Objection to raising Manipur issue at UNHRC
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: October 03, 2024 -

"Manipur again raised at UNHRC. Are the CSOs crossing a line?" This was the tagline of the "On Point with Kartikeya," a discussion programme helmed by Kartikeya Sharma, Deputy Managing Editor of News9 Live, that went on air recently.

Joined in by Input Editor Brijesh Pandey in the studio and a panel of experts including Prof Prasenjit Biswas of North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong and former Director General of Assam Rifles (DGAR) Lt Gen Shokin Chauhan online, the discussion programme was facilitated in the backdrop of the statement made by Khuraijam Athouba, who is the working president of International Peace and Social Advancement (IPSA) at the 26th meeting of 57th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.

Taking part in the general debate on Agenda Item 5, "Human Rights Situations that Require the Council's Attention," Athouba had highlighted the ongoing ethnic conflict between the Kuki-Chin and Meetei/Meitei communities in Manipur and called for urgent international intervention to stop the escalating humanitarian crisis, which is now just a day short of completing 17 months on October 3.

Athouba, who also happens to be the spokesperson for the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), argued that the Government of India has failed to protect the native people of Manipur despite the grave threats being faced by the indigenous populations due to violence perpetrated by Chin-Kuki narco-terrorist groups and urged the UN Council to assign special rapporteurs and relevant mandate offices to conduct an independent assessment of the worsening human rights situation in the region.

Last but not the least, he had stressed the need for the UNHRC to acknowledge and address the growing threat of immigrant armed narco-terrorism, which he said is one of the main root causes of the violence in Manipur which has been continuing unabatedly regardless of deployment of over 60,000 central security personnel in the tiny strife-torn northeastern Indian state.

It is understandable why everyone who participated in the discussion programme had raised strong objection to "going abroad" to internationalise the Manipur issue as "Desh ki baat, desh mein hona chahiye," to borrow the words of Kartikeya Sharma.

We completely agree with this sentiment.

As a matter of fact, we too had raised objection when leaders of the Kuki-Chin organisations tried to internationalise the crisis in Manipur by sending despatches not only to the President of USA and the Prime Minister of Israel but also petitioned the United Nations and succeeded in influencing the Parliament of European Union to adopt a resolution, which the Government of India had subsequently denounced as undue interference in the "internal matter" of the country.

We had also supported the Government of India when it rejected the comments made by a team of United Nations experts on the alleged "inadequate humanitarian response to the grave humanitarian situation in Manipur" as "unwarranted, presumptive and misleading", although we had reservation over the assertion that "the situation in the Northeast state was peaceful" as it is still far from reality.

But there is a fundamental difference between the attempts made to internationalise the issue by Kuki-Chin leaders at the initial stage of the conflict and what Khuraijam Athouba is doing now.

Apart from the fact that the efforts made by Kuki-Chin leaders were based on false narratives of "minority Christian Kuki ethnic communities being prosecuted by the predominantly Hindu Meitei" to give a religious angle to the conflict, Athouba has made a conscious attempt to debunk these false narratives and draw the attention of international community towards the threats being faced by the entire indigenous populations in the region as a result of the failure of Government of India and its security forces to contain the illegal activities of Chin-Kuki militant groups who are supposed to be bound by the Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement.

Having said that, we have one question to anyone who is not happy with raising the Manipur issue at UNHRC and seeking intervention.

When the Prime Minister of the country is not willing to discuss an "internal issue", forget about visiting Manipur, where should the suffering people go now?