I don't have any doubt, almost all the people in Manipur love India more than the hard core Indians. There is no doubt Manipuri's are very very crazy about India. Manipuris are even ready to die for India. Even I, myself love India more than the hard core Indians. I am not so fond of cricket.

Nevertheless, when there is no power, we Manipuri's all know the power of Manipur but I don't know whether people in rest of the country may know this or not, with the help of inverter or with 12V battery I used to watch cricket with hunger sitting in front of TV from all my friends. When India lost the match I don't feel like eating anything and slept with hunger. That much of craziness I have about India.

I don't know exactly how I came to know the history of merger agreement after the June 18th, 2001 firing incident. When Manipur was merged with newly born Indian Union in September 21, 1949 and after nearly one month later without the consent of public, it was announced that Manipur had been merged to Indian Union in October 15th 1949. I was confused why Government of India took almost nearly one month to announce.

Before Manipur was merged to newly born Indian Union, from 1947 to 1949 Manipur was a Sovereign country. People of Manipur used to have Council of ministers elected by themselves and had their own constitution to administrate the country. Manipur might be the first among the Asian countries which made its own constitution and held election to elect their own chosen representatives to administrate the country.

The Maharaja of Manipur ruled under "Rules for the Management of the state of Manipur", which was enforced on 14th September, 1935. The enabling Article 1 of the 1935 Rules states. "His Highness the Raja will be responsible for the administration of the State. He will be assisted by a Darbar which will consist of an officer specially selected by the Governor of Assam who will be styled the President, and at least three Manipuri Members who may hold charge of departments and shall be called ordinary members. Three additional members may be appointed, who while not holding charge of any department, will attend all meetings of the Darbar and speak and vote equally with the other members." The Meitei monarch had been assisted and responsibility did not lie with his assistants.

Manipur State Constitution Act, 1947 ( here State implies Nation-State) empowers the Maharaja in Council to administer the State thereby installing a 'Constitutional Monarchy' following the model of the English Crown, subject to numerous checks and balances. Article 3 of the Act provides, "Government of the State by His Highness, the Maharaja: The territories for the time being and hereafter vested in the Maharaja are governed by and in the name of the Maharaja. All rights, authority and jurisdiction which appertain or are incidental to the Government of such territories are exercisable by the Maharaja subject to the Provision of this act".

With the consolidation of a newly born or created Indian Union, Manipur was brought within the fold of the Union after the signing by the representatives of the two Governments, of the instrument of merger on September 21st, 1949. The merger was not a smooth sailing business and later on, it became a curious object of controversy, since the Manipuri's had a history of independence, a constitutional monarchy preceded by governments under "Rule of Law" and had experienced as to how to meet the challenge of the mighty British Crown at the peak of its power and had also taken up armed struggle three years after the World War II which had its operational theatre in itself.

When one became weary of the successive events of war including the seven years-devastation by the Burmese in early 19th century, the merger was signed by a Maharaja under duress, which was not ratified by the Maharaja in council nor by the legislature. The general feeling is that a constitutional head, who had political obligation to a Constitution lacked the political capacity to sign an instrument of merger in the absence of a ratification by the constitutionally elected Assembly and a plebiscite. The controversy had not lost much of the steam. Another viewpoint is that the Manipur State Assembly became functus officio following the merger event.

The Maharaja was cornered to sign the Instrument of Accession on August 11, 1947 under which Defence, Communication, and External relations passed within the exclusive jurisdiction of New Delhi. Prior to the merger on October 15, 1949, as a response to the pressures from the officials of New Delhi, the Maharaja clarified that he was governed by the Manipuri Constitution, unlike other rulers of the native kingdoms.

He wrote to the concerned official of Government of India on September 20th, 1949, just one day before he was coerced to put his signature to the merger agreement:

"Direct dealing with me was feasible when Sovereignty was vested in me but, after the introduction of the State Constitution Act, the Sovereignty and administration of the State has been shifted to the people".

Earlier, the Maharaja wrote to the official of Government of India: "If I am compelled to work independently of my people, my action will be quite unjustifiable". He also wrote three days before to the greedy official of Government of India, " Now that the sovereignty of the State has been vested in the people. It would be in the fitness of things to hear the people's voice and learn their sentiment so that the line of action may not in any case be unconstitutional".

In the fitness of things, a referendum on merger could have been held; but the colonial chieftains had not taught their greedy political heirs what constitutional procedure should have to be followed, short of confiscating the State by war; even at the peak of power, the mighty British Crown had foregone even their right to annexation of Manipur after a state of belligerancy in 1891 and through debate in the Parliament.

In the fast moving pages of history, Insurgency gripped the State, shortly after the Second World War and Manipur merged with the newly created Indian Union in 1949; since then till 1972, no responsible government was installed in the State and consequently, the seed of Insurgency had taken roots.

What does the letter written by the Maharaja of Manipur to the official government of India mean? Did he have the right to do the signature? Is Manipur merger is a legal or illegal? According to my opinion, these conditions, situations, etc could also be one of the factors of the root cause of the National Liberation Movement in Manipur.

