The Standstill and Merger Agreement : A meaningless scrap of paper ?

Birendra Laishram *

The Standstill Agreement and the Merger Agreement were expected to guide in a new era for Manipur, solidifying its place within India while safeguarding its unique identity. Crucially, the Government of India, through these agreements, explicitly committed itself to ensuring the welfare of the Manipuri people.

This commitment was articulated, in part, as an undertaking to prioritize the employment of Manipuris across the diverse branches of the Public Services. The agreements pledged active encouragement for Manipuris to join these services, fostering a sense of belonging and participation in the governance of their homeland.

Furthermore, a cornerstone of these agreements was preserving the existing legal framework, customs, and conventions deeply woven into the social, economic, and religious fabric of Manipuri life. Mr Vapal Pangunni Menon, Advisor to the Government of India in the Ministry of States, formally signified India's commitment by appending his signature, acting under the authority of the Governor General of India

His Highness Maharaja Bodh Chandra Singh, the Maharaja of Manipur, also solidified this understanding by signing both the Agreements. However, the reality on the ground paints a starkly different picture, a betrayal of the promises made under Article VIII (3) of the Agreement.

Despite the clear commitment enshrined in the agreements, adequate provision for employing Manipuris within the various branches of the Public Service remains conspicuously absent. This absence fosters a sense of marginalization and exclusion among the Manipuri youths.

Instead of upholding the pre-existing land laws, customs, and conventions that defined the Kingdom of Manipur, these were superseded by the MLR&LR Act of 1960. This act, in effect, deprived the valley people of their traditional land rights within the hills, fundamentally altering the conventional land ownership structure during the pre-merger era.

The State effectively became divided along geographical lines, with preferential land rights really granted to the hill people, a stark deviation from the promised preservation of existing customs and conventions during era of our sovereignty.

The fundamental social, economic, and religious aspects of Manipuri life, which the agreements pledged to protect, have similarly been neglected and undermined. A particularly egregious example of this neglect is the desecration of sacred sites of divinities belonging to the Meitei communities by Kuki tribes.

Shrines on the revered Thangjing, Koubru, and Koubru Leikha hills have been either dismantled entirely or symbolically overtaken by the hoisting of Christian crosses. This represents a blatant violation of religious sentiments and a deliberate attempt to erase the cultural heritage of the Meitei people.

The Kondong Lairembi Temple in Moreh, located within Tengnoupal district, and the Kongba Maru Laiphamlen in Imphal East district, have been desecrated, and members of the Meitei community are even actively prevented from entering these sacred spaces for worship. Attempts to access these temples have been met with armed resistance from Kuki individuals positioned on the hilltops.

These tribes, Burmese refugees resettled and integrated with Khongjai tribes to buffer Naga raids, historically engaged in multi-regional conflicts due to complex strategic reasons. The 1956 Manipur Gazette correctly excluded Kuki from the Scheduled Tribes list, considering them "aliens and refugees" needing settlement permits in Naga areas.

Following the resettlement of 1500 refugee families (December 1967) started in 1968, advocacy secured Government of India support in 1973. They were subsequently rehabilitated, initially with Rs 3,92,775, and later granted Scheduled Tribe status.

These individuals are now allegedly warring against indigenous populations and urged not to cross artificial buffer zone to worship the divine temple on Thangjing Hill, while the Government remains silent. The Government is unaccountable for the whereabouts of the original 1968 resettlement's 1500 refugee families.

In the face of these blatant violations of the agreements and the fundamental rights of the Manipuri people, no meaningful action has been taken by the authorities. The promises, carefully crafted, signed, and sealed in black and white, now ring hollow, mocking the hopes and aspirations of the Manipuri people.

Where is the commitment to our people, to the sons and daughters of Manipur who were promised a rightful place in the public service ?

Instead, we witness our youth languishing, their immense potential remaining untapped, and their dreams perpetually deferred due to systemic neglect and broken promises. The MLR&LR Act of 1960, originally intended to foster unity, has instead become a metaphorical dagger plunged into the heart of our ancestral land system.

It has fuelled division by seemingly favouring one group over another, fracturing the very unity it was purportedly designed to uphold. The traditional connection between the valley and the hills is strained, yet the promise of equal standing for all Manipuri remains a distant and unattainable mirage.

The Government's indifference to the desecration of our sacred sites, including Thangjing, Koubru, and Koubru Leikha, is a betrayal of our spiritual and cultural identity. These once-uninhabited sacred grounds, now settled by Kuki tribes, are being violated. We are treated as trespassers, our deities defiled, and our heritage eroded by symbols of another faith.

Temples like Kondong Lairembi and Kongba Maru Laiphamlen, holding generations of faith, are now sites of vandalism, denying us access to the places of worship and threatening us with violence for practicing our traditions.

Where is the promised preservation of our religious life and protection of our customs ? Are the Standstill Agreement and Merger Agreement meaningless ? The Government's inaction in the face of this systematic erosion of our identity and trampling of our cultural heritage is intolerable.

We demand justice, immediate action, and the fulfilment of promises made to Manipur. Meitei demands the restoration of rights and the preservation of their unique cultural identity.

Is it truly necessary for the people of Manipur to repeatedly bring to the attention of others how previously agreed-upon terms have been violated and disregarded ? Must they constantly remind everyone about the broken promises ? One wonders if those in positions of power, those within the Government, are truly attentive to the immense suffering and hardship endured by the people of what was once the Sovereign State of Manipur.

Does the Government possess the capacity, or perhaps even the willingness, to genuinely listen and respond to the profound pain and anguish experienced by its citizens who were formerly part of an independent Nation ? Are their voices being heard and acknowledged, or are they simply being ignored ?