PPAM warns of Kashmir-like takeover
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By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Jan 5: The People’s Progressive Alliance Manipur (PPAM) has warned the Government of India may be eyeing a Kashmir-like takeover in Manipur.
A statement issued by PPAM recalled that New Delhi abrogated Article 370 in 2019 and split Jammu & Kashmir into two Union Territories.
Jammu & Kashmir was under President’s Rule for a year at the time (imposed December 19, 2018), and an unprecedented communications blackout coincided with the takeover.
Now in early 2026, Manipur is under President’s Rule (since February 13, 2025) and a fierce security presence, it pointed out.
PPAM said that it has already noted the heavy deployment of security forces as a “strategic ploy to break Manipur, akin to J&K in 2019”.
Without vigilance, the “temporary” President’s Rule could turn permanent, if a National emergency is declared to bypass the one-year limit, PPAM said.
Claiming that intelligence reports have already leaked about creating a separate political entity inside Manipur- plans to redraw the map along ethnic lines, PPAM has condemned any such gambit as a grave betrayal of democratic federalism and the spirit of Manipur Merger Agreement.
India’s own laws allow President’s Rule only for six months at a time, renewable with Parliamentary approval, and not beyond a year without extremely narrow conditions. Any attempt to subvert these procedures, for example, by secretly invoking Article 352 would be unconstitutional, it said.
It warned that any attempt to break Manipur into pieces will be met with peaceful resistance by all ‘our people’.
The most tragic feature of the present crisis is the timidity and moral collapse of the elected MLAs who have failed to rise above party loyalties and personal calculations to stake a collective claim for the restoration of a popular Government, it remarked.
History will record that when Manipur stood at a constitutional crossroads, its legislators chose silence over courage.
If India ultimately proceeds to break Manipur into pieces under the cover of prolonged President’s Rule, the primary responsibility will rest with these MLAs who abdicated their democratic duty, it said.
PPAM asserted that the people of Manipur did not elect representatives to remain spectators while their State is dismantled.
The people will not forgive this betrayal. Should Manipur be disintegrated, the MLAs will face the full force of public accountability, it said.
Those who fail to defend Manipur’s integrity today will be judged and punished by history and by the people themselves, it added.
IMPHAL, Jan 5: The People’s Progressive Alliance Manipur (PPAM) has warned the Government of India may be eyeing a Kashmir-like takeover in Manipur.
A statement issued by PPAM recalled that New Delhi abrogated Article 370 in 2019 and split Jammu & Kashmir into two Union Territories.
Jammu & Kashmir was under President’s Rule for a year at the time (imposed December 19, 2018), and an unprecedented communications blackout coincided with the takeover.
Now in early 2026, Manipur is under President’s Rule (since February 13, 2025) and a fierce security presence, it pointed out.
PPAM said that it has already noted the heavy deployment of security forces as a “strategic ploy to break Manipur, akin to J&K in 2019”.
Without vigilance, the “temporary” President’s Rule could turn permanent, if a National emergency is declared to bypass the one-year limit, PPAM said.
Claiming that intelligence reports have already leaked about creating a separate political entity inside Manipur- plans to redraw the map along ethnic lines, PPAM has condemned any such gambit as a grave betrayal of democratic federalism and the spirit of Manipur Merger Agreement.
India’s own laws allow President’s Rule only for six months at a time, renewable with Parliamentary approval, and not beyond a year without extremely narrow conditions. Any attempt to subvert these procedures, for example, by secretly invoking Article 352 would be unconstitutional, it said.
It warned that any attempt to break Manipur into pieces will be met with peaceful resistance by all ‘our people’.
The most tragic feature of the present crisis is the timidity and moral collapse of the elected MLAs who have failed to rise above party loyalties and personal calculations to stake a collective claim for the restoration of a popular Government, it remarked.
History will record that when Manipur stood at a constitutional crossroads, its legislators chose silence over courage.
If India ultimately proceeds to break Manipur into pieces under the cover of prolonged President’s Rule, the primary responsibility will rest with these MLAs who abdicated their democratic duty, it said.
PPAM asserted that the people of Manipur did not elect representatives to remain spectators while their State is dismantled.
The people will not forgive this betrayal. Should Manipur be disintegrated, the MLAs will face the full force of public accountability, it said.
Those who fail to defend Manipur’s integrity today will be judged and punished by history and by the people themselves, it added.