When we look at the collection of political documents, government papers, texts of treaties, agreements, letters, telegram, and present political and economic conditions of Manipur, Who will not say Manipur's merger was an annexation? Whether it is a merger or annexation, according to the article viii (3) of the Agreement made between the Governor General of India and His Highness of Maharaja of Manipur on 21st day of September, 1949. The Government of India must protect the boundary of Manipur. At present also New Delhi is neglecting to protect the boundary of Manipur.

The territorial integrity of Manipur has been substantially depleted after the merger; and a psychosis had been deliberately nurtured among the Manipuri elites with a fear that the State would be ultimately washed out in course of time. As the aspirations from the merger has been betrayed, the pent up fury fomented the Manipuri mind.

Weekly Himmat features, "The Meiteis have not been known for their land hunger as some other communities but they became sensitive about the issue because Manipur has suffered from a diminution of its territories since British times. The Kabaw valley was handed over by the British to Burma (now called Myanmar). Though the original boundary between Assam and Manipur was the Barak river, the British settled this area in favour of the Cachar king in the latter half of the 19th century".

Despite continued postures of belligerancy and territorial aggrandisements, the Burmese king signed the Treaty of Yandaboo on February 24, 1826 thereby recognising Gambhir Singh as the king of Manipur. Subsequently with the signing of Kubo valley Agreement in 1834, the Kubo valley, a disputed area nearly half the size of Manipur which till the time of cession was under the authority of Manipuri king, was ceded to Burma (Myanmar).

The British had taken up the extreme step of cession of Manipur's disputed territory to Burma (Myanmar) with the motive of bringing an appeasement with a belligerent state; but the appeasement policy was not construed in the true spirit by the other side and the hostility ensued later between Burma (Myanmar) and the British. Till Manipur's merger with the Indian Union, the compensation stipulated under the 1834 Agreement was annually paid to Manipur and the treaty did not foreclose the possibility of reversion of Manipur's disputed Kubo valley even after the cession.

At present neither the compensation is given nor the reversion of the valley has materialised. The issue had been simply sunk in the depth of the oblivion of time. The Government of India has done nothing towards restoring Kabaw valley to Manipur. New Delhi has offered it to Burma (Myanmar) as a price of appeasement and as a tribute for improvement of Indo-Myanmar relations.

The price of merger was paid in terms of constant fear for balkanisation of Manipur. A journal published from Delhi reflects the fear of the Manipuris for balkanisation by the Union Government ---"It was an old demand of the Naga National Council (the political wing of the underground Nagas) to integrate three of the four hill districts of Manipur with Nagaland, allowing the rest of merge with Mizoram. --- Their (The Meiteis ) nightmare now centers round the Shillong Accord (signed by the Government of India, members of the Nagaland peace Council and a section of the Underground Nagas on 14th November, 1975) as they apprehend that the plan to Balkanise Manipuri forms one of the secret clauses of this agreement.

The Government of India was, on a number of occasions, requested to make a policy announcement to dispel the fears of the Manipuris. By tacitly ignoring the request, New Delhi has given a misleading impression that it will implement the merger of the three hill districts of Manipur with Nagaland." It so, transpired as if the Union Government and other discontented nationalities had conspired to gradually gobble up the territory of Manipur and render the millennia-old territorial integrity of the State to a minuscule river valley.

International Law has a principle, which is known as UTI POSSIDETIS JURIS. According to this principle colonial boundaries should not be broken at any cost. Under this principle, there are some decisions made by the INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE against the breaking up of colonial boundaries, some of which are listed below.

1960-Latin America Case
1964-African Unity
1975-Western Sahara Case
1986-Burkina Faso Republic of Mali
December 8th 1991-Minsk Agreement
1992-Land Island Maritime Frontier Dispute El Salvador and Honduras Case
1994-Libya Chad Case

Not only for the International Law, for India also, I don't know exactly what is it called, whether it's a rule or agreement or treaty, there is one thing called 1968-RANN OF KUTCH. Even the arbitration award has accepted it.

Prior to the merger, what is ironical is that the Central Government appears to have completely ignored its own diktat, given in Article viii clause (3) of the instrument of merger signed on September 21st, 1949 by the Manipuri Maharaja and the Union Government. It provides, "The Government of India also undertake to make suitable provisions for the employment of Manipuris in the various branches of public services; and in every way encourage Manipuris to join them. They also undertake to preserve various laws, customs and conventions prevailing in the State pertaining to social, economic and religious life of the people."

The entire Manipuri Constitution could be amended following the due procedure for constitutional amendment. This sufficiently indicates the Manipuri political culture which could keep pace with the democratic aspirations of the incoming civilizations. Should such dynamic and progressive political ethos be contained in totalitarian systems with a rigid Constitution nearing a closed system, like the Indian Constitution, it should be like showing hospitality to the aquatic lives in the beautiful expanses of a desert. The rigid structure of dominance, which is a logical extension of casteism is completely foreign to Meitei mental make-up and when the casteists throw their casteist glance and manners, the Meiteis simply conceive the ethos as pre-historic gestures. Similar is the case with a constitution.

