMRA issued statement. PAMRA's statement was advisory, not diktat/quit notice.

GUWAHATI

Meitei people living and working in Mizoram started exiting the northeastern State on July 22 following an alleged diktat by an organisation of former extremists to leave for their “own safety”. 

Officials of airline agencies operating flights to and from Lengpui, the airport near Mizoram’s capital Aizawl, said about 60 people took flights to Imphal’s Tulihal airport. An unspecified number of Meitei people are said to have left Aizawl and other parts of Mizoram by buses and taxis. 

According to a Manipur Government estimate, there are about 2,000 Meiteis in Mizoram, including teachers at Mizoram University. Half of them are from Manipur while the other half are primarily from southern Assam. 

The Mizoram Government had beefed up security in Aizawl after the Peace Accord MNF Returnees’ Association (PAMRA) issued a statement on July 21 saying Mizoram was no longer safe for the Meiteis in view of the mounting tension following the “barbaric and heinous acts committed by miscreants in Manipur”. 

The PAMRA’s perceived threat was with reference to a viral video showing a Meitei mob parading two naked Kuki women, who were allegedly gang-raped at B. Phainom village in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district. The incident happened on May 4. 

Mizos and Kukis are ethnically related, as are the Chins of Myanmar and the Chin-Kukis of Bangladesh.