PREPAK shares thoughts on Red Army Uprising Day-I
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, March 26 2020: PREPAK Military Affairs Committee (MAC) Chairman Kh Sathy, while extending warm greetings to the cadres of the Red Army on the occasion of the 40th Red Army uprising day, has cate-gorically stated, "The pur- pose and the goal of the revolution should always be held close to our hearts.

Only such an approach can help us regain our lost independence and power of self-determi-nation" .

After the alleged annexation, India has been trying to portray the revolutionary movement spearheaded by Hijam Irabot as the handiwork of a few people with extremist outlook thereby trying to degrade the movement, terming the freedom fighters as terrorists and claiming to the world that there is no liberation movement in India, reads a statement issued by the MAC Chairman.

Such an attempt to cover up the movement of the people will prove useless as fire cannot be kept covered for long.

Th ultimate goal of the revolution is not to disintegrate or break up India, but to reclaim the independence which was snatched from the people using armed forces, it said.

When the hapless king of Kangleipak signed the treaty of annexation with India under duress, there was no approval from the National Legislature which was a body of elected representatives of that time, nor was there a referendum or plebiscite held to approve or oppose the move.

If India respects its democratic principles and is really brave enough to face the truth, there is still time to hold a plebiscite to determine whether the people of Kangleipak wants to remain under the Indian regime or wants independence, but so far it has not been able to take up the bold step accepted by the international community as a standard democratic procedure to end conflicts around the world, it remarked.

The genesis of all these armed conflicts is the alleged forced annexation of Kangleipak on October 15, 1949 and the subsequent enslavement of its people, and India should never forget this.

The people of Kanglei-pak have been fighting to reclaim what is truly theirs and does not want even an inch of India's territory, Sathy asserted.

While India claims that there is no separatist movement in the region, the declaration of armed revolutionary movements in Kangleipak and the WESEA region as outlawed organizations under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967 has laid waste all their claims.

Even though India termed the revolutionaries as terrorists and extremists, the directive of the UN Human Rights Committee to the Indian Government to settle the armed conflict through political dialogues and peace talks have reiterated the fact that the revolutionary movement in Kangleipak and the WESEA region is recognized by the international community as a legitimate one.

India claims itself to be the world's largest democracy, but it has not been able to occupy any credible position in the annually published Democracy Index of the Economist Intelligence Unit based on parameters such as electoral process and pluralism, governance, political participation, political culture and civil liberties.

Even though press has been regarded as the fourth estate of democracy after the legislature, executive and judiciary, journalists in the country are working under pitiful conditions.

Except for a few journalists who sold their ethics to the highest bidder to be in the good books of the rich and powerful, the majority of them are under constant threat to livelihood and life, the outfit alleged.

According to '2019 World Press Freedom Index' published by Reporters Without Borders, India ranks 140 out of 180 countries.

Intimidations, threats and warnings from politicians, criminals and hired goons are common professional hazards of working journalists in India.

"In reality, India is a crumbling entity whose parts and units have deteriorated beyond repair.

This is not the time to heed the words of a few and enjoy the fleeting luxuries of life while forgetting the path we need to take and the goal we set of a free and independent region", the MAC Chairman claimed.

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