Myanmar: The Meitei/Kathe Indigenous Development Association (MIDA) has reaffirmed the distinct historical and legal identity of the Indigenous Meitei Kathe people of Myanmar, distancing the community from the Meiteis of Manipur.
In a press release issued on August 14, 2025, MIDA General Secretary H. Wahengbam Henthoiba Luwangcha said the Myanmar Government has recognized Meitei Kathe as an Indigenous Phurup under the Chin Major National Community. The community has no political or organizational link with Manipur, the statement said.
MIDA expressed serious concern over the activities of certain individuals from Manipur who are trying to merge the indigenous Meitei Kathe community into their fold. The association said some elements claiming to be Meitei from Manipur, including underground cadres, have been attempting to infiltrate and influence the community’s traditional organization – the yek salaicha punsin.
According to sources and community leaders, several Valley-based Meitei insurgent groups from Manipur including UNLF, PLA, KYKL and PREPAK have long been operating from bases inside Myanmar’s Sagaing Region and other border areas. In recent years after the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, these groups are widely reported to have entered into tactical understandings with the Myanmar Junta Army.
Local reports allege that these Manipur Meitei militants are now fighting alongside the Junta forces against the pro-democracy resistance, including the Chin Army (Chinland Defence Forces) and Kuki armed groups in Myanmar, who are part of the broader Spring Revolution.
MIDA said attempts to use the name of the Indigenous Meitei Kathe community to recruit, collect funds, or legitimize such militant activities are unacceptable and dangerous for the safety of the Kathe people living in Myanmar.
The presence of Meitei Kathe, Kuki and Naga communities inside Myanmar today is a living proof of the shared migration history of the region, MIDA’s statement also underscores in its historical context.
Historians and oral histories confirm that the Meiteis, Kukis and Nagas all have ancient roots tracing back to migration waves from Southern China and the Myanmar corridor centuries ago. The Kathe people, as Meiteis are known in Myanmar, settled in the central plains of Burma including Mandalay, Sagaing and Amarapura during different periods of history, while the Kuki and Naga peoples settled along the Chin Hills, Naga Hills and the Indo-Myanmar frontier.
This common ancestral origin from the Mongoloid migration through China and Myanmar explains why these three major ethnic groups are found on both sides of the present-day India-Myanmar border. Their presence in Myanmar is not a recent phenomenon but a historical reality that predates the modern boundaries drawn by the British.
Therefore, MIDA noted, the indigenous status of Meitei Kathe in Myanmar should be seen in this historical migration perspective and not mixed with the current political conflict in Manipur. The association’s struggle is solely for the preservation of this ancient indigenous identity inside Myanmar.
MIDA further clarified that some fake social media accounts and individuals are misusing the name of MIDA Lups and its leaders. The association stated that MIDA is not a one or two-man organization and any statement not issued officially by MIDA should be treated as unauthorized and void.
The public has been requested to remain vigilant and not to be confused by such unauthorized activities carried out in the name of MIDA on social media.
