48th Raising Day Of UNLF Celebrated UNLF vows to fight for integrity and freedom

IMPHAL, Nov 23 : The proscribed UNLF has vowed to fight for territorial integrity of Manipur and also to win back its sovereignty with all its might.

A statement issued by the UNLF’s central committee on the occasion of the outfit’s 48th raising day (November 24) greeted all the patriotic sons and daughters of the nation.

While presenting its annual report, the outfit asserted that the nations and peoples could live with dignity and freedom, overcoming difficulties and dangers in their history, and nations and countries are thus established in their territories.

Many attempts had been made in the past to destroy Manipur and enslave its peoples by outside forces but the peoples of Manipur had been resilient and fought for their freedom and dignity. Many had sacrificed their lives for this cause.

The indigenous peoples of this land had been interdependent, with common origins, common ancestry, and they shared this region and habitat. There may be petty squabbles amongst them, but they had lived as inseparable communities so far. Manipur is a multi-ethnic and pluralistic nation.

India has utilized the divide and rule policy and helped develop the idea of ethnic exclusivism to make the ethnic groups think and act for their own self alone. This small and harmful ideology was encouraged to be practised by the NSCN (IM) so as to increase the animosity and rivalry among the ethnics, which must be fought tooth and nail by the collective will of all indigenous peoples.

The relationship between the territories and peoples and the inner philosophy behind territorial integrity must be understood by everybody as inseparable, for which people are not afraid to die, and they will rise for the territorial integrity of the land.

“Our peoples had cherished the supreme value of sacrificing their lives for the freedom and integrity of their lands. Therefore, the territorial integrity of a land must be understood as the relationship between the territory and the population, that the land and people are linked with an inseparable connection, that nature’s environment, the air and water, the mountains, the rivers, the lakes and forests were all organically related with the human beings, and it is also linked up with the system of law and governance or the polity of the land”, UNLF stated.

There is an organic relationship between the environment and the people, and this relationship in its pristine undisturbed self is its territorial integrity. So when the GoI wants to settle their negotiations with NSCN (IM), they should not disturb the relationship of Manipur’s territory and its people, and the relationship between the indigenous communities and their close organic polity.

“The UNLF and the revolutionary groups of Manipur and the people of Manipur shall resist with all their might attempts to disturb the integrity of the state, it asserted

The nature of the organic environment of the Hills and Plains had necessitated the pluralistic sharing of the habitat by the highlanders and the lowlanders since time immemorial. Though the fertility of the plains had induced greater advance in the organization of peoples lives, there had been three big trajectories of history which had created the distances amongst the indigenous communities.

Firstly, the conversion of the majority of the valley populations into the world of Hinduism had accentuated the divide amongst the peoples because of the notions of purity and pollution introduced by Hindu philosophy. Hinduism had become regressive and oppressive in the early twentieth century, but leaders like Hijam Irabot had fought for reform of Hinduism effectively, and the unity of the Hills and Plains had been emphasized by many post war leaders of all communities. Hinduism is now a very much reformed religion, able to receive secular influences in its moral and religious principles.

Secondly, the advent of the colonial empire of the British and division of rule between the hills and plains as separate entities in order to weaken the collective life of the indigenes had ushered in the ethnic divisions of today. However the organic relationship between the indigenous peoples are strong in the grassroots, whose voices had been marginalized by the use of threat and force now being encouraged by the Indian state in order to self-perpetuate its rule in the Northeast.

Thirdly in 1949 India annexed Manipur through the use of force and deceit and continued the British rule through more sophisticated use of Indian cunning and diplomacy. They built up wedges between the indigenous communities, encouraged division of the people in ethnic lines, and inter-ethnic clashes and violence against one another helps the Indian state to prolong its colonial rule.

India had been playing this policy to encourage division amongst the ethnicities as a principle of counter-insurgency and statecraft since the seventies. The advent of the exclusivist Naga identity was thus encouraged to grow against the collective struggle of the Northeasterners. Also the idea of a Greater Mizoram was instilled into the Kuki-Chin Mizo communities with its centre at Aizawl. All these are ploys by the Indian state arousing the passions and identity conscious indigenous populations against one another, so as to prolong Indian rule over divided autochthons of the region.

So in order to suppress the revolutionary movements in Manipur and other parts of WESIA the GoI is deftly engaged in the real politik of split amongst the indigenous communities. The Indian constitution helps to provide this division, through the scheduling of tribes and other communities as ST, SC, OBC and others within the framework of this constitution. There shall be no opportunity to oppose or fight this system of division. The policies of GoI in the current practice of split or divide and rule can only be fought by the collective will of the indigenous communities, and the communities must be free to design their own plural and equal relationships between themselves without being advised by the Brahministic, racist Indian rulers. Unless the indigenous communities rise together as equals against the oppressive rule of the Indian state, the indigenous peoples have no future. This is the firm belief of the UNLF, the central committee conveyed.

Presenting its annual report, the outfit asserted that the forced annexation of Manipur by India in 1949 is the crux of the matter i.e. the genesis of the national contradiction between Manipur and India.

The colonial bondage in which all the Manipuri people are languishing can be overthrown only by the collective struggle of the entire people. The conflict that had developed between India and Manipur could only be resolved with the restoration of Manipur’s sovereignty and independence which cannot be compromised at all. This is the question of survival or extinction of all the indigenous people of the Manipuri nation. And this is the very reason for UNLF taking up arms for national liberation struggle, it asserted.

For the GoI, their solution is to assimilate all the indigenous people of the region into their vast population, thereby obliterating the distinct ethnic identities and character.

“To serve this purpose and to subjugate us, they are using the massive Indian military machine, and at the same time the technique of ‘Peace talk’ to ensnare us into submission as a policy of “Hammer and Tongs”. And this speaks why UNLF refuses to Indian sponsored peace talks”, it remarked.

“Under the racist Indian colonial regime which is suppressing our people in all spheres, our cherished goal to safeguard our peoples’ ethnic identity and dignity is impossible. The socio-economic development as well as our human resource development will be simply futile under the failed Indian state”, it alleged.

With the NIA Court compelled to accept the truth that UNLF Chairman Sanayaima, and other leaders of UNLF have been fighting for restoration of Manipur’s sovereignty, GoI can no longer deny Manipur’s struggle for independence. From the eyes of international law, the struggle by the revolutionary groups of Manipur are no longer a simple law and order problem but it is a struggle for independence.

“The UNLF shall devote in the collective struggle envisaged by CORCOM, and we therefore pledge before our people our faith in CORCOM and united strength of our people”, it conveyed.

24-Nov-2012 / 01:29 AM / Our Staff Reporter / 7 Comments