Manipur facing extinction'
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, April 05 2011:
As the proposed Trans-Asian Highway would certainly become a reality by 2020, the Manipuri Nation will face the grim prospect of slowly fading and ultimately disappearing from the surface of the Earth if the Nation is not liberated by 2020, asserted Advocate Angomcha Araba.
He was addressing a public meeting held at Tangkham Awang Leikai on the topic "Indo-Manipur Conflict and People's Participation in Resolving the Conflict" under the joint aegis of AMKIL and the Tangkham Awang Leikai Meira Paibi Lup.
Once the Trans-Asian Highway becomes a reality in Manipur, there would be heavy influx of outsiders and they would greatly outnumber the indigenous people.
"Moreover, foreign nationals and corporates with huge capitals would take control of all our economy and we would be reduced to a life of servitude", Araba cautioned.
As such, all the people should join hands and work together to ensure that a plebiscite is held in order to form a sovereign Manipur before 2020.It is the indigenous people themselves who must struggle to save the Manipuri Nation.
"No other people would come forward to save our society", he said.
When the United Nations decides that the IndoManipur conflict should be resolved through plebiscite, the Government of India would not be able to say no.He went on to claim that the call for plebiscite is acceptable to the constitution of India.
Nevertheless, it demands a collective voice from the people to conduct a plebiscite in Manipur, Araba asserted.
MAPI Council president Th Manihar recalled that Manipur was once a peaceful and sovereign nation where different communities lived together harmoniously.
However, since the alleged annexation of Manipur by India, Manipuri people are being denied the most basic human rights including the right to live.
This was one reason for the rise of Indo-Manipur conflict, he asserted.
Later the meeting resolved that the Indo-Manipur conflict should be resolved through plebiscite with people's full participation.
It also decided to send this resolution to the UNO and other international human right organisations with an appeal to facilitate resolving the Indo-Manipur conflict.