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10/17/2005: "LAST MILE PROBLEMS WITH THE NAGAS"


LAST MILE PROBLEMS WITH THE NAGAS Twenty-Twenty - Bharat Bhushan The Telegraph After eight years of cease-fire, the Naga peace process has finally started making some progress. However, the proper implementation of the ceasefire between the Indian security forces and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) and some conceptual problems still dog the two sides.
The NSCN (IM) claims that more of its cadre have been killed in the eight years of the ceasefire since 1997 (exceeding 100) than in the previous nine-and-a-half years (only 40), when the insurgency was at its peak. The NSCN (IM) claims that the number of Indian security personnel killed by its cadre after the ceasefire is zero, compared to more than 200 in the nine-and-half years preceding the ceasefire. This included seven colonels killed in the single year 1993-94.
Under these circumstances, the general secretary of the NSCN (IM), Thuingaleng Muivah, is bound to be under pressure from his cadre to call off the ceasefire. If this ceasefire breaks down, then so would the other Suspension of Operations Agreements in the North-east, including with the Karbis, Dimasas, Khasis, Bodos and groups in Tripura. A ceasefire with the United Liberation Front of Asom may then seem like a distant dream.
The argument being given by the Indian security establishment is that the ceasefire is limited to Nagaland alone. Were the NSCN (I-M) to take the same interpretation of the cease-fire, would it be all right for it to target Indian security forces in Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh or, say, Delhi? Remember that S.C. Jamir had barely escaped a murder attempt at Nagaland House in New Delhi. The government of India cannot have two different interpretations of the cease-fire — one for its security forces and the other for the Nagas. It is unreasonable to expect that Muivah can keep talking peace while his cadres get ambushed outside Nagaland.
There are others who claim that if Muivah will not settle, a settlement should be arrived at with the rival faction of S.S. Khaplang or the Naga National Council. Khaplang is a Myanmar Naga supported by the Indian security forces. Indira Gandhi had refused to talk to Khaplang saying that she could not negotiate with a Burmese citizen. Would Indian leaders want to do that now? And if the NNC could settle the Naga issue, then why didn’t the Shillong Accord work, to which the NNC was a signatory? India should attempt to strengthen its main dialogue partner rather than threaten to weaken it.
A ceasefire is meant to reduce mutual suspicion and make both sides more reasonable as they get to understand each other better. It is evident that eight years of ceasefire have not done this. But what is very clear is that it has made the Naga insurgents more reasonable. From talking about total independence from India, today the Nagas are talking of fashioning a close federal relationship while still claiming that they remain sovereign. When Muivah met the prime minister earlier this year in New Delhi, he told him that the Nagas consider themselves sovereign. This one statement has now become the biggest hurdle in exploring a peaceful settlement. Muivah has time and again said that sovereignty lies with the people. However, New Delhi thinks that Muivah is being deliberately ambiguous about what he means by “sovereignty”.
If the Nagas are sovereign then Indian negotiators could argue that they should be able to freely take a decision to pool their sovereignty with that of the rest of India’s — subject, of course, to the agreement reached with them. In the peace talks in Bangkok last week, it was discussed how the people of Sikkim had decided to exercise their sovereignty to join India. The Nagas might decide to do the same provided constitutional guarantees are provided to maintain their “uniqueness” — their distinct cultural, linguistic and political identity. Muivah says he wants a “federal” relationship with New Delhi. It makes sense from his point of view — from separateness he wants to negotiate a relationship of closeness. The nature of this relationship, he says, will be determined by the terms of the agreement with New Delhi.
New Delhi, on the other hand, wants him to give up “federalism” and accept the Indian Constitution as it is. What could be the golden mean that satisfies both? Indian negotiators need to ask themselves: Do we want the Indian Constitution to be the point of departure or the point of arrival for a settlement? If the insurgent Nagas can eventually be brought under the purview of the Constitution, with modifications to accommodate them, then what is wrong? One can call it asymmetrical federalism or recognizing “the unique history and situation of the Nagas”.
However, though the Indian Union is federal, it is more limited than say, the US. Its history and processes of formation were different. This places limits on how asymmetric our asymmetric federalism can be. Wisdom lies in recognizing this constraint and working within the degrees of freedom it offers.
The time has come to give up posturing and climb down from the polemical positions that necessarily have to be taken in the initial stages of a major negotiation of this kind. For this, New Delhi has to stop seeing the acceptance of the Indian Constitution as the point of departure with the Nagas (after all, it has dropped this precondition with the Kashmiris). Muivah, on his part, has to give up ambiguous references to “sovereignty” and “federalism”. If the federal relationship he proposes is to be as close as possible to being within the Union of India, then form should compromise with content.
Within such a compromise, it should be possible to address positively all the proposals made by the NSCN (I-M) — from sharing of competencies to ensuring that Naga uniqueness is preserved through various instrumentalities and structures of governance. Within the Union of India — which Muivah does not accept as a framework of settlement — Nagas can live in a single political unit and govern themselves democratically. The genius of the Indian political leaders will lie in achieving this while keeping the honour of the Nagas intact.
One of the most remarkable outcomes of the extended ceasefire has been that the Naga civil society groups have gained strength. Today, Naga civil society bodies like the Hoho, Naga Mothers Organization, the Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights, the Naga Students' Organization can criticize the NSCN(I-M) and give direction to the peace process. A decade ago people were assassinated by the underground for trying to do so.
The NSCN(I-M) has quickly adapted to this change and engaged the Naga civil society organizations — holding regular consultations with them. Engaging civil society has made the NSCN(I-M) more realistic and appreciative of their influence and criticism. New Delhi, however, has not addressed Naga civil society organizations in any way. The latter also need to be convinced that the Indian Constitution is flexible enough to accommodate the aspirations of the Nagas. If they appreciate the difficulties of the government, then these opinion makers can be a force multiplier for peace with the NSCN (IM).

