Bodies petition UN, others on Jiribam massacre
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, November 24 2024:
Seven Manipur organisations namely Yelhoumee Phurup, Taragi Cheishu, Solidarity Offered Unitedly for a Lustrated Society, Youth Collective Manipur, Nupi Union for Peace and Integrity, Manipur Students' Association Delhi and Manipur International Youth Centre submitted memorandum to UN secretary-general, interrelated agencies, Government of India (GOI), and international human rights bodies, on Sunday seeking immediate justice Tor the premeditated murder of six Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) held hostage, including an eight-month-old infant, on November 15 in Jiribam by Kuki militia - a heinous act disgracefully known as the Jakuradhor massacre.
In a joint release, the organisations informed that the memorandum underlined the well-organised and premeditated attack on the police station, which was providing protection and shelter to the IDPs from Jakuradhor village.
Furthermore, the Jakuradhor incident constitutes a.premeditated sexual crime against women and children in Manipur, perpetrated by the Kuki-Zo militants under the guise of 'ethnic conflict' .
While observing that the Jakuradhor massacre cannot be viewed as an isolated act of cruelty inflicted by the Kuki militia in pursuit of a sectarian ethnic agenda, the release maintained that it must be recognised as part of a broader reign of terror unleashed by the Kuki-Zo armed militia, operating with impunity under the guise of the Suspension of Operations (SaO) agreement with the GOI since 2005 .
Moreover, the silence of the GOI regarding the Jakuradhor massacre raised critical questions, the release added.
The memorandum also emphasised that the Jakuradhor massacre constituted a flagrant violation of established international humanitarian laws specifically Common Art icle 3 of the Four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 .
Jakuradhor was already under the jurisdiction of the AFSPA, yet the massacre of women and children could not be prevented.
Instead of arresting the armed culprits involved in the massacre, the re-invocation of the draconian AFSPA reflected a misguided response by the GOI, the release condemned, while denouncing re-imposition of AFSPA as undemocratic and unacceptable.
The seven bodies demanded related international bodies and GOI to immediately arrest and punish Kuki militia involved in the Jakuradhor massacre; constitute an independent Judicial Inquiry Commission on the massacre headed by no less than a retired Supreme Court judge; a UN Special Rapporteur be deputed to investigate the Jakuradhor massacre; Women and Child Commission of India must visit the Jakuradhor massacre and produce a white paper on it; National Human Rights Commission of India visit the Jakuradhor massacre site and ensure justice to the victims; repeal the globally condemned AFSPA and take immediate measures to establish a tribunal under the supervision of the UN Security Council to try and prosecute persons responsible for commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide or ethnic cleansing given that India is unwilling and unable to do it by its own.
Denouncing the killing of three women and three children the organisations demanded "immediate arrest and punishment of those involved in the Jakuradhor massacre of women and children under Geneva Convention Act 1960 and relevant domestic criminal laws" .
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