Naga Peace Accord - Shared Sovereignty and its impact on Manipur
- Part 2 -

Dr. Khomdon Lisam *

Interlocutor RN Ravi with NSCN-IM General Secretary Th Muivah :: Pix - TSE/PIB

Government of India should respect the history of Manipur.

No Indian kingdom or Princely State and no civilisation in the world had such a long, unbroken history like Manipur. The Manipur kingdom was recognised by the British, by the Burmese , Assam ( Ahoms), Tripura( Takhel), Governments,with Taangja Leelaa Paakhangba as the first king. There were 16 kings before 33 CE and 74 kings from 33 CE to 1972 CE. Manipur continued to exist as a Princely State under the British from 1891 to 14 August, 1947.

Roman empire existed for only 503 years, 7 months (27 BCE- n CE) Mongol Empire lasted for only 162 years (1206 -1368), Mughal empire lasted for only 331 years-1526-1857, Gupta empire lasted for only 180 years (320 CE.D to 500 A.D) , Maurya empire lasted 137 years (322–185 BCE) , Nizam of Hyderabad existed for only 234 years (1713-1947) Maratha kingdom lasted for only 144 years (1674 to 1818) , Mysore kingdom lasted for only 548 years (1399 -1947), How and why Manipur kingdom lasted for more than 2000 years ? What is the secret ?

Why the Kingdom of Manipur lasted for more than 2000 years ?

Manipur kings used to say to the hill Khullakpas " I am the king of Manipur. Similarly you are the king of your village (Khun gi Ningthou). You are free to exercise your full autonomy regarding religion, customs , traditions, customary laws within about 1 mile radius. My responsibility is to protect your kingship and your village from foreign aggression and inter-village conflicts for which you have to pay annual tributes . If we have to fight with another country, we have to jointly fight with that country".

The King did not interfere in the administration of the villages as long as the Khullapas or Khunbus or Ningthous remain loyal, peaceful and render services to the state administration. Inter-village conflicts and head hunting were very common in those days and the hill Khullakpas were very happy with this arrangement. The king used to say "All the ethnic groups are the flowers in the garland and I am the thread of this garland."

He used to sing "Chingna Koina pansaba, Hauna koina panngakpa, Manipur sana leimayol" appreciating and showing gratitude for defending the boundary of Manipur. Here the terminology " Hau" was used out of love to denote the Hau (today called XIAN in China ) origin of Tangkhuls and other hill tribes. Tangkhuls came from Hau-city which was in China. Due to cruel and oppressive rule of Yin and Shan dynasties in China around 3000 BCE, there was a massive exodus of people of Hau and entered Burma.

After settlement for many centuries in Burma, they arrived at Samjok and to Manipur. It is considered that the Tangkhuls came together with the Maos, Poumeis, Marams and Thangals because all of them have references to their dispersal from Makhel, a Mao village in Senapati district. They had also erected megaliths at Makhel, from where they agreed to separate and went in different directions. Hau was not a derogatory term. There were no social difference between the various ethnic groups and all were happy in the kingdom.

The Indian Independence was brought by the battle of Imphal and Kohima

The Imphal-Kohima battles fought between the Japanese Army with Netaji Subash Chandra Bose and British Army under Lord Mountbatten, the Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asia from April 1942 to January. 1945 CE saved the Indian independence. The Japanese army attacked Imphal continuously, and the British and its Allies resisted fiercely.

When the Japanese crossed over to Burma from Siam ( Thailand) in March, 1842, lakhs of Indians , Burmese and Europeans fled from Burma and transit refugee camps were organized at Koirengei, Imphal. The Manipur King, Maharaja Bodhchandra and the people of Manipur helped the British in the fight during the war. The first bombing of Imphal by the Japanese Tojo took place on Sunday, 10 May 1942 at about 11 A.M at various localities, namely, Nungyungbi, Khoyathong, Menjorkhul, Thangmeiband, Chingmeirong, Mantripukhri at Koirengei airstrip, etc. The Imphal town looked like a Ghost Town.

The Imphal-Kohima battles prevented the Japanese Army to proceed further to India. In this battle, more than 50,000 Japanese soldiers died. The fates Indian independence, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru were thus decided in the Imphal-Kohima battle of World War-II. The forgotten Imphal-Kohima War will come to life every time when someone visit the War Cemeteries.

In the Cemetery, the burial sites are marked with bronze plaques recording their anguish and sacrifice: 'When you go home tell them of us and say for your tomorrow we gave our today' depicts the war in an inscription at Kohima. The Government of India needs to re-write the history of Indian independence after learning the Imphal-Kohima battles. W feel that the Government of India should be immensely indebted to Manipur for the battle, which saved the Indian independence.