Oscar Fernandes to visit Nagaland Kohima | October 17, 2005 Weindia

Union Minister for Programme Implementation and Statistics Oscar Fernandes, who is also the Congress' in-charge for the North East, will pay a two-day visit to Nagaland beginning October 18.
Leader of the Opposition in the Nagaland Assembly I Imkong will recieve Mr Fernandes, on his arrival at Dimapur, after which he will proceed to Kohima.
The senior Congress leader would meet Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and other Congress leaders, including the NPCC president and the presidents of the district Congress committees, according to a Pradesh Congress release here.
He will address a meeting of the Congress Workers, the next day, at the Congress Bhavan here.
After the meeting, he would proceed to Dimapur, where he would make a brief halt at Chumukedima Police Complex before leaving for Kolkata. UNI AS RH SS DB1224
NSCN (I-M) reiterates unification demand By A Staff Reporter Assam Tribune
GUWAHATI, Oct 16 – The National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN) is sticking to the demand for unification of the Naga-inhabited areas of the States of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh despite strong opposition from the concerned State governments. Highly-placed official sources said that the NSCN leadership had raised the demand once again in the recent talks with the representatives of the Government of India at Bangkok. Sources said that the Central Government representatives made it clear to the NSCN leadership that it would not be possible on the part of the Centre to impose the same on the concerned State governments till a consensus on the issue is arrived at.

Sources pointed out that time and again the Central Government had made its position clear to the NSCN leadership and former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee during a visit to Nagaland, also made the Centre’s position clear. But till date, the NSCN is still sticking to its demand.

It may be mentioned here that the NSCN has been demanding unification of the Naga-inhabited areas for the formation of greater Nagalim and the map of the proposed Nagalim, prepared by the outfit, includes parts of seven districts of Assam and parts of Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. The Assam Government has made its position clear on the issue and opposed the demand, while Manipur witnessed strong protests against the demand, which turned violent.

Official sources said that though talks with the NSCN have been going on for years, discussion on substantive issues started only recently and the outfit has submitted a list of more than 30 demands including the demand for unification of the Naga-inhabited areas. However, sources refused to divulge whether the NSCN has given up the demand for a sovereign Nagalim or not.

Sources also admitted that the Naga problem would not be solved through talks with only the Issac- Muivah faction of the NSCN, and that the Khaplang faction would have to be taken into confidence for a permanent solution. Sources said that though a ceasefire pact with the NSCN(K) has been signed, talks on substantive issues with the outfit have not yet started and the outfit has also not yet submitted its list of demands. The Government would like to start formal talks with the NSCN(K) after the talks with the NSCN (I-M) make some headway.

Meanwhile, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) today made it clear that it would not compromise on the territorial integrity of Assam for the solution of the Naga problem.

