Tribal students protest at Delhi, urge for PR
Source: The Sangai Express / Ninglun Hanghal

New Delhi, September 02 2015: Calling for immediate intervention of the Prime Minister into the turmoil in the hill areas of the State following the passing of three Bills by the State Assem-bly, tribal students and youth from Manipur today demanded the PM to immediately impose President's rule and expedite a "separate administration" for the tribal hill areas.

Over a thousand tribal students and youth from Mani- pur unanimously demanded imposition of President's Rule in the State.

Students and youths who turned out in large numbers today afternoon at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, shouted slogans and called for immediate resignation of all the 19 tribal MLAs.

Student demonstrators termed the reaction of the Manipur State Government over protesters in Lamka a targeted discrimination and injustice against the tribals.

The protest demonstration held under the umbrella of Manipur Tribal Students, Delhi, was peaceful where the students' representatives submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister.

Tribal students take out a protest rally at Delhi

A total of thirty six tribal students' unions signed the memorandum , including solidarity support from TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai) and civil society organization such as Indian Confederation of Indigenous People.

Calling for immediate intervention of the Prime Mi- nister, the students demanded in their memorandum, to immediately impose President's rule and expedite a "separate administration" for the tribal hill areas.

The memorandum further demanded that the State security forces involved in brutal killing of the agitators be punished and that Manipur police commandos be removed from tribal areas.

It also sought for restoration of all villages transferred to valley district to its original hill districts.

Alleging that live bullets were used against protesters in Lamka and other areas of Churachandpur district, student leaders lamented the biased attitude of the State Government towards the protesters.

" Rubber bullets for valley and live bullets for the hill tribals?" asked one of the student protesters.

According to sources, the Delhi based protest agitation is likely to continue.

A candle light vigil is also being planned for all those who have lost their lives in Churachandpur.

Leaders of the tribal student bodies strongly stated their stand for a separate administration for tribals in Manipur.

A press release issued by the thirty six tribal student bodies stated that the three Bills passed on August 31, taken together, will directly undermine the existing safeguards for the tribal 'hill areas' regarding land-ownership and population influx as the primary threat for the tribal people comes not from outside the State but the valley people itself.

The tribal people have made their opposition to the Meitei demands clear, but were never consulted, the release said.

Moreover, the press release said that the Hill Areas Committee (HAC), comprising of all tribal MLAs, which was set up under Article 371C of the Constitution to protect tribal interests and whose concurrence is mandatory for all legislation affecting tribal areas, was summarily brushed aside.

While condemning the high-handed and deeply biased manner in which the Manipur Government responded to the protests, the press release asserted that the Manipur police used rubber bullets for the valley protesters, but live bullets were freely used for tribal protesters.

The student bodies in the press release reiterated that the tribal people were never consulted during the entire process in the demand for ILP in the state.

Despite that the 'Joint Committee' (of ILP) claimed in their Memorandum of 8 August, which the Government accepted in toto, and on the basis of which the three Bills were prepared, that they are speaking 'on behalf of the people of Manipur'.

This is misleading and deeply disrespectful of the tribal population of the State, the release said.