In spite of INTERNATIONAL LAW, 1968-RANN OF KUTCH, SEPTEMBER 21st, 1949 MANIPUR MERGER AGREEMENT, Government of India tries to break the colonial boundary of Manipur by extending the ceasefire agreement with NSCN (IM) without the territorial limits. Some intellectuals of the north-east say that it is, I don't exactly remember the words but it is something like this, "COMMUNAL DIVIDE ETHINIC CLEASING ….." and in other word it can also be called as, "NON-MILITARY OPERATION MODEL OF COUNTER INSURGENCY" .

"For this Indian militaries experts and military advisers are send to Bosnia, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc for training. Where are all those Indian International Law experts gone? If the government of India is going to withdraw the ceasefire extension without the territorial limits, Why they have extended? If New Delhi considers people of Manipur as an Indian, Would they try to break the colonial boundary of Manipur? Would they want Manipur to be a battle field? Is ceasefire extension beyond the territorial limit is reasonable? People living in rest of our country have to judge, Whether the government of India is right or wrong?

It might be around in the later days of mid June 2001. As soon as J. Jayalalithaa became the chief minister of Tamil Nadu she arrested the former C.M. M. Karunanidhi. I don't remember the exact reason but if I'm not wrong it might be for a scandal of making flyover. For this reason in T.N. some minor political crisis had occurred among the political leaders. As soon as this news was heard by the major political leaders of the previous government 'NDA', they rushed to Chennai. This incident happened during the agitation of ceasefire extension without the territorial limit with NSCN (IM) and the Government of India which is a very serious problem in Manipur.

But none of the major political leaders of previous government 'NDA' had come to see the situation and solve the problem of Manipur. Instead of coming to Manipur and talk with the people of Manipur, they had given a long days of gap and fixed a date for talk and prolong the problem and disturb the normal life of Manipur. Even this date was also postponed for the minor political problem in T.N. It is worse than the recent agitation for the repealing of AFSPA.

It is the matter of territorial integrity of Manipur. Anything could have been happened in Manipur between the communities. Why did the political leaders of previous government of India neglect the situations of Manipur and rush to Chennai? And what does it meant? What could be its reason? What can we think for the negligence of the situation of Manipur? Is the political scandal of corruption is more important than the problem of a state of lakh's of people of Manipur? Not only the previous government, Why any kind of government of India neglected the situations of Manipur?

Even the present 'UPA' government is not giving appropriate reason for not removing the AFSPA. What kind of policy is this 'wait and watch' of the 'UPA' Government? Last but not the least, Why the mother of the black laws AFSPA has been pass only in the name of Manipur and Assam in September 21, 1958? What does it mean?

When Nagas and Kukis were fighting nothing happened in Manipur. So, New Delhi knows that in which group and which group when in fight, there will be a fire in Manipur. Many people in Manipur believe that is why government of India has extended ceasefire without territorial limits with NSCN (IM). If New Delhi is our real parent and if New Delhi loves Manipur, Will they want Manipur to be a battle field? This is what New Delhi has to do in return of our love.

Before June 18th, 2001 firing incident. I don't believe some people of Manipur say, "New Delhi doesn't love Manipur". After June 18th, 2001 firing incident, I don't have any doubt that New Delhi doesn't love Manipur. If a parent love their children very much they will not do anything to arise fight between his own children. Parents are ready to do anything for the welfare of their children. I would like to ask a question to all the parents of India, "Would they do anything to arise fight between their own children?" What would you feel when you see your own children fighting? I would like all the parents of our country to note the above questions.

When we love and think of a friend very much, when we realise that the friend do not think of us at all. We all know what will be the reaction? In the same case, when people of Manipur are ready to die for India and if India doesn't think for welfare of us. What is the use of being proud to be an Indian?

One very important thing we Manipuris have to understand is, New Delhi has implemented one very dangerous game plan or policy in Manipur which British's had taught them and New Delhi is also still practicing it. The game plan had been already practiced in some parts of India and it is also success. So, people of Manipur have to know the game plan. The game plan is nothing but it is the policy to fight among the people's in the name of territorial, communities, religions, caste, race, etc.

"The meeting which was held on 13th and 14th June, 2001 in Bangkok between the representatives of the Government of India and NSCN(IM) about the ceasefire extension without the territorial limits is the easiest example". New Delhi will always be trying to find the weakness of the ignorant or innocent people of our lovely society and they will implement this dangerous game plan again and in future and in every corner of our lovely country. So, if the people of our Manipur are little bit careless of this game plan, there will be a big trouble in the region and it will also be a great loss for the people of Manipur and very unfortunate for the future of 'Manipur'. New Delhi do not want people of Manipur to unite. They are aware that if once the people of Manipur unites, their will be a big problems for them.

If we want peace. We must fight for justice. As stated by Anonymous, "If you want world peace, fight for justice". And Government of India must reflect what Martin Luther King stated, "Peace is more important than all justice: and peace was not made for the sake of justice, but justice for the sake of peace". Government of India is always talking about peace but talking about peace without any effort is like searching the footprint of birds in the sky.

Source: Manipur Past and Present,Vol 1
Edited by: Naorem Sanajaoba