For ST call MMTU decides to file petition before United Nations

Imphal: The Meetei (Meitei) Tribe Union (MMTU) has decided to file a petition before the United Nations as part of its campaign to enlist Meeteis in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list of the Constitution.

Speaking to the media at Manipur Press Club today, MMTU secretary administration Mutum Churamani Meetei said that the movement they have been taking out is to safeguard the identity of Meeteis Constitutionally.

The demand being raised to grant ST status to Meitei is not against any community, he added.

Claiming that Meitei is already a tribe and their demand is only to incorporate the ethnic group in the ST list of the Constitution, he maintained that Meetei has the birthright to seek Constitutional safeguard.

He also said that the movement seeking ST status for Meetei began in 1969 .

Stating that different modes of campaign have been taken out as part of the ST movement, Churamani maintained that there was an overwhelming support in the mass missed call campaign which they carried out last year.

He said that over nine lakh people took part and endorsed the missed call campaign.

The successive State Governments have not been sending the socio-economic and ethnographic reports of Meetei to the Centre all these years, he, said and reminded that the Centre had sent a letter to the State Government in 2013 to submit the reports so as to verify whether Meeteis fulfil the criteria to be acknowledged as an ST.

Continuing that there is a great threat to the future and identity due to the influx of illegal immigrants from Myanmar, Churamani said that MMTU will file a petition before the United Nations (UN) considering all the threats which the Meetei is exposed to.