Government of India has committed a series of blunders against Manipur

Instead of showing indebtedness, the Government of India committed a series of historical blunders during 1947-1972 which are beyond the scope of international laws and which remained as a source of conflicts with the Government of India and the people of Manipur till today. Manipur was a princely state from 1891 till 15 August, 1947. On the night of 14th August , 1947 at 12 P.M, Mr. Gerald Pakenham Stewart, ICS informed Maharaja Bodhchandra that the paramountcy of British rule in India had come to an end and India became independent from that particular moment.

On 28th August (Thawan), 1947 AD,( Thursday) at 12 midnight, the sovereignty of Manipur was declared by the Political Agent, Mr. Gerald Pakenham Stewart and he handed over Manipur to Maharaja Bodhchandra Singh at the Manipur State Durbar in presence of all senior Officers and a large number of people. The Maharaja and Maharani Ishwori Devi entered Kangla at Imphal and hoisted the National Flag of Manipur (Pakhangba Flag. ) and the Top-guns were fired 18 times by Ahongsangbam Bidhu, Top Major in honour of the Sovereign Kingdom of Manipur in the presence of a large crowd. ( Sarangthem Bormani- Meitei Ningthourol , 2nd Edition, 2000 ).

But the sovereignty of Manipur was lost when Maharaja Bodhchandra Singh was forced to sign the Merger Agreement at Shilllong by deceit on 21 September 1949. After merger, Manipur was first accorded the part C State status (1949-56), then a Union Territory (1957-71) and finally the statehood (1972 onwards) after a protracted struggle based on non-violence.

Nagaland state was created on 1 December, 1963 from a village republic with no written history by Jawaharlal Nehru as a result of a long violent movement killing thousands of Indian Army personnel. Manipur with a written history of more than 2000 years was denied of Statehood till 1972 and the statehood was granted after a protracted non-violent movement. People say that in the land of Mahatma, violence wins over non-violence as far as North East India is concerned. The Manipuris feel that this is a great insult to Manipur. Then the Indian Constitution with an extremely discriminatory Article 371C was imposed on Manipur without any ratification.

Article 371C of Indian Constitution encouraged us to fight with each other

From the reading of this article 371C, it is understood that this article is heavily biased towards the hills and heavily discriminatory against the people in the valley. This particular provision tends to encourage disunity, mistrust, conflict and clash between the hill people and valley people. If the Government of India wants communal harmony, unity, peace and development in Manipur, they should grant Shared Sovereignty with all the features granted to Nagaland.

Comment of G.K. Pillai,

In this respect, we may refer to the statement of G.K. Pillai, the then Union Home Secretary, which was published on 27 September, 2011 in the Telegraph newspaper. According to him, the repeal of the draconian act AFSPA -1958 was one of the first steps towards resolving the vexed conflict of Manipur's valley and hills. He said that "the ancient kingdom of Manipur had a constitution even before India wrote her own and had a proud history and was overnight turned into a C-category state in 1948. He further added "we have to build trust by dealing with the core issues. An apology, say by the Prime Minister or the Home Minister, for the past mistakes could be a start".

What should the Government of India do now ?

We feel that an apology is not sufficient. These blunders remained as a source and the genesis of all conflicts in the Manipur till today and will aggravate its intensity unless the Government of India comes out with some concrete solutions in the form of Shared sovereignty as done in case of Nagas.

The mutual trust and respect between Manipur and the Government of India can be restored only by way of Shared sovereignty and not through political domination or manipulation. The Government of India should grant Shared Sovereignty to Manipur so as restore equality, love, communal harmony , unity, peace and development in Manipur.

What should all the Political parties do ?

All senior leaders of all political parties should look beyond election and think for ensuring love, communal harmony, unity, peace and prosperity of Manipur. They should study and explore possibility of gaining shared sovereignty for Manipur on the same lines as for Nagaland.

They should take a firm decision, pledge and lobby for achievement of shared sovereignty for Manipur. The Manipur BJP party who runs the Government at the centre has a special and important role to influence the Government of India in this direction. Let us think big.

What should the State Government do ?

The Congress Ministry in Manipur should discuss the matter amongst all MLAs and members at various levels. They may discuss this at various fora including the cabinet meeting. The idea of Shared Sovereignty will give the Manipuris the opportunity to participate in the decision making process at national and international levels and will ensure employment of Manipuris at various levels and will improve the socio-economic conditions of the people. After a thorough study, they may take a decision in the state cabinet and the State Legislative Assembly for including Shared Sovereignty for Manipur in the Indian Constitution.

What the Civil Societies should do ?

The Civil Societies in Manipur are doing great things to bring a change in Manipur. They may organise various seminars, meetings, conference on the current issues , possible solutions at various levels. The idea of demanding for a shared sovereignty with the Government of India may be included in the topics to be discussed.

They may appeal to the local clubs to spend minimum amount of money in organising festivals, Lai Haroaba and Yaoshang Sports and donate the savings to the apex civil societies in Manipur so as to enable them to initiate action. They may initiate a peoples mass movement for this cause. This is cause worth fighting for and worth dying for.

The action is for Today, Tomorrow it maybe too late.

Concluded ...