Every Nation has right to independence : CorCom

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Dec 9: The CorCom has categorically stated that every Nation has the right to independence and self-rule and this is guaranteed by the first article of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
Greeting all the people of Manipur on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day (December 10), a statement issued by CorCom pointed out that the Government of India has been reserving this right to independence since 1979.
Even though India accepts internal right to self determination, it has been reserving the external right to self-determination.
Many countries including France, Germany, Sweden and Pakistan have been exerting sustained pressure upon India to lift its reservations on the first articles of both ICCPR and ICESCR.
However, India has been enduring all this international pressure under a very shameful situation for fear of losing Kashmir and the whole of WESEA including Manipur (Kangleipak). As such, India has been still violating the right to self-determination of many Nations, the CorCom alleged.
The UN Human Rights Committee which has been monitoring effective implementation of ICCPR adopted a resolution in its 126th session held on August 22 this year and sought a report from the Government of India regarding withdrawal of its reservation on the 1st article of ICCPR (right to self-determination).
On the other hand, all the natural resources found in Manipur are included under entries 53, 54 and 56 of the List 1 of the Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution. Thus the Government of India enjoys exclusive rights to frame laws for natural resources found in Manipur and the people of Manipur are not allowed to utilise the natural resources for their development, according to the CorCom’s statement.
This is nothing but gross violation of both ICCPR and ICESCR, it said.
Article 1(2) of ICCPR and ICESCR guarantees the people of Manipur to right to use the natural resources  found in the State for their own welfare. However, the Government of India gives the right of framing laws with regard to natural resources found in Manipur to the Union Parliament exclusively and thus the State Government is not given any power regarding utilisation/exploitation of natural resources found in the State, it observed.
At the same time, the Government of India could never see the North Eastern States including Manipur at par with other regions of India since the very beginning.
Till date, no concrete economic development programme has been initiated in the North East region. As a result, people of the region have a notion that they would not be able to survive  without the commodities imported from big cities of India, the CorCom remarked.
The Government of India using its military forces and different agencies have been oppressing the common people as well as human rights defenders of the region in the form of  intimidation, harassment, killing on fabricated charges, torture, engineering forced disappearance of arrested people, maiming etc, it alleged.
Article 26 of ICCPR says that rights of all political prisoners should be protected but the Government of India has been torturing and killing many political dissidents, it further alleged.
Yet, India raised all kinds of hullabaloo when Indian soldiers were killed brutally by Pakistani soldiers during the Kargil War.
Even though India has not yet ratified the Convention against Torture, there are certain rules which cannot be violated under any circumstances. Article 7 of ICCPR bans any form of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Moreover, India had ratified the ICCPR in 1979, it continued.
Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention 1949 prohibits Government of India from torturing and inhuman treatment of revolutionary cadres fighting for independence of Manipur (Kangleipak).
India ought to abide by this prohibition as India has ratified all four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Geneva Conventions Act came into force in the country after it was passed by the Parliament in 1960, CorCom said.
In order to save indigenous languages spoken by minority groups across the world, the United Nations declared 2019 as the International Year of Indigenous Languages but in WESEA, none of the indigenous communities have been given their due rights and shares. As a result, some indigenous communities of WESEA have been already wiped out from the surface of the Earth.
Moreover, the Government of India has been embarking on different strategies like Citizenship Amendment Bill with a nefarious intention to annihilate all indigenous, minority communities, it alleged.
It then appealed to all the people to fight for their rights collectively instead of struggling separately.