UCAPG condemns CM's statement
Source: The Sangai Express
Jiribam, January 02 2020:
The United Committee Against People's Grievances (UCAPG), Jiribam has condemned Chief Minister N Biren Singh for his statement "Eihakna Leiringeida Manipur Jiribamgum Tahalloi" which was published in the local dailies of Manipur on December 30, 2019.The joint press statement issued by the president of UCAPG Pousing Kamei and secretary Md Bahar Uddin stated that the statement of Chief Minister is of great concern and very unfortunate.
Stressing the historical fact, the UCAPG stated that Jiribam (earlier Jiri Valley) was a part of Cachar, the Dimacha Kingdom of Cachar before 1832 and the inhabitants were Dimachas, soldiers of Dimacha King, Cachar- Manipuris and Bengali speaking Hindu and Muslim.
Further, it added that during seven years devastation (1819-1826), the inhabitants of Jiribam received the then Manipur princes and their subjects with food and other necessary supplies at Gularthol point at Jiribam when they were forced to leave their ancestral homeland Imphal valley due to Burmese aggression.
"After formal annexation of Cachar, the British Governor-General in Council, with the recommendation of Pemberton, transferred Jiribam to Manipur under a treaty called "The Jiri Treaty 1833", it added.
The treaty was signed between Gambhir Singh and Commissioner FJ Grant representing the British Authority, it said and claimed that the inhabitants of Jiribam namely Manipuris, Bengalis (Hindu & Muslim), Tribal and other small ethnic groups and their descendants are the indigenous people of the district.
Saying that the historic facts are the evidence that different communities and their descendants residing in Jiribam are the sons of the soil, it continued that Jiribam can never be a home of immigrants as stated by the Chief Minister.
It then appealed all concerned to refrain from publishing such false and baseless statement in future for political gain.