Talking to The Assam Tribune, AASU general secretary Tapan Kumar Gogoi said that the students’ union welcomed the peace process in Nagaland and “we want a solution to the problem for restoration of peace in Nagaland. But we cannot allow anyone to create disturbance in Assam in the name of restoration of peace in Nagaland.” He asserted that the geographical integrity of Assam must be maintained and the AASU would never compromise on the issue. He said that the AASU has very cordial relations with the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) but in the talks with the NSF, the AASU made its stand clear on the issue on several occasions.

It may be mentioned here that several students’ bodies of the north-eastern States had talks with the leaders of the NSCN during their last visit to India and the AASU and Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union made their stand clear on the issue before the NSCN leaders. The AASU and AAPSU made it clear that they would not compromise on the geographical territory of the two States for the solution of the political problem of the Nagas.
British WW II veterans walk down memory lane
Kohima | October 17, 2005 12:15:06 PM IST Webindia

A group of British World War II veterans relived the forgotten battle of Kohima by holding a commemorative service to pay homage to hundreds of their comrades buried in India's northeastern state of Nagaland.
Forty-one members of the Royal British Legion offered prayers and laid wreaths over the weekend at the War Memorial in the Nagaland state capital Kohima.
The Kohima cemetery, which is completely terraced, contains 1,420 Commonwealth burials of World War II.
"I never imagined that visiting the War Memorial could be so emotional. Once at the cemetery, I could not just check myself and cried like a baby," 92-year-old Hilda Martin Smith told a small gathering of Indian Army and civil officials.
Smith was part of the British forces engaged in the region to ward off advancing Japanese forces in 1944. Hundreds of Indian soldiers and locals from the region fought alongside the British to repulse the Japanese attack.
Like Smith, Tommy Taylor, 82, was lucky to have survived one of the fiercely fought battles, although many of their colleagues perished in the war and were laid to rest in the hills of Nagaland as well as in valleys in adjoining Manipur.
Now, 61 years after the bitter battle, British war heroes were on a trip down memory lane to this action filled region to pay their homage to their lost comrades.
"Today, we are here to pay our respects to our comrades who sacrificed their lives," Taylor said.
The British team would be visiting the War Cemetery in Manipur's capital Imphal Wednesday.
The Royal British Legion was formed to perpetuate the memory of those who died in the service of their country.
Despite the Allied forces suffering heavy casualties, they managed to beat back the Japanese soldiers. The British and the Indian Army cemeteries commemorating those who died in the World War II in Nagaland and Manipur are well-maintained with little stone markers and bronze plaques recording their anguish and sacrifice. These graves are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. "When you go home tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow we gave our today," read an epitaph in one of the graves. IANS)
Air cover for troops in North East The Morung Express
AGARTALA, OCT 16 (AGENCIES): The Centre is actively considering a proposal to provide air cover to the security forces engaged in fighting rebellion in the North-east. This is to give an upperhand to the state armed police and Central paramilitary forces in counter-insurgency operations in the region.
State authorities have been told by the Union home ministry that the Centre is considering a change in the present strategy for combating outlawed militants with adequate importance to the ongoing process of peace negotiations. The Centre has already banned as many as 13 underground outfits in the North-east, including seven in Manipur and two each in Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya. The Centre’s security plan envisages providing air cover to the forces for surveillance and operational purposes and also to evacuate injured personnel for immediate medical attention. Sophisticated weapons and effective communication system are now being made available with the security forces fighting insurgency. The BSF has seven helicopters which can now be easily used by the paramilitary forces in their counter-insurgency operations.
The Centre has been implementing a scheme for reimbursement of security-related expenditures incurred by states seriously affected by militancy. Under the scheme, expenditures are to be incurred on capital works in jails and detention centres attached to police stations, special training for police forces and prison administration personnel for counter-insurgency purposes, as well as the raising of Indian Reserve Battalions.
Till 31 January this year, funds worth over Rs 31 crore were released by the Centre for Tripura as reimbursement of security expenditure. Assam was given Rs 25 crore and Manipur Rs 6 crore, respectively.
Situation tense in Karbi Anglong The Morung Express
Abandoned houses torched, 4 bodies recovered
DIPHU, OCT 16 (PTI): More than 60 abandoned houses were set on fire today in fresh outbreak of ethnic violence and four bodies recovered in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district.
The police said the four bodies were recovered from Hojaipur and Bokolia, Singh Teron and Jamunapar areas today following violence that had erupted yesterday after a two-day lull. Over 120 houses of both warring Dimasa and Karbi groups burnt yesterday.
More than 60 abandoned houses in Hojaipur area were torched today and the bodies were yet to be identified, they said.
The police said that five people were missing from the Singh Teron area.
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi has made an appeal to the people to maintain communal harmony and ensure innocent people were not harmed.
In a message through Guwahati Doordarshan, Gogoi urged the people as well as the media to show restraint.
Night curfew is on while the army is conducting patrolling in vulnerable areas.
Thirty-five lives of the communities have been lost in the ongoing ethnic strife in the hill district since September 26.
The situation in the ethnic strife hit district was ‘tense but under control’, police said adding, the army, police and para-military forces were patrolling the vulnerable areas.
Public Opinion? Akum Longchari The Morung Express
The process of formulating ‘public opinion’ is fundamental for democratization and progression of a people. ‘Public opinion’ is distinct from the ‘mind of a crowd.’ It is a systematic process of sensitizing people and represents the expression and wisdom of a nation’s experience and vision. Formulation of public opinion is a participatory dialogue process which exposes prevailing contradictions. It seeks to liberate the oppressed and those that oppress, for they too are victims of their own blindness.
Nagas have become vulnerable to many internal and external influences because of the various transitions it had to undergo. It has also not really healed from its collective traumas which has caused a greater sense of disconnection and disunity. The question that emerges is where is Naga public opinion? Does it even exist? Or has public opinion become the State itself?
The irony is that people have not been able to adequately confront the state because of a created relationship of dependency and control. The state presents itself as the only ‘legitimate’ unit of organization to represent the people and the sole authority to provide ‘employment’ and ‘resources.’ It also systematically controls the mind of people. Subsequently, those ruling have tactfully managed their source of power through a system, which centers in the hands of a few people. Often power is defined in terms of money, gun and the ability to create fear; but these are only the tools to enforce their perceived power over people. In reality their power lies in their strategies, planning and action that are well-planned in promoting their own self-interest at the expense of people.
Ironically, while people desire to free themselves, they also feel an overwhelming perceived sense of powerlessness and hopelessness and are faced with a moral dilemma around the question of survival. The state and its bureaucracy have ensured that people feel powerless to survive without patronage from state politics. Inevitably, people fall victim to electoral politics, which has succeeded in deepening the many ‘ism’ that we see around us. It ‘freezes the mind’ from any creative thinking to transcend the status quo. Eventually, electoral politics is reduced to a state where a bag of rice or Rs. 500 determines the vote.
This has grave ramifications since, what we often perceive as real, becomes real in consequence. Consequently, we have begun to have a false reductionist and parochial understanding of the realities that lie around us. Thus, politics has effectively been reduced to state politics, unity to uniformity, just peace to suffer peacefully, peace process to cease-fire, cease-fire to no fighting, the Naga movement to factions, Christianity to Baptist, reconciliation to forgive and forget and so on..... we can keep going. In the emerging internal contradictions do Nagas realize that its greatest threat is, ‘self-defeat?’
22 Karbis massacred in Assam ethnic conflict By Indo Asian News Service
Guwahati, Oct 17 (IANS) At least 22 Karbi tribals were killed and three critically wounded in Assam Monday after militants attacked two buses, taking the toll in two-weeks of ethnic clashes to 58.
A police official said the incident occurred at 8.30 a.m. at Jirikinding village in Karbi Anglong district, about 320 km east of Assam's main city Guwahati.
'The passengers of one of the buses managed to escape but Dimasa tribal militants brutally killed 22 people from another bus using crude weapons and firearms,' Karbi Anglong's District Magistrate D.D. Tripathi told IANS by telephone from Diphu.
All the victims were members of the majority Karbi tribe.
'Preliminary reports indicate the attack was carried out by militants of the Dima Halom Daoga (DHD),' Tripathi said.
A police official quoting witnesses said a group of 20 to 30 Dimasa militants stopped the two buses near a thickly forested area and asked Karbi passengers to stay inside the buses. They allowed others to leave.
'The passengers of one of the buses sensed trouble and fled to a jungle but the militants virtually slaughtered passengers from the other bus, killing 22 people on the spot,' a police official said requesting anonymity.
Three seriously injured passengers were admitted to a nearby hospital with multiple wounds.
The militants later set on fire both buses even as some of the rebels entered the jungles to look for the passengers who escaped.
'Most of the people killed bore injuries inflicted with sharp weapons like spears and machetes and some of them had bullet wounds as well,' District Magistrate Tripathi said.
Karbi and Dimasas have been engaged in a bitter turf war for years, with the situation turning violent in recent weeks after armed militants of both tribes attacked rival community members.
On Sunday, four people were killed, two of them Karbis, and up to 150 homes torched by rival tribesmen in the running ethnic clashes.
So far at least 1,500 homes have been set ablaze during the ongoing violence, triggering a massive exodus of villagers from both tribes.
'An estimated 30,000 people are in makeshift shelters and their numbers are growing by the day with fresh streams of people leaving villages out of fear,' Tripathi said.
The outlawed United Democratic People's Solidarity (UPDS), a ragtag rebel group fighting for a Karbi tribal homeland, and DHD, a militant group campaigning for a Dimasa homeland, were suspected to be behind the attacks.
The Karbis have borne the brunt in recent attacks with armed DHD rebels killing 47 of the 58 dead, police said.
Authorities last week called out the Indian Army to quell the ethnic violence and enforced night curfew in Karbi Anglong.
'A massive hunt has been launched with army and paramilitary troops being rushed in strength to the area where the 22 people were killed,' Tripathi said.
Violence continues in Karbi Anglong From Our Correspondent Assam Tribune
DONGKAMOKAM, Oct 16 – The violence in strife-torn Karbi Anglong continued with the recovery of three more bodies even as 44 houses were set ablaze in different areas today. While two bodies were recovered from Doldoli, the other was found at Hojaipur – both under Diphu police station. The bodies have not been identified till filing of this report.

There has been no let-up in the burning down of houses either. Twenty-five and 14 houses were set ablaze at Dhansiri and Borlangpher respectively today. Late last night, five houses were torched at Manja-Hojainala area.

With the recovery of the three bodies today, the toll in the ongoing ethnic clashes in the district has gone up to 35 (including two killed in a crossfire between militants and police on October 8). The bloodbath had started on September 26 when three people were killed.

The toll could mount further, as ten persons have been missing from the Doldoli Ramsing Hanse village since October 10.

Meanwhile, night curfew has been clamped within a distance of 10 km from Diphu town from 6 pm to 6 am. This has been done to prevent loss of life and property of people and further deterioration of the law-and-order situation, the Deputy Commissioner of Karbi Anglong said.

Police has so far arrested around 100 people in connection with the violence.

The orgy of unprecedented carnage has cast a spell of fear and gloom in the entire district. The mayhem has been going on unabated for nearly three weeks now. Even after the deployment of additional security personnel, the violence has not subsided, with incidents of killing and burning down of houses occurring with alarming regularity.

PTI adds: Meanwhile Minister of State for Home Rockybul Hussain visited several relief camps of the warring communities and announced reinforcement of two more companies of CRPF and three of the Assam Police Battalion to maintain peace in the district.

The Army was also conducting patrolling in vulnerable areas. Officials described the situation as “tense but under control” today.
22 Karbis hacked to death in Central Assam NET News Network
Diphu (Assam), Oct 17: In one of the goriest incident in recent history of the state, at least 22 Karbi tribals, including eight women, were hacked to death and three injured by militants today in strife torn Karbi Anglong hill district of central Assam.
District Superintendent of Police Pankaj Sarma told northeasttribune.com that unidentified militants, with their faces covered in black cloth, waylaid two buses coming from Jirikinding to Hamren and the district headquarters of Diphu at Jengkha at around 8 a.m.
The insurgents then identified Karbi passengers and after asking them to alight from the Diphu-bound bus hacked them to death before setting their vehicle and the other bus on fire completely burning down the first one and the other partially.
The Hamren-bound passengers reported the incident at the Milu police outpost under Kheroni police station, about 130-km from here, Sarma said. The two long distance buses belonged to the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council. The SP, alongwith security forces, rushed there and cordoned off the area and intensified security arrangements. Meanwhile, on Sunday night, around 200 armed people attacked three villages- Dokterang, Singterang and Hemariterang and set ablaze 30 houses belonging to Karbi community. Biren Sing Terang whose residence was also burnt down informed northeasttribune.com that five security personnel on duty fled from the site of incident after seeing the 200 strong crowds. “ Additional security reached after half an hour and exchange of fire between the crowd and CRPF personnel continued for around 15 minutes,” said Terang. A 60 year old disabled woman, Kachik Kramsapi had a miraculous escape after the mob set ablaze her thatched hut, informed Terang.
NESO to raise Garo Hills issue with NHRC From Our Correspondent Assam Tribune
TURA, Oct 16 – The North-East Students’ Organisation (NESO), a conglomerate of student unions of the north-eastern States, will take up the killing of nine civilians in police firing at Tura and Williamnagar on September 30 with the Government of India and the National Human Rights Commission, in New Delhi.

Terming it as nothing short of a re-enactment of the Jallianwalla bagh tragedy, NESO has sought stern action against the guilty officials and police personnel who committed this gruesome murder. The NESO along with the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), which happens to be a part of the organisation, has resolved to exert maximum pressure on New Delhi and the Meghalaya Government at Shillong to bring to book the culprits who were involved in the two incidents in Garo Hills.

A twenty member team of the North Eastern Students Organisation (NESO) led by its chairman Dr. Samujjal Bhattacharya and the All Assam Students Union (AASU) led by its president Shankar Prasad Ray and vice president Digantamoni Bora, took stock of the situation on their arrival at Tura on Saturday.

The student leaders, accompanied by members of the Garo Students’ Union and the Joint Action Committee, held a meeting at Orchid Lodge and later visited the victims in the Tura Civil Hospital. They also visited the scene of the carnage at Tura Chandmari playground and witnessed the bullet marks that remained in and around the field clearly showing the brutality of the security forces on that tragic day.

Speaking to mediapersons, Dr Samujjal Bhattacharya expressed shock over the incident and condemned the brutality of the government forces while simulteneously demanding for a judicial probe within a stipulated period of time and exemplary punishment to the guilty officials and security personnel.

“We are believers of non-violence and the peaceful gathering at Tura and Williamnagar on September 30 was a democratic right. No one can suppress that. On one side, the Government, both central and state, calls upon the people of the North East to come to the mainstream but, on the otherhand it commits murder on the very people who are a part of the main stream. If this is not double standards, then what is? The government must clarify on this issue,” stated Dr Bhattacharya.

The NESO and AASU would take up the human rights violation by the government with the National Human Rights Commission and have also cautioned the people to be wary of a delay in the judicial probe to be constituted by the government. A memorandum to the Government of India have already been submitted by the NESO leaders with regards to the ‘Bloody Friday’ incident in the Garo Hills. “It was a pre-planned strategy of the government to kill innocent civilians, including students, otherwise how could simulteneous firing take place at both Tura and Williamnagar leading to the death of nine persons and bullet injury to more a hundred unarmed civilians. The Government must clarify whether or not they respect the non-violent and peaceful movement of the people,” pointed out Dr Bhattacharya.

