Shillong, Nov 9: The North East Students’ Organisation (NESO) has asked the Centre to call all the parties for a dialogue to arrive at a permanent solution to end violence in Manipur.
A sit-in-demonstration was held in Shillong to protest against the central government’s apathy to resolve Manipur violence even after six months.
Similar protests were carried out in other NE state capitals.
The participants included activists from the KSU, HITO, GSU, FKJGP, HNYF, RBYF, Shillong Manipuri Students’ Union, Kuki Students’ Organisation Shillong, Naga Students’ Union Shillong, Shillong Socio-Cultural Assamese Students’ Association,Mizo Students’ Union Shillong, Twipra Students’ Federation Shillong, Arunachal Students Union Shillong, Mara Students’ Organisation and Lai Students’ Association.
The placards on display at the venue read: “stop playing politics over human lives”, “We demand permanent peace in Manipur”, “Government of India your inaction shows your attitude towards the North East” “dear Indian Government, leave politics behind”.
NESO chairman Samuel B Jyrwa addressed the gathering and said, “With the support of all concerned organizations, NESO is demanding that the Government of India should take initiative to bring about a permanent peace in the state of Manipur. It should call all the parties to the negotiating table to start a dialogue so that an early solution which is agreeable to the stakeholders of the state of Manipur can be reached so that peace can once again prevail in the state of Manipur.”
“And if the Government of India still delays to take the initiative it only proves that the Government of India is not interested in the welfare of the indigenous people of the NE and the indigenous people of Manipur in particular but is only interested in its land and resources,” he said.
“This is a warning to the Government of India that if they want to alienate more people of the NE from mainland India, the ball is in the court of Government of India, they should act now or the time maybe too late.”
He said the NE region has been facing political injustices for the past many years.
Jyrwa said, “We have been saying this again and again, time after time, generation after generation that the government of India only gives us political injustice but successive central governments have denied that they are giving us political injustices.”
“There are many instances when we think of the NE region, we are being made to merge with India. Manipur by force was made to merge with India, Meghalaya through the Instrument of Accession was made to annex or to accede with India and many other princely states and autonomous areas were made to merge with India,” he said.
He said the Centre is using the draconian law, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) against the indigenous people of the North East region. Security forces have committed atrocities in the different states of the NE region in the name of fighting insurgency.
Jyrwa said that the Government of India has done another political injustice by flooding the NE region with illegal migrants from Bangladesh and had even passed the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2019, in order to give citizenship to illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
According to Jyrwa, the inaction on the part of the Government of India on Manipur situation is another political injustice.
“We have consulted with all the stakeholders of Manipur and different personalities in Manipur, they were saying and alleging that there is something more sinister to what that meets the eye. This is a very dangerous trend, this is a very unfortunate incident that happened in Manipur and as NESO we feel that the Government of India has failed terribly to address this situation in Manipur,” he said.
KSU chief Lambokstarwell Marngar said the lackadaisical attitude of the Government of India only forced us to believe that it has a hidden agenda to wipe out the indigenous people of the North East.
He said the Centre had deployed thousands of paramilitary forces to Manipur just to be mere spectators of the drama without doing anything to stop the violence. “This makes me suspect that the BJP at the Centre has a hidden motive to instigate bloodshed among the indigenous people in the NE region,” Marngar said.
“Therefore, the KSU sends a clear message to the Centre to immediately take steps to resolve the Manipur situation once and for all,” he said.
KSU general secretary Donald V Thabah criticised the MPs of the NE region for their failure to bring peace in Manipur. “It is highly condemnable that while the people are suffering, our MPs are not doing anything about it,” he said.
HNYF president Sadon K Blah said, “It is sad to say that ethnic clashes in Manipur is a recurring phenomena and the previous government, be it state government or central, had handled the situation in the most appropriate way. But as of now the current dispensation be it the state or the central government has not taken the necessary measure to douse the situation in Manipur and on the contrary it seems that there is communal politics being played by the institution which is having the power to control the situation in Manipur.”
He wanted to know how the conflict in Manipur can continue for so long.
“Had this conflict not been supported by this group or that group, it cannot go on like this and it cannot sustain in such degree and intensity .So there is a plan and hidden agenda by the political master and political parties in the situation of Manipur that might be from the state of Manipur or from the central government,” he added.
