Around 700 people from the non-tribal Meitei community fled Mizoram in fear after the Peace Accord MNF Returnees’ Association (PAMRA) issued an advisory last week in response to the viral video of two women being stripped and paraded by a mob in Manipur on May 4, an official said today (July 28).
According to Aizawl police officers, the Meitei people fled Mizoram by road through Assam and by plane on their own. For many years, 2,000 to 2,500 Meitei families from Manipur and Assam have lived in various parts of Mizoram, including Aizawl, and have been involved in various government and non-government employment, studies, and commerce.
The Mizoram administration had told the Meitei people that they would be adequately protected and would not be forced to leave the state. Following the publication of an “advisory” by the Peace Accord MNF Returnees’ Association (PAMRA) last week, Meitei community members in Mizoram began departing for Manipur.
The PAMRA, on the other hand, stated that they did not ask the Meitei to leave Manipur but rather to remain vigilant in light of the Manipur scenario. According to Rambir Singh, vice president of the All Mizoram Manipuri Association (AMMA), most Meitei people are unwilling to stay in Mizoram because they feel “insecure” following the recent protest demonstration not Mizoram by a coalition of prominent civil society organizations.