The NESO Chairman was highly critical of the role of the national media which failed to highlight the Garo Hills tragedy. “For them India does not exist beyond Kolkata,” he remarked bitterly.
Ethnic discourses in the Northeast — In search of an alternative paradigm — By Sanatomba Kangujam (Contd from previous issue) Sangai Express
Now, in order to protect their spheres of influence and maintain the status quo, the Meitei elites harp upon the ideology of Ma-nipuri Nationhood based on the historical sanctity of the Territorial Integrity and democratic value of ethnic pluralism based on peaceful co-existence.
a) Manipur, which comprised of both the valley and the hills was an Independent Princely State for about two millennium. b) Manipur was annexed into the dominion of India against the wishes of the people and that the Merger Agreement of 1949 is null and void as per the provisions of international laws and the Manipur State Constitution Act 1947. c) Manipur has a definite historical international boundary at the time of its integration with India and the legal sanctity of its political boundary was upheld by various international treaties besides being recognised by United Kingdom and other powers. Therefore India cannot alter the boundary of Manipur and the Article 3 of the Indian Constitution cannot be applied to Manipur. d) The territorial boundary of Manipur cannot be altered by virtue of universal principle of international law i.e. UTI Possidetis Juris which states that whatever the circumstances the right to self-determination must not involve changes to existing frontiers at the time of independence except where states concerned agree otherwise. e) The demographic patterns of Manipur demonstrate that the hill districts of Manipur are inhabited by various tribes, Nepalese and several other communities. Since time immemorial, these tribes along with the Meiteis have had cultural, social and economic bonds. All kinds of tribes are also residing in the valley of Manipur harmoniously. Besides, it may be noted that the lingua-franca among these tribes is the Manipuri language. f) No hill district is exclusively inhabited by a particular tribe. And the concept of “Naga-dominated areas” is a farce as the Kukis who are settled extensively in the hills have captured 11 Assembly Constituencies against 9 by the Nagas in the 7th Assembly Election (2000). So far, the Kukis have returned 4 times from the outer Manipur Parliamentary constituency whereas the Nagas 6 times.
g) The Manipur State Assembly has unanimously resolved to protect the present boundaries of the State on four occasions on the floor of the house in 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2001 respectively.
h) The people of Manipur have passed historic resolutions on 4th August 1997 and 28th September 2000 to protect the Unity and Territorial Integrity of Manipur. Besides, the Manipur People’s Uprising of 18th June 2001 stands as the living testimony to preserve the territorial status quo of Manipur. i) The economic ties between the hills and the valley people is an inseparable one. Any disturbance to this economic compulsion would certainly lead into a grave economic crisis in the State where both the people from the hills and valley would suffer. j) In the first democratic Government of Manipur formed in 1948 two tribal leaders viz; Major R. Khathing and Mr. Teba Kilong were appointed Ministers apart from making Mr T.C. Tiangkham, the Speaker.
k) The so-called Naga tribes of Manipur were never a signatory to the memorandum submitted by the Naga Club to the visiting Simon Commission in 1929. l) That the Naga-Akbar Hydari Accord, 1947 between the then Governor of Assam Hydari and representative of Western Angamis, Eastern Anga-mis, Kukis, Kacha Nagas, Rengmas, Semas, Lothas, Aos, Sangtams and Changs had no jurisdiction over Manipur as Manipur then was an independent princely State. m) No Naga tribes of Manipur had participated in the plebiscite of 1951 held in the Naga Hills under the leadership of Phizo. Rather the Nagas of Manipur have been participating in the democratic process very successfully and quite imminently since the first Indian Election of 1952.
n) That the 16-Point Agreement (which was never agreed upon in its entirety and which has been disowned by the NSCN and the Naga Hoho) between the Government of India and the Naga People’s Convention in 1960, and the 1964 ceasefire between the GOI and the NNC are null and void as far as Manipur is concerned as the people of Manipur were never consulted in the process.
0) That the hills people and the valley people are racially of common origin and they are not “two different people”. As such they are destined to co-exist together peacefully as “One People.”
These are the ideological ingredients of the mainstream ethno-political discourse of the Meiteis. Such well articulated agenda for the territorial integrity has been systematically propagated by the dominant elite groups of the Meitei community. This is nothing but a strategy of the Meitei middle-class elites to protect their spheres of influence by preserving the geo-ethno-political status quo.
Concluding Remark:
Such diametrically contradictory ideologies are being advanced by the elites of the respective ethnic groups resulting in a cross cutting conflict situation in Manipur, which renders its historical existence at stake. Considering the stances adopted by each of the competing elite groups, it is unlikely that a commonly acceptable solution could be brought about so easily in the near future. However the resolution of the existing conflict will to a large extent depend upon the accommodative capacity of the Indian Federal Polity. And the challenge before the Indian State today is whether India can evolve itself into a Multi-Ethnic Nation-State or not. But only time will tell about the shape of things to come.
Here lies the responsibility of the intellectual community to explore various strategies to resolve the conflict situation prevailing in the North East in general and Manipur in particular. It is high time on the part of the Scholars, Researchers, Thinkers, Writers, Academicians, Social Activists etc. to free themselves from the shackles of the dominant elites by shedding narrow ‘isms’.
The intellectuals should cease to serve the reactionary elites of this parasitic regime and rather endeavour to create a free and fearless academic atmosphere where intellectual freedom shall be secured to all the investigating minds. Let us also strive our best to initiate an alternative discourse by heralding a new era of scientific research based on value-free objective analysis of empirical facts and events.
Finally, I would like to remind that social phenomenon occurs due to the operation of specific social laws and the task of discovering such social laws and engineering the process of social change for human welfare in the light of that laws lies with the intellectuals. This is a case of theory building and a challenge before us.
Intellectuals of the North -East, Unite!


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