NEW DELHI, SEPT 4, 2015: In memory of the departed souls, the Manipur Tribals Forum Delhi held a candlelight vigil and condolence meeting was held in JNU on Thursday evening. Hundreds of tribal students, social activists and research scholars pay tributes to the departed souls.
On the ongoing grave crisis gripping the tribal areas of Manipur, the Manipur Tribals Forum, Delhi stated that on August 31, 2015, the Manipur Assembly passed three bills following sustained protests in the Manipur valley districts demanding the implementation of Inner Line Permit (ILP) system for the State.
The three bills, taken together, will directly undermine the existing safeguards for the tribal ‘hill areas’ regarding land-ownership and population influx as the primary threat for the tribal people comes not from outside the state but the valley Meitei people itself. The tribal people have made their opposition to the Meitei demands clear. But, the tribal people were never consulted by the ‘Joint Committee’ which have been spearheading the demands, nor the Manipur Government which accepts them. The tribal MLAs in the Assembly, fearing for their lives, dare not oppose the Bills when the Bills were introduced and passed in the Assembly.
The Hill Areas Committee (HAC), comprising of all tribal MLAs, which was set up under Article 371C of the Constitution to protect tribal interests and whose concurrence is mandatory for all legislation affecting tribal areas, was summarily brushed aside.
In response, some tribal bodies organized protests which soon went out of control. Government sent in the so-called Manipur Police Commandos, who are well known for their communal antipathy towards the tribals. More than eight tribal people have died, and more than 50 injured.
The Forum condemn the highhanded and deeply biased manner in which the Manipur Government responded to the protests. While the Manipur police uses rubber bullets for the valley protesters, live bullets were freely used for tribal protesters. Of course, this is not the first time such visible partiality is exhibited by the state police commandos. Ukhrul (2014), Mao Gate in Senapati District (2010) and Moreh (2007), among others, have all experienced such partiality in the past and protested against it. We demand that the State Police Commandos be immediately withdrawn from tribal areas and central forces deployed, if need be, the statement added.
~ BRUCE K. THANGKHAL
(The Mizoram Post | Manipur Chronicle | Zogam